I've loved all of the books I've read by her but this one really lagged. In all honesty, I didn't finish it, I just wanted to get it off my currently reading shelf. ( )

In the first novel of this new series, Courtney Milan takes readers on a journey. At first, the novel boasts some hallmark tropes that makes readers feel like they're going to be reading something light and fluffy. There's a marquess coming to swoop in and save the woman he's always loved as she's fallen on hard times. There's a big, quirky family with plenty of shenanigans, and finally the hero and heroine rekindle their love after he has "wronged" her years ago. Except, as with all Milan books, it's not as straightforward as that, and that's why this book is worth your while.

One of the things I love about Milan is that her leading couple are always so rational. There's none of this nonsense where they don't talk to each other, and so all of the drama is driven from their lack of communication skills. It's not aspirational. It's annoying and lazy. As a result, Milan is continually keeping her readers guessing as they figure out how to take their relationship to the next level. It's fresh and interesting.

Judith is shown muscling through poverty and family tragedy in an effort to help the last of her siblings have the life she never had. She's definitely the serious one in the relationship while Christian is the goofy one bouncing off of her. He's driven by guilt for having turned her father and oldest brother in for treason. Any other romance novel would not have dealt with such a serious subject, but if they did, it would be handled as a "misunderstanding". However, in this case, Milan deftly shows the different ways of viewing right and wrong while miraculously keeping all of her characters as lovable good guys.

Judith spends the majority of the book wanting to and striving to get back to the way things were, but Christian comes in and helps show her that she doesn't need to attain the status quo to be happy. The Worths can make their own happiness their own way. It's a story that actually takes into account what the Victorians would've cared about as a society, but when Milan rewards her resourceful heroine with a marriage to a marquess, it still feels genuine. It doesn't feel overly sugary or out of place. You feel relieved that finally Judith can breathe, and the readers breathe with her.

This story is definitely a romance, but it's also a story about healing and facing reality. The family dynamics are realistic, especially considering the fact that Judith's younger siblings are teenagers. Overall, it's very sweet, even if the ending is quite abrupt. Personally, I would've preferred a bigger, more dramatic declaration of love, but it's still nice as it is. If you want a story with heart and drama, I highly recommend this book.
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So good! ( )

Courtney Milan does it again! Utterly unique and compelling characters, fascinating plots; THIS is what historical romance should be! No pathetic waifs with torn bodices or heroes who illustrate their "strength" by being asses - complex, multidimensional, imperfect heroes and heroines that are completely relateable. And the dialog had me laughing out loud! Yay for a new series!(4.5 stars) ( )

Read in preparation for a new book out. Loved the characters per usual and gripped by the steady reveal of all the consequences upon consequences of the vital past (especially for Camilla, which sounded like a plot summary of some Samuel Richardson saga, and I mean this in a good, I-want-to-read-more, way; cue next book). The only thing was the ending came quicker than I expected. Perhaps I'm still adjusting to romance pacing? or perhaps I was expecting the resolution of the Camilla subplot (which in fact is deferred to an epilogue/book 2). I'd just expected more something between the last time she pushed him away and the last time he came back. But this was the only thing that glitched an otherwise smoothly pleasant reading experience. ( )

This is the first book in a planned 7 book series (that I think includes planned novelllas too) about the Worth family. Based on this book we know that the Worths are Judith, her younger brother Benedict and younger sisters Theresa and Camilla. Judith's older brother Anthony is presumed dead after he was sent away after being tried and found guilty for treason. Judith is left alone to raise her brother and sisters after the family is left in squalor after their father commits suicide.

I really did like Judith. We find out quickly she is quite resourceful and she has done everything in her power to save money to ensure her sisters get a chance at decent matches and her brother can attend Eton. She also must be part saint because the crap she kept putting up with via her sister Theresa would have had me committing a murder. Judith doing whatever she can to just put food on the table was interesting to read. I did laugh a little bit over her saying that "salt fixes everything" when referring to turnip sandwiches (FYI they sound disgusting). I also felt sorry for Judith who was left alone to clean up her father and brother's mess and left with two very difficult sisters and a young brother. We do have Judith wanting to make amends to her sister Camilla. It takes a long winding road to figure out what happened to lead the sisters to becoming estranged to one another.

