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Proud Mary: A Georgian Historical Romance
- Narrated by: Alex Wyndham
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
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Publisher's summary
The Roxtons are back! Romance. Drama. Intrigue. Family secrets. There's never a dull moment for the 18th century's first family.
Widowed and destitute, Lady Mary Cavendish is left with only her pride. Daughter of an earl and great-granddaughter to a Stuart King, family expectation and obligation demands she remarry. But not just any man will do; her husband must rank among the nobility. Falling in love with her handsome and enigmatic neighbor is out of the question. As always, Mary will do her duty and ignore her heart.
Country squire Christopher Bryce has secretly loved his neighbor Mary for many years. Yet he is resigned to the cruel reality they are not social equals, and thus can never share a future together. Never mind that his scandalous past and a heartbreaking secret make him thoroughly unworthy of such a proud beauty.
Then into their lives steps a ghost from Mary's past, whose outrageous behavior has Mary questioning her worldview and Christopher acting upon his feelings, and for all to see. The mismatched couple begin to wonder if in fact love can prevail - that a happily ever after might just be possible if only they dare to follow their hearts.
Fans of the series will also delight in being reacquainted with the fascinating, always surprising, and never ordinary members of the Roxton family.
Part of the highly acclaimed Roxton Family saga.
Non-explicit, mild sensuality
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Though raised as a gentleman's daughter, Lorna Gordon is obliged to take a position as an upstairs maid at Blackhall Castle when her father dies. Alex Russell, the Duke of Kinross, is the most tempting man she's ever seen - and completely unattainable until, at a fancy dress ball, Lorna disguises herself as Marie Antoinette and pursues an illicit tryst, with scandalous consequences.
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Excellent!
- By Lady M on 12-16-16
By: Karen Ranney
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Marry in Haste
- Marriage of Convenience Series, Book 1
- By: Anne Gracie
- Narrated by: Charlotte Anne Dore
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Major Calborne Rutherford returns to England on the trail of an assassin, only to find he's become Lord Ashendon, with the responsibility for vast estates and dependent relatives. Cal can command the toughest of men, but his wild half-sisters are quite another matter. They might just be his undoing. When he discovers that Miss Emmaline Westwood, the girls' former teacher, guides them with ease, Cal offers her a marriage of convenience.
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Ruined by the robotic narrator.
- By Cate F. on 05-29-17
By: Anne Gracie
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More than a Mistress
- Mistress Series, Book 1
- By: Mary Balogh
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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An arrogant duke does the unthinkable - he falls in love with his mistress.... She raced onto the green, desperate to stop a duel. In the mêlée, Jocelyn Dudley, Duke of Tresham, was shot. To his astonishment, Tresham found himself hiring the servant as his nurse. Jane Ingleby was far too bold for her own good. Her blue eyes were the sort a man could drown in - were it not for her impudence. She questioned his every move, breached his secrets, touched his soul. When he offered to set her up in his London town house, love was the last thing on his mind.
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I enjoyed this book...
- By Heather on 08-10-11
By: Mary Balogh
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How to Marry a Duke
- By: Vicky Dreiling
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Jasicki
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In Vicky Dreiling’s enchanting Regency romance debut, Tristan - the rakish duke of Shelbourne - wants to marry and sire an heir. To help him choose among the dizzying array of wealthy but witless candidates, he secures the services of prim and proper matchmaker Miss Tessa Mansfield. But as Tessa seeks the perfect mate, the duke finds himself distracted by Tessa’s considerable charms.
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This Narrator Ruins The Story
- By Ajm220 on 03-14-12
By: Vicky Dreiling
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His Wicked Reputation
- By: Madeline Hunter
- Narrated by: Mary Jane Wells
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Gareth Fitzallen is celebrated for four things: his handsome face, his notable charm, his aristocratic connections, and an ability to give the kind of pleasure that has women begging for more. Normally he bestows his talents on experienced, worldly women. But when he heads to Langdon's End to restore a property he inherited - and to investigate a massive art theft - he lays plans to seduce a most unlikely lady.
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Surprisingly good!
