Francesca:
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Imagine this, you wake up one morning and surprise you're
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married, maybe to a grumpy, emotionally
unavailable Duke, maybe to a notorious
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rake who wants nothing to do with you.
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Or maybe it's your best friend, who you
definitely don't have feelings for yet.
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But either way, you're stuck and the
only way out is to catch feelings.
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So today we're talking about
why the marriage of convenience
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trope never gets old and why it's
perfect in historical romance.
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If you're looking for recommendations,
I've got those for you too.
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So let's dive in.
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Welcome to Reading Under the
Covers, a romance novel podcast
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where we chat fangirl and maybe
even swoon over our latest reads.
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I'm Francesca from under the covers
book blog, and today we are diving into
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one of the most timeless and dramatic
tropes in historical romance, and that
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is the marriage of convenience trope.
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If you're not sure what a
trope is, think of it like your
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favorite storytelling ingredient.
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Like, for example, enemies to
Lovers, fake dating or today's topic,
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which is marriage of convenience.
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Tropes are the familiar themes
and setups that make especially
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the romance genre so addictive.
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And if you want to learn
more about tropes, I've got
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a full breakdown on the blog.
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That I will leave linked down below.
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Plus, if you sign up for our free
Substack, you'll actually get a trope
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guide with a list of over 400 tropes
that are going to help you find
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something that you're in the mood
for across romance, thrillers, and
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fantasy which will definitely help
you find your next favorite read.
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Now marriage of convenience is the trope
that gives us kind of a forced proximity
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and undeniable tension vibe with some
of the best slow burn romance out there.
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Because when two people are legally bound
before the first spark of attraction
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even ignites, then you know things are
about to get deliciously complicated.
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But before we get into the
romance of it all, let's talk
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a little bit about history.
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Because marriages of convenience weren't
just a fantasy created for romance novels.
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They were actually real, they were common,
and in many ways, they were necessary.
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For most of history, marriage
wasn't all about love.
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It was about survival, social
status, property, and alliances love.
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That was just kind of an optional
bonus if it happened at all.
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There were many reasons why people
entered into a marriage of convenience,
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maybe because of wealth and status.
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If you were nobility, marriage was
about securing your family's fortune
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or rising in the ranks, this is where
we get all of those Dukes and heiress
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pairing up for purely practical reasons.
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Of course, there were also political
and alliance marriages with more of the
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royalty kings, queens, and the aristocrats
who are rarely married for love.
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They were married to unite
families, secure peace treaties
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and gain land and power.
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Think of these more as arranged marriages,
like between feuding clans or enemy
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nations forced into a truce, which
is a completely different trope, and
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we'll get to that on another episode.
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But there were also protection
marriages, for women, marriage
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was often about security.
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Without a husband, a woman
had few legal rights.
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For example, she couldn't inherit, she
couldn't own property and sometimes
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she couldn't even live independently.
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So a marriage of convenience might have
been the only way to secure her future.
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If a woman was widowed, she was often
expected to remarry, especially if there
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were children or an estate involved.
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This is where you see a lot of
those duty bound second marriages
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that eventually turn into love.
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And lastly, we also had lavender
marriages, one of the lesser talked
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about, but very real forms of
marriage, of convenience where they
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were basically an arrangement between
a heterosexual person and someone
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who was queer, usually to protect
reputations or maintain social standing.
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I think that's one of the most
exciting reasons why marriage of
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conveniences are so good in historical
romance and why this genre does them
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so well, because so many marriages.
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Actually started this way
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Now that we've covered a little bit
of the history, let me tell you why we
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eat this trope up every single time.
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First of all, it's usually
a slow burn masterpiece.
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If you're into slow burn, you're
gonna love a marriage of convenience.
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You have two people that are
thrown together, forced to
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navigate a relationship with
zero romantic foundation.
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And the tension between
them is everything.
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Then of course you have the
forced proximity because they
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are immediately living together.
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They're sharing space, and sometimes
even they have to share a bed,
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and that just means that every
interaction between them is charged.
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Of course.
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Then you also have that denial
and angst, and there is usually
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that one moment that is.
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The explosive catalyst for their
relationship moving past where it started.
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So one of them catches feelings
first, or maybe both of them
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do, but they refuse to admit it.
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And then there's that one moment.
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Maybe it's an accidental touch or a shared
glance, and that realization that this is
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no longer just about convenience and they
actually have feelings for each other.
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And after that you have
the grand confession.
