REVIEW; No Other Choice

Title: No Other Choice
Author: Leenie Brown
Genre: Adult, regency romance, retelling
Type: E-book
Publisher: Leenie B Books

At first, all he wanted was her forgiveness. Now, he wants her to be his countess.

He insulted her before he had even met her. It was not purposefully done, of course, but it was done nonetheless. Now, after spending a great deal of time trying to make amends for his words, Lord Rycroft has done it again. But was he truly supposed to be pleased about being required to escort his mother and her latest matchmaking project from soiree to soiree during the season? He thought not.

For her part, Mary Bennet is not eager to spend the season with the likes of Lord Rycroft. His mother, she adores. Him, she scolds and attempts to tolerate. However, despite Lord Rycroft’s exceptional talent for insulting her, Mary plans to have a grand season and finish it with either a husband or a wonderful tale to tell. She must only ignore him and focus her attention on presenting herself to best advantage to any gentleman she meets.

While Mary tries to avoid him, Lord Rycroft works diligently to make amends for his words. In the process, he unwittingly loses his heart to her, and what began as an arduous task of enduring the season becomes a quest to earn her acceptance, even if it means giving her no other choice.

One of my favourite things about Leenie Brown’s Mary-centric stories is that the love interests always respect Mary completely – and they desire to earn her respect and love in turn. Samuel Rycroft is no different.

First off: I didn’t read the other stories in this series – I do just enjoy reading Mary stories – but it was easy enough to follow along. The characters are well-established and stand alone in their interactions with few references to the earlier parts. You can very easily figure out what came before and enjoy the interactions between Mary and Samuel, which I did very much. It made a very enjoyable read, and the only reason I didn’t finish it in one day is because then I have no other variations to read. (For reasons unknown, the ebooks I want aren’t available in my region, and now I have no more Mary stories to read.)

Some of the things I really like about the way the author writes her Mary stories is that the love interest never really seeks to change Mary. There is a lot of back and forth between the main characters – a lot of challenging of each other’s beliefs and thoughts on what they perceive in the other – but Samuel and Mary here respect and genuinely seem to care for one another, even if they only say it is as a friend (at first).

The fact that Mary’s penchant for propriety and sternness is something Samuel enjoys and likes about her is such a treat to read. It sometimes can be handled really heavy-handedly, but here it is something that he views as a part of her, something that encourages him to do better. She holds him to a standard that he wants to meet. He sees her for who she is and not an extension of her sisters. The only growth they both do as people is towards each other – it is a relationship arc of learning to trust each other and themselves, and it is a delight to see unfold on the page. This is definitely going into the re-read pile

I really wish I could get my hands on the other two of Mary’s stories this author has written because I know I will enjoy them as much as I have this.

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