- By Jonna on 03-28-15
By: Madeline Hunter
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The Scoundrel's Daughter
- Brides of Bellaire Gardens Series, Book 1
- By: Anne Gracie
- Narrated by: Christine Rendel
- Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Alice, Lady Charlton, is finally free of her dominating husband, but on the verge of her new life, she is trapped when a blackmailer threatens to publish letters that could ruin her. To protect the secrets of her past Alice must find a lord for his daughter, Lucy, to marry. Alice reluctantly agrees to find the girl a noble husband but when Lucy arrives, she's difficult and uncooperative and has no interest in her father's scheme. A lord, she says, will only look down his nose at her-and she's having none of that! Desperate, Alice enlists the aid of her handsome young nephew.
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Stopped listening @ Ch14 bc of coercive "romance"
- By potsherds on 01-20-22
By: Anne Gracie
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A Secret Affair
- Huxtable, Book 5
- By: Mary Balogh
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Once the temepestuous Hannah Reid, Duchess of Dunbarton, and dangerous Constantine Huxtable, two passionate and scandalous figures, find each other, they discover that it isn’t so easy to extricate oneself from the fires of desire - without getting singed. For the duchess and the dark lord each have startling secrets to reveal, and when all is said and done, neither will be able to say which one fell in love first, who tamed whom, and who has emerged from this game of hearts with the stronger hand.
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Way better than first reviewer's one!
- By LuvMyHome on 10-02-10
By: Mary Balogh
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About a Rogue
- Desperately Seeking Duke
- By: Caroline Linden
- Narrated by: Beverley A. Crick
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Bianca Tate is horrified when her sister Cathy is obliged to accept an offer of marriage from Maximilian St. James, notorious rake. Defiantly, she helps Cathy elope with her true love and takes her sister’s place at the altar. Perched on the lowest branch of his family tree, Max has relied on charm and cunning to survive. But an unexpected stroke of luck gives him an outside chance at a dukedom - and which Tate sister he weds hardly seems to matter. Married or not, Bianca is determined to protect her family’s prosperous ceramics business, even when Max shows an affinity for it.
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Story through internal thoughts and over-telling
- By Laurie S on 08-01-21
By: Caroline Linden
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Lyon's Bride
- The Chattan Curse, Book 1
- By: Cathy Maxwell
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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They call him Lord Lyon, proud, determined - and cursed. He is in need of a bride, but if he falls in love, he dies. His fervent hope is that by marrying - and having a son - without love, perhaps he can break the curse's chains forever. Enter beautiful Thea Martin - a duke's headstrong, errant daughter and society's most brilliant matchmaker. Years ago, she and Lyon were inseparable, until he disappeared from her life without a word. Now she is charged with finding Lyon's bride - a woman he cannot love for a man Thea could love too well.
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Good Story - Wonderful Narrator
- By Lia on 11-19-12
By: Cathy Maxwell
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An Heiress at Heart
- By: Jennifer Delamere
- Narrated by: Jill Tanner
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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With An Heiress at Heart, Jennifer Delamere delivers the first in a historical romance series sure to set hearts aflame. After five years in exile for a youthful indiscretion, Lizzie Poole is given a second chance to join London society when her best friend, Ria, takes to her death bed and asks Lizzie to assume her identity. Ria wants Lizzie to carry out her final wishes, but neither knows that Lord Somerville has designs on Ria - and that maintaining the ruse will put Lizzie’s heart at risk.
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A Captivating Read
- By Rita Henriquez-Green on 12-15-22
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If Ever I Should Love You
- A Spinster Heiresses Novel
- By: Cathy Maxwell
- Narrated by: Mary Jane Wells
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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He's inherited a title, but not a penny to speak of, so the Earl of Rochdale knows he must find a wife - preferably one tolerably pretty and good-tempered but definitely wealthy, and who will exchange her fortune for his family name. His choice: Leonie Charnock, one of the season's "Spinster Heiresses". Years before, the earl had saved the dark-eyed beauty's reputation, and she is still breathtakingly lovely, leading Rochdale to hope that their marriage will be more than in name only.