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So when a marriage of convenience,
romance finally reaches the breaking
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point and someone admits that they're
in love, it just hits like no other.
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It is so satisfying.
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So this is why this trope is still
one of the most satisfying in romance,
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because also there is no easy way out.
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They have to stay together and that
just means that we get that slow,
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beautiful transformation from strangers
or even enemies at times, to soulmates.
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Now I think that there are
some classic authors that nail
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this trope every single time.
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So if you love a good marriage of
convenience, these are some authors that
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you need to absolutely have read first.
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Lorraine Heath, she writes
deeply emotional love stories
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where duty turns into passion.
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Elizabeth Hoyt, who writes Steamy
unconventional Historicals with
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strong heroines, Cathy Maxwell,
who writes Regency Romance,
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gold, full of heart and heat.
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One of my favorites, Anne Stuart, who
writes darker angsty historicals, where
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Love sneaks up on you unexpectedly.
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Tessa Dare for witty swoony, and full of
banter, historicals and Vanessa Riley for
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some historically rich Regency romances.
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Today I wanted to give you five must
read, marriage of Conveniences in
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Historical Romance that if you haven't
read yet, you need to add to your TBR.
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There's a bit of a variety here,
so you're gonna go for some darker,
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more angsty ones and some historical
rom-com light and fluffy ones.
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So let's start with those, shall we?
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So the first one is the
Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare.
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This has a marriage of convenience.
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It's a beauty and the beast
retelling, grumpy, sunshine,
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forced proximity, and a slow burn.
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Imagine that you have this
grumpy, brooding, scarred Duke.
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And he is in need of a wife,
not because he wants one,
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but because he needs an heir.
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And then there's this bold take no
crap seamstress who just wants to be
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paid for a dress that she made because
honestly, your girl is struggling.
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So that's how Emma Gladstone ends
up standing in front of the Duke of
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Ashbury in his study, wearing the
actual wedding gown that she made
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for another woman who, by the way,
ditched the Duke at the altar and she
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is demanding payment for the dress.
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But instead of a few coins, what Ashbury
proposes because he is the king of
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emotional walls and self-loathing, he
straight up proposes marriage on the spot.
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no love, no emotions, just a deal.
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So basically they will marry, she
will produce an heir, and then
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they will live separate lives.
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It sounds pretty simple except
that Emma is warm and funny, and
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she is completely unimpressed by
his grumpy, self isolating ways.
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And ashbury who genuinely
believes that his scars make him
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unlovable, starts feeling things.
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So let me tell you, this man is so
down bad before he even realizes it.
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It is the best thing that you'll read.
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And Tessa Dare gives us this
hilarious banter, ridiculously fun
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chemistry and a grumpy sunshine
dynamic that will just ruin you.
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It is such a good book.
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It's got a Touch Her and Die
Energy one bed and the softest
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kind of slow burn romance.
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It is an instant comfort read and
a book that I think that you will
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definitely want to reread several times.
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So next we have the marriage
contract by Cathy Maxwell.
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This is a marriage of convenience with
a mysterious hero, Scottish laird with
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forced proximity and a virgin heroine, as
it's often the case in historical romance.
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So we've got a well bred lady with
no fortune to recommend her, and
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the only way to secure her future
is to honor a marriage contract
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with a man that she has never met.
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It sounds pretty manageable except
that this man is Aidan Black.
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He is the exiled Earl of Tiebault that
I'm probably totally mispronouncing,
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and he is a Scottish laird surrounded
by all these dark rumors, lots
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of danger, and lots of brooding.
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So when our heroine Anne arrives at Kelwin
Castle, she's determined to fulfill the
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contract and make the marriage real.
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Because honestly, she has no other choice.
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So now let's talk a
little bit about Aiden.
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He is pure mystery, very handsome.
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He's masterful, but at the same time,
emotionally unavailable to the extreme.
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He's willing to share his
bed, but not his heart.
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And Anne is not settling for half way it's
got all the tension, all the longing, and
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a slow burn romance that is set against
the backdrop of a wild Scottish castle.
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Aiden thinks that he can keep Anne
at arm's length, but she's not about
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to let a smoldering brooding Laird
with secrets get the best of her.
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If you love a strong-willed heroine
who refuses to be ignored, Scottish
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heroes with tragic pasts, A marriage
of convenience with a side of slow
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burn and a castle full of secrets,
loyalty and reluctant romance
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that turns into so much more.