There are several issues that are going on that end up leading Christian Trent, the Marquess of Ashford (the man who was best friends with Judith's older brother and the one who found out that he committed treason) back to Judith. Christian is haunted by what he did to his best friend. Also he and Judith at the time had an understanding that they would be engaged at the end of her season. Instead, Judith's family was ruined and she never spoke to Christian again. Christian is hoping that he can get Judith to care for him again.

I wish that I had any sense of chemistry between Judith and Christian. I really didn't think they fit at all. And can I say that I hated that Christian in my opinion was condescending a lot with regards to Judith's feelings. She is upset several times during the story and all he does is tell bad chicken jokes and other things and pushes back when she reacts upset that he won't just let her be upset. I hate that crap. I have a friend that does that. To me you are not trying to jolly me out of a bad mood. You just want me to ignore my upset so it doesn't ruin your good time.

Christian also irked me because he also had the nerve to be shocked at the state of the home that Judith and her siblings lived in and how nothing matched and looked threadbare. I mean are you serious? Did he think she somehow came up with a pot of gold and lived in a mansion? It was really tone deaf.

I also didn't like the fact that I think Milan was trying to portray Christian as having OCD. It just came out of the blue really. He acted completely normal around Judith and around other people he was "odd." He also had his night terrors which apparently he had since he was a child and had a drug addiction by way of his mother to boot. There was a lot going on with Christian and not enough time to develop him fully in my opinion.

The secondary characters really don't get a chance to develop either by the way. I thought Theresa was a straight up brat and I couldn't believe that no one would say to her that her feeding every stray cat in the area meant less money for Judith to feed herself and her brother and sister. I was sick of Theresa and her acting like an asshole because she kept finding double meanings in everything so she would use that as an excuse once again to not do something.

Benedict was interesting as a character, but once again we don't spend a lot of time with him. I also called b.s. on Benedict figuring out something before Judith did and not telling her about it.

I thought the writing was okay though I did find a typo that gave me pause. It took me a few minutes to realize that Milan meant to write hand and not head. The main plot of Judith using Christian to figure out why she couldn't access some money she secretly set aside was not that interesting. That storyline dragged. And throw in the storyline of Christian needing Anthony's old journals so he could determine if someone else was involved with Anthony's treason made me say why does this matter at all.

I also though the reasoning behind Anthony's treason was really dumb. I can't imagine that someone would do what he did knowing what the repercussions would be to his family.

The ending was quite abrupt and was left on a cliffhanger that I didn't appreciate at all. We also are clued into a secret that Christian discovers and Judith figures out as well. I just rolled my eyes throughout because once again the reasoning behind it made no sense.

I hope that the next book takes time to build up the next hero and heroine. ( )

Good read that doesn't fall for bad tropes

Delightful Victorian romance that didn't once fall prey to the cringy tropes so common to the genre. So glad the next book is almost here. ( )

Once Upon a Marquess is a subject often explored but hard to get enough of. Following the heart. Matters of the heart are always complicated and sometimes hard to understand. Which way do I turn? What decision do I make? The truth of the matter is that anything worth having having is never easy. Thus being true to oneself is the only thing that matters. Ashford and Judith are working toward figuring that out. ( )

3.3 stars

Look, I'm a Milan fangirl, so I kind of feel like you'll have to pry my Milan books from my cold bony dead fingers but I do get what you all were saying about this book. Have you ever put something together and then turned around to discover there are still some parts left in the bag? (Ikea, not for noobs) Well, I feel like Milan had this problem but instead of hiding the evidence in a blackhole drawer, she jammed them into any nook and cranny she could find.

We have the Worth family whose father was found guilty of treason, especially scandalous because he is an Earl, and hung (hangs?) himself in jail. The eldest brother is found guilty of knowing about it and put on a ship to be deported for 7yrs. This book starts us off with the second eldest, Judith. She's left to take care of the younger siblings, Camilla, Benedict, and Theresa. Camilla goes AWOL right away, way to go Judith. The storyline of searching for Camilla weaves in and out, perhaps a innocent small screw that came from our leftover bag.

"I thought about it," he finally said. "But here's the thing about having been in love that first time: I always knew, every time after, that what I was faced with was a pale imitation. I never found someone else I could trust with my soul. After the first time, nothing else was acceptable."

