Unmasked by the Marquess

Reread January 2021
Original Review to Follow

Reread rating more like three stars.



The melodrama is strong with this one.

I'll take the first 42-44 percent and the last 10 percent and you can have all that in the middle that's melodrama and people not discussing things like adults and not listening to each other and just...If anyone had behaved in a reasonable manner, this book would have been half the length.

But, no. Let's have them make poor, senseless decisions because otherwise... sigh Otherwise I might have thought this book was as amazing as I did the first time, instead of an exercise in frustration, wanting to slam the leads heads together in hopes of having them behave like people with a lick of sense between them.

I am not fond of romances that hinge on misunderstandings - but this one hinges on lack of communication and simply not wanting to make the decision sooner. Because the resolution? It was suggested in full long before the end of the book - but, oh no, it wouldn't do to have leads in a romance behave in a normal, sensible manner instead of lovelorn fools.

(I am bitter and upset. I still love Sebastian's work - but if this is a hint of what I can expect from her F/M pairings... I don't know how this is going to work.)

(Side note: Robin is genderqueer but likes the she/her pronouns and Alistair is bisexual.)


Original Review


If Sebastian wasn't already a favorite of mine, this book would have launched her there. I love and adore Charity/Robert/Robin. She is wonderful and delightful and just...I adore her. Alistair was...odd. I liked him for the first half of the book and the last quarter or so, but there was some time in between where he just aggravated me. If I had to make one complaint, it would be that, once again, the couple was having sex by the 50% mark. I mean, in this book it sorta worked, though it could have been pushed back a little, because it influenced the way Alistair especially behaved. I'm just so feed up with what seems to be the rule that the couple has to have sex by the 50% mark. It annoys me.

Anyway, this story is wonderful and Robin is wonderful and I just love her. (And the story and Alistair to a lesser extent.)