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Hero makes me a little stabby
- By V. T. on 03-05-19
By: Cathy Maxwell
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Potent Pleasures
- The Pleasures Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Eloisa James
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
- Length: 15 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Reckless desire sends Charlotte Daicheston into the garden with a dashing masked stranger. He's powerful and unforgettable, a devastatingly handsome footman who lures her - not against her will - into a grand indiscretion at a masquerade ball. Then he vanishes. Several years later, after Charlotte has made her dazzling debut in London society, they meet again. But the rogue is no footman. He's rich, titled, and he doesn't remember Charlotte. Worse, he's the subject of some scandalous gossip.
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A Mind "F" in the Best Possible Way
- By Cynthia on 12-23-14
By: Eloisa James
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What listeners say about Proud Mary: A Georgian Historical Romance
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ginny Aybar-Flores
- 06-16-17
Love it!
Would you listen to Proud Mary again? Why?
Of course!
Any additional comments?
Once again Lucinda weaves a love story with a twist in it! Mary Cavendish, having been a widow for several years now, is pressured by her mother to remarry and to remarry well in order to return to polite society. Evelyn has offered to marry her but also noticed the attraction between Mary and Christopher. The twist here is that Evelyn has given Mary a month to think about it before making it official, while he gave Christopher a month to be with Mary to 'get her out of his system'. Thus, the story of true love begins and in the end of the month, Mary and Christopher admits their love for each other.
Thank you, Lucinda, for keeping us entertained with your fabulous stories and Alex Wyndham for your wonderful performance!
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3 people found this helpful
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- TH
- 10-23-23
Alex Wyndham is excellent
lots of twists and turns. you could actually read this stand alone but it helps to know the history of the family. Mr. Wyndham brings life to the characters and his female voices are spot on. With books read by women I find it is hard for them to pull off a male voice and that is super distracting.
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- darlingdeb
- 11-30-22
author author narrator narrator!!
I absolutely love this series but what makes it so amazing is Alex Wyndham. I have never heard a man narrate and do all the different voices male and female as well as Mr Wyndham. in fact I dream about his voice lol. this story was absolutely wonderful.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-04-20
I love these series!
I am obsessed with Alex Wyndham's voice! the story is captivating! what a Great Read.
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- Shelley
- 09-01-20
Downer after first book in this series
After reading the first book in the series, I expected this story to continue where the first book left off and connect better with it. Although this is a decent enough book, The characters were quite boring and the story became too unrealistic. Alex Wyndham was wonderful as usual. I haven’t decided if I am going to read book 3 or not.
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- Jaci
- 01-16-19
Another Roxton Masterpiece
Roxton Family Saga Book 4. I have fallen in love with The Georgian Era. It is so rich with history, clothing, the manners, and idiosyncrasies of the Aristocrats and Quality who inhabited the time period. Lucinda's books are historically correct and her books are character driven. If you have read the other books in this series you will love this one too and if you haven't this lovely book can be read as a stand-alone story.
Christopher Bryce is a local landowner who has been put in the difficult position of overseeing his late neighbors estate and co-guardian of his daughter. Lady Mary resents the intrusion into her life and her beloved daughter Teddy. Her marriage to Sir Gerald was not a happy one. Now she has another arrogant male to deal with. She is not allowed to leave the estate with her daughter. She can visit her family but cannot take Teddy with her.
Mary is furious with her late husband's will. She is not allowed to make any decisions that affect her household or worse her daughter. She presents a haughty prim, proud mask that hides the vulnerable, lovely woman who deserves to be happy. The only one who sees the real Mary is her daughter Teddy. The only saving grace is the way he and Teddy get along. Teddy calls him Uncle Bryce. Mary knows that Christopher loves Teddy too and she tolerates him because he will protect Teddy with his life.
Christopher is also keeping his true feelings for Mary behind a mask of politeness. He knows how her stupid unfeeling husband treated her. He is secretly in love with Mary and has been for years. He knows that she doesn't feel the same way. What he doesn't realize is that members of Mary's family are on his side. Roxton, Antonia, and Debra just want Mary to be happy and fall in love, and they will do anything to make Mary realize it's ok to let down her guard.