Christian is our Marquess and he was a childhood friend of the eldest brother Anthony and as younger sisters and older brother friends are wont to do (my favorite trope, by the way) Christian and Judith fell in love. However, Christian was selected to look into the evidence against father Worth and Anthony and so he had a hand in convicting Judith's family, thus stripping her of her status and life she had always known. Christian's part in the conviction was pivotal in creating the crack between our couple and I think would have really worked if we didn't have all the other distractions going on. I'll scientifically call this a missing "doohickey", it definitely belongs but probably not placed how and where it should have been.

Now, where things went a little awry for me and what seems like a 2X4 stuck into our book, were Christian's Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, night terrors, and opium addiction, Theresa's "I'm not bratty, I'm different", and Benedict's little big secret. Christian's and Theresa's issues are there to give the characters depth, which I constantly discuss wanting, but jammed in, they lost some of their value. I couldn't get a beat on Christian, his jokes at importune times were off tune and while it's important to set characters up for future books, I could have done with less Theresa. Benedict's little big secret is pretty obvious as the story goes on but the explanation was extremely rushed at the end.

"It isn't all my fault," Judith said. "It's just all on my shoulders. Try it, sometime, and see how well you do."

As always, the Milan heroine is who and what I liked best, bless Judith. If I was in charge, you can bet Theresa's cat loving heart would be the first butt out of Dodge (anyone else sneeze a couple times imaging living in this house?). Judith was strong and heartbreakingly human in her breakdown. Even though she and Christian didn't have the complete emotional depth, chemistry, and passion I like between my leads, they have some devastating moments, in both good and bad ways.

"If I'd married," she said softly, "I would never know what I was capable of doing. It turns out that when you take away my kid gloves and my morning dresses, I can do quite a bit. This may sound ridiculous, but I'm proud of myself."

This is first in a seven (7!!!) planned series and I get it, I really do, this book fell to first in a series syndrome because this kind of series arc requires one hell of a set-up. It's not the best Milan book I've ever read and it's parts might not fit together all right but there can still be beauty in disorder and this book has little parts of that. I don't think this will be a favorite of many but I do think you're going to want to read it if you plan on continuing with the series, lots of Worth family information that will be good to know for future books. The next in the series is a novella featuring Daisy, a friend of Judith's, and then book two will feature the AWOL Camilla. Hopefully, the unnecessarily necessary added in parts that felt disjointed in this book won't be needed in the next as the reader has the Worth family story now. Reading the synopsis for the whole series has me giddy for future books.

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This is not a drill, I repeat not a drill! This has (finally) been released!

Sorry work, catch ya on the flip side!

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awesome, real characters. ( )

Lady Judith Worth has done everything in her power to keep her world and that of her younger siblings as normal as possible for the past eight years. Not an easy feat when your father and brother have both been accused of treason, the former committing suicide and the latter disappearing after being sentenced to transportation those same eight years ago. When Judith reaches a problem she can't resolve on her own, she finally reaches out to her former beau, Christian Trent, Marquess of Ashford. Spending time together reminds them both of the strong connection between them, but can either of them forgive Christian for his role in bringing Judith's father and brother to trial?

If you're considering dipping your toe into historical romance as a genre, I cannot recommend Courtney Milan highly enough. She creates such vividly real characters who face believable conflicts and she also manages to be funny at the same time. For example, the running verbal gag between the lead characters in this novel about a pair of gay swans is utterly delightful. I adored this novel and was almost sad that I have few other books lined up that will keep me from diving immediately into the next book in this series. ( )

Courtney Milan does it again! Utterly unique and compelling characters, fascinating plots; THIS is what historical romance should be! No pathetic waifs with torn bodices or heroes who illustrate their "strength" by being asses - complex, multidimensional, imperfect heroes and heroines that are completely relateable. And the dialog had me laughing out loud! Yay for a new series!(4.5 stars) ( )

Once Upon A Marquess by Courtney Milan (Audio Edition)
Narrated by Rosalyn Landor