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Then this one needs to be on your list.
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It has high stakes, high emotions,
and a hero who is just going to
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wreck you before he finally gives in.
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Sign me up for all of that.
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And speaking of Scottish Lairds, we
do have an episode coming this week
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where I'm gonna be talking all about
Highlanders and historical romance, and
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I'm gonna do a Highlander Hero Showdown.
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It's gonna be lots of fun, so make
sure that you tune in for that.
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the next is by a favorite author
of mine, and it's when a Rogue
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meets his match by Elizabeth Hoyt.
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This is a marriage of
convenience, enemies to lovers.
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It's got a dangerous hero, some
forced proximity and power struggles.
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Our heroine is fiercely
independent with a sharp tongue
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and zero tolerance for nonsense.
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And suddenly, her uncle, who is the
absolute worst kind of manipulative,
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powerful aristocrat, decides that
she needs to marry his fixer.
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Our heroine Messalina is witty,
vivacious, and she has her pick of
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suitors, but instead of a love match,
she's being forced into a marriage with
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a man who does her uncle's dirty work.
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That is our hero.
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Gideon Hawthorne, a man that she
neither trusts, nor respects.
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And Gideon, he is lethal, ambitious,
and he's used to being feared.
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But this is where things get interesting.
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Gideon actually wants this marriage,
and not because he's smitten yet, but
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because this is his way out, he has
spent a decade clawing his way up from
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the gutter doing whatever it takes to
survive, and now he's ready to step out
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from under the Duke of Windemere thumb
and his final task is to marry messalina.
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If he does, he gets to be his own man.
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She's not having it at all.
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She refuses to be a pawn in their
power game, and she's definitely
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not falling for a man who has
built his career on deception,
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intimidation, and very likely murder.
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So she makes a plan.
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She's gonna play along.
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She's gonna wait for the right
moment, and she's going to escape.
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Except Gideon isn't what she was expecting
at all, because let me tell you, when
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a dangerous man like Gideon decides
that he's going to protect you instead
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of destroy you, things are going to
get messy really fast because he's her
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enemy, but he's also protecting her.
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He's ruthless, but he's
offering her freedom.
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And when they finally decide to give
into their chemistry is just scorching.
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So this book is for you.
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If you love a bit of a forced
marriage that turns real very fast.
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A broody, morally gray hero who would
burn the world down for his wife.
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Lots of power struggles and sharp banter.
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A heroine who refuses to be controlled
and a hero who loves her for it.
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So bottom line, this is one of
Elizabeth Hoyt's best, and it
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gives us all of the dark angsty,
high stakes romance absolutely.
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Love this one.
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I definitely think you
need this one in your life.
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The next one is Ravishing
the Heiress by Sherry Thomas.
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This one has marriage of convenience,
unrequited love, slow burn.
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It's an angsty and emotional one, and it
also has the friends to lover's trope.
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So basically what happens here is
that our heroine is marrying the
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love of her life, but she does that
knowing that he doesn't love her back.
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And she knows that from the moment
she says I do, because he is waiting
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and counting the years until he
can leave her for someone else.
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So our heroine Millie is young,
wealthy, and very practical.
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So when her parents arrange for
her to marry the newly titled and
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deeply in Debt Fitz, she accepts.
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It is just a business
transaction and nothing more.
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He gets her money to save his family
and she gets to be a Countess.
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And because she's only 16 at the
time, they agree there's gonna
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be no touching, no love, and
just eight years of friendship.
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And then at that point there's
gonna be an heir and they will
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go live their separate lives.
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So on paper, this should work.
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Fitz is actually charming, easygoing,
completely honorable, and also he's
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utterly in love with someone else.
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He has a childhood sweetheart, a
woman that he would have married, if
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not for the fact that he was broke
and he needed Millie's money because
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that was his family's last hope.
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So Millie actually plays the perfect wife.
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She's supportive, composed, she's a
friend above all else, and never once
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does she let him see that somewhere
along the way she fell in love with him.
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And for his part, Fitz actually adores
her, not romantically, but in a deep way.
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She's his best friend, his confidant.
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The person that he
trusts most in the world.
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But as that eight year mark is approaching
his first love, Isabella returns, she
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is now a widow, newly available, and
she's ready to be with him at last.
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So suddenly everything that Millie
has built is about to shatter.
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So what's gonna happen now, because she's
spent a decade pretending that she doesn't
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love her husband and he's about to leave.
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She's also played the dutiful friend for
years, and suddenly maybe he's looking
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at her a little bit different in the
moment that he finally says, I want you.
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It's also the moment that
he's about to leave her.
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The slow burn in this one is
painful, in the best way possible.
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Fitz, takes so long to realize that.
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Just maybe real love was actually
unfolding in front of his eyes and
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not with the woman from his past,
but with the wife who has been there
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by his side every step of the way.
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This one is great if you love a
devastatingly angsty longing and
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full of slow burn tension romance.
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If you want a marriage of
convenience where one person
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is actually secretly in love.
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And some deep painful pining with
the most satisfying emotional payoff.
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This book will just break
you in the best way.
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It's so romantic, it's beautifully written
and it's an absolute must read for fans
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of really emotional, historical romance.
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And then the last book that I have for
you guys here today is You're The Problem.
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It's You by Emma r Alban.
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So this one has Lavender Marriage Enemies,
the Lovers Queer Historical Romance.
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It's got forced proximity, some
mutual pining and political intrigue.
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So this is not quite the traditional
marriage of convenience, but
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trust me, there's going to be a
marriage of convenience at the end.
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And I did wanna include a
lavender marriage in here as well.
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So we have two aristocratic men in
Victorian England who are forced
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into each other's orbit over and over
again, and they're trying very hard
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not to strangle each other because they
don't necessarily like each other very
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much, but also maybe they're trying to
avoid to kiss each other's senseless.
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That's basically Bobby and James.
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They are.
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On paper, two complete opposites.
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So Bobby is loud, brash, ambitious.
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He's tired of being overlooked as
the spare by his family, and he
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wants to do something that matters.
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Also watching nobility waste
their powers, makes him feral.
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And then you have James.
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He is quiet controlled.
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00:15:54
He is resigned to keep his head down
because surviving his stepfather's
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household has taught him that expecting
anything only leads to disappointment.
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So, deep down he wants, but he just
doesn't believe that he can have.
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Bobby on the other hand
is Infuriatingly alive.
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He is too much.
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He is too everything.
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And unfortunately, that's the
exact person that James crushed
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on in secret back at Oxford.
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So what do we have now?
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We have some meddling cousins who refuse
to let them avoid each other any longer.
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Beth and Gwen, who orchestrate every
coincidental run in possible, there's
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social outings, family gatherings,
and probably a few not so accidental.
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Oops.
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That leave them alone in a
carriage for a few moments.
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But Bobby and James spend every one
of those encounters glaring at each
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other while trying not to notice how
unfairly attractive the other one is.
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But then, because obviously things have
to get even more complicated, someone
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starts to blackmail their families and
threatening to expose their secrets,
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that could just ruin everything for them.
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00:16:57
So suddenly these two men who can't
have one civil conversation with
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each other have to work together and
you know what's gonna happen next.
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There's some enemies to lover's
action, some forced proximity, lots of
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unresolved tension and snapping at each
other at the worst possible moment.
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Plus all the lingering stares and
the heated arguments and the mutual
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pining until they get to the part
where maybe I don't hate you anymore.
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The best part of it all is, I
think this one has a great lavender
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marriage done right in a time where
being openly queer is not an option.
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This story gives us a romance that
feels deeply historical, but also deeply
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hopeful because what starts as impossible
for them slowly becomes unavoidable.
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So I think if you love queer
historical romances and plenty
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of banter in an enemies to
lovers romance with soft moments.
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Also with lots of tension and a
bit of matchmaking shenanigans,
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and I think you're gonna really
enjoy this one as your next read.
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So that's all I have for you
guys today with our marriages of
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00:17:56
convenience in historical romance.
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I would love to hear from you guys,
what are your favorite marriages of
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:
00:18:01
convenience in historical romance?
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So drop your recommendations in the
comments and if you've read any of the
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books that I talked about here, also
let me know what you thought of them.
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As always, you can find even
more recommendations on the blog
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at underthecoversbookblog.com.
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So be sure you check that out.
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And also don't forget to subscribe
to our free substack so that you
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don't miss any of the content that
we post across all of our platforms.
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If you're tuning in on YouTube,
don't forget to like this video,
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:
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subscribe to the channel and hit
that bell notification so you don't
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:
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miss any new videos that we post.
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If you wanna find us on social, all
of those links are going to be in the
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description box down below as well.
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And for now, that's all I have for you
guys, and I will see you in the next one.
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Bye.