This story has many layers like a sweet and tart dessert that will have you craving more. Lucinda's stories are always centered around her characters and the Roxton family are simply Marvelous. Mary, Christopher, and Teddy are so lifelike they jump right off the pages and into your heart.
I cannot wait to listen to the next book in the Series. The Satyr's Son.
The remarkable writing by Lucinda only adds to the riveting performance of the narrator Alex Wyndham.
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- Kimberly K. Walters
- 04-02-18
Excellent
Absolutely love this series that I am binge listening! Can't wait to listen to Noble Satyr.
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- Alexandra
- 05-26-20
Lovely story and amazing narrator!
I'm loving all the books in the series, the narrator is extraordinary and Proud Mary is another entertaining story with lovely characters.
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- Bonnie K
- 02-24-22
Family Secrets
More secrets are uncovered in this 4th book of the series. There’s so much to discover while also enjoying the romances of the Roxton Family. I love the way Ms. Brant writes and thoroughly enjoy the narrator.
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- Lady Wesley
- 09-09-17
Lucinda Brant & Alex Wyndham never disappoint
The author/narrator team of Lucinda Brant and Alex Wyndham has produced another winner. And the Roxton Family Saga continues, with the Autumn 2017 release of Satyr's Son, the story of Henri-Antoine Hesham, the beloved younger son of Antonia and her Monseigneur. I have it on good authority that he is indeed his father's son!
Lucinda Brant's fifth volume in the Roxton Family Saga is every bit as good as the four novels that preceded it, and they were all solid five-star reads in my opinion. Historical romance series featuring large families and covering a sizable period of time are one of my favorites, and the Roxton books fill that bill. The series begins in Paris in 1745, moves to Georgian England, and covers nearly thirty years, during which the expected births, deaths, love affairs, marriages, and babies occur.
Proud Mary opens in 1777 and features Lady Mary Cavendish, widow of Sir Gerald Cavendish, Bt., who has been dead for two years. Sir Gerald and Lady Mary were minor characters in the earlier books, where we learned that Gerald was a conceited bag of hot air who was shunned by Polite Society, disliked by his neighbors, and cruel to his wife and daughter. Lady Mary was completely under his thumb, which is not surprising since she grew up with a domineering snob of a mother, the Countess of Strathsay.
Sir Gerald was both impressed and envious that Mary was the daughter of an earl, a great-granddaughter of King Charles II, and a cousin to the Duchess of Roxton. Indeed, beginning when she was twelve, Mary had spent the happiest years of her life living at Roxton's estate as a member of the family. When she returned to her mother, Lady Strathsay drilled into Mary's head that women of her station had a higher calling than their inferiors, that she must precisely follow the rigid rules of society, and that she owed a duty to her noble lineage to marry well and produce sons. Mary was so browbeaten and miserable that she accepted an arranged marriage to Sir Gerald.
Now Sir Gerald is dead, leaving Mary with a nice estate (for her lifetime), Abbeywood, and a mountain of debts. In a final act of maliciousness, Gerald named the local squire, Christopher Bryce, as co-guardian, with the Duke of Roxton, of Mary's daughter Theodora. “Teddy,” as she is known to all is a ten-year-old tomboy who likes nothing better than riding and hiking the wilds of Gloucestershire. She has no desire to visit London or her Roxton cousins at their palatial estate, Treat. Indeed, although Teddy is ignorant of it, Squire Bryce has followed Sir Gerald's command to forbid Teddy from leaving Abbeywood, other than her yearly visit to her grandmother in Cheltenham. She adores her “Uncle Christopher,” and he clearly returns the feeling. Seeing the sweet interplay between them is the first hint that Christopher has a heart beneath his overly sober exterior.
Christopher is charged with running Abbeywood and helping retire the debts that Gerald left behind. He is a strict administrator, and Mary chafes under his budgetary restraints, as well as his refusal to allow Teddy to meet the rest of her family. Mary politely loathes him, and while he is punctiliously correct toward Mary, he has quietly been in love with her since he returned to Gloucestershire eight years ago.