♥ ♥ ♥ By the end of this book I started to enjoy it more. Early on however, I found it confusing and almost too full of conversation, which surprises me as the conversations are usually my favourite parts! These however, would go from past to present, to hypothetical all in the space of the same paragraph. Perhaps had I actually been reading it this wouldn’t have mattered, but while listening, I found it did. The Narrator - who does a wonderful job any time I have listened to her in the past - seemed to read rather quickly, not “fast” as if I couldn’t understand the words, more like there was just an over abundance of them. And always repeating.. “It hurt .. for this reason, It hurt, for that reason, it hurt for more reasons.. “You must hate me … for this reason… you must hate me because… remember to hate me because.. Etc” anyway I could go on and on but then I would be repeating…

The characters Judith and Christian were quirky, and unique. The storyline was pretty good, once you dug through all the excess stuff being discussed… however it does end with a teeny cliffhanger, which I dislike. I have read one other book from this author and I enjoyed it. This book had soo many rave reviews, so I picked it up. I admit, I expected a lot better. Regardless of this book, I am sure I will try another of hers.

Original review posted at: http://paragraphsandpetticoats.blogspot.ca/ ( )

This first book in the Worth saga is full of everything that makes me love Courtney Milan. Unusual, but plausible, characters. Judith has held life together for her brother and sister for eight years and set aside money for their futures by selling clockwork designs. (BTW: I think clockwork is actually more involved in the plot of this book that in Wanted: One Scoundrel.) Christian has his own demons, concealed behind a sense of humor that usually results in exactly the wrong joke made at exactly the wrong time. Like all of Milan's heroes, he's the supportive type. They don't rescue the heroine; they just get her back while she handles the matter herself. And as always, the dialogue is witty and sharp and utterly ruins most other authors for me.

And - that cliffhanger? For the next full length book in the series, when I'm still waiting for the novella that's supposed to be forthcoming, soon? What will I do until late 2016? ( )

Brilliant! ...great beginning to a new series!

Lists and cats, opium wars, treason and disruption.
This novel has it all, tension permeates every situation along with lightning dashes of humour.
In eight years Lady Judith Worth has gone from sunny lady assured of her place in the world to a woman who struggles to survive, ensuring her brother and sister have a roof over their heads, china that if not matching, is at least not cracked--and plans for her siblings future.
Judith is a gem of a character, unusual in her mechanical interests and quirky substitute words for swearing. She is fierce in her protection of her family--younger sister, the intelligent Theresa and her cats is full of promise and I look forward to her story; youngest sibling Benedict, bullied at Eton and determined not to return, opens up for us as the story progresses; and then there's sister Camilla who chose to live away from the family and has had no contact for all this time.
The Worth family's plunge into disgrace has to do with the Opium Wars in China and the traitorous actions of their father and brother, Anthony. After their trial in the House of Lords, Judith's father committed suicide and brother Anthony was sentenced and transported to Australia. He died enroute. I liked Milan's explanation about Britain's role in the Opium wars with China. Underlying the wars was influential mercantile interests wanting trade with China, and the use opium as a commodity, forcing China to open it's borders. The introduction of opium and the assault on Chinese sovereignty had far reaching effects for that culture. It is not to be glossed over. To my mind this has always been a shameful blot on English history. That Milan has taken these wars and woven a family's history around it (in the genre of Historical Romance) is nothing short of brilliant.
To return to the Worth's. Judith has discovered that money she has earned from her clock designs has gone missing. All her efforts shed no light. She turns to the one person she doesn't want to, Christian Trent, the Marquess of Ashford; her childhood companion, her brother Anthony's best friend, the man she thought she'd marry, the man who exposed her father and brother actions, and in doing so brought them to this pass. Christian is another wonderful character, unusual, warm, with again, that delightful sense of humour that Milan imbues her characters. A man bedevilled with his own spectres and haunted by all that has happened.
Courtney Milan refers to the story as Bill and Fred's excellent adventure--no wonder her characters have such a delightful sense of the ridiculous! In her newsletter Milan mentions that she had aspects of this saga for eons, and how difficult it was to have the storyline come together. In this incarnation, the story has emerged beautifully and satisfyingly. It is filled with small gems of very human warm moments, with an underlying commentary on larger societal issues--the nature of Justice and Honour. I just loved this entree into a new series.
p.s. Do read the author's note. Enlightening and enlivening!

A NetGalley ARC ( )