Christopher's years away from home are a mystery to Mary and the rest of their neighbors, and Christopher knows that his shameful secrets from that time would horrify a gentle lady such as Mary. For reasons unknown, he left suddenly for the Continent at the age of eighteen and cut himself off entirely from his parents. More than a decade later, he returned home to nurse his dying mother and brought his blind Aunt Kate to live with him. Unbeknownst to everyone, he also has done a bit of spying for England's Spymaster General, Lord Shrewsbury, and to that end he had befriended Sir Gerald, whom Shrewsbury suspected of selling secrets to the French.
Squire Bryce was portrayed as dour and tyrannical in the previous Roxton book Dair Devil, which led me to have some skepticism about his suitability as a hero in this book. Ms. Brant, however, cleverly allows the reader to discover the real Christopher at the same time that Mary does. They begin to have forthright conversations, and along with Mary we learn that Christopher is an honorable man, with strong principles but also strong emotions, which he keeps deeply hidden. Christopher grows more deeply in love with Mary, but knowing that she is an aristocrat and he is the son of nobody, he accepts that there can never be anything between them. He also comes to realize that Gerald had lied and exaggerated about virtually everything – even claiming that Roxton was Teddy's true father. Gerald was no spy, Christopher decides, and so the hunt must continue.
Mary feels an attraction to Christopher, but she does not consider him as a possible mate even though she is desperately lonely. When speaking of her cousin Antonia, recently remarried after the old Duke's death, Mary considered her own situation. She was thirty years old and had never been in love or been loved by a worthy man. She had never shared a passionate kiss with any man, nor had the selfish Sir Gerald ever shown her pleasure in the marriage bed. She loves her daughter with all her heart but hopes she still has the capacity to love a man. Since her mother was insisting that it was Mary's duty to her family to marry again, perhaps she would find love with a new husband.
When Teddy announces one evening that there is a ghost in the house, Christopher and Mary join forces to discover tangible evidence of an intruder and set out to detect his true identity. His unmasking turns their little world upside down and threatens to bring an end to their budding romance, for the ghost is actually the man whom Mary once hoped to marry. I won't disclose more, as I think the clever twists and turns of this story should not be spoiled.
Mary and Christopher make a lovely couple, and all of my misgivings about him melted away. In fact, by the time Mary realizes that she has fallen in love with him, I was a little bit in love too. It was wonderful to watch Mary fall for him, always fighting her mother's little voice in her head pointing out his unsuitability for an earl's daughter. Equally wonderful was watching Mary gain confidence in herself and fighting to overcome the years of being denigrated and bullied by her mother and her husband. Christopher, for his part, gradually and with great reluctance reveals his past to a shocked Mary, expecting at every turn that she will turn away from him in disgust. Of course, she does not.
I always feel a bit like a time traveler when reading one of Ms. Brant's books. Using her impeccable research, she creates such an authentic 18th-century world, and employing her wonderful imagination, she writes multi-layered stories with intricate plots. These talents are put to particularly good use in Proud Mary. I think that we 21st-century readers often have a difficult time appreciating the class-based strictures of the past, and many authors who write cross-class romances downplay the difficulties that would have faced the duke who married his housekeeper, for example. Ms. Brant does not fall into the trap of making things easy for Mary and Christopher, however, and I felt a better understanding of how oppressive, yet widely accepted, the class structure was. It helps here that Mary's Roxton relations were accepting of their relationship, but then we have seen in earlier books that they are somewhat non-conformist and powerful enough to do as they please.
As Christopher and Mary work toward their happily ever after, we get to see all of her extended family – Cousin Antonia, formerly the Dowager Duchess of Roxton and now the Duchess of Kinross; her lusciously sexy husband, Jonathan; her son Julian, now the duke, his wife, Deb, and their growing brood of adorable children; and her schoolboy younger son Henri-Antoine and his pal Jack Cavendish, who will succeed to Sir Gerald's title upon reaching his majority. Besides her Roxton relatives, we also see Mary's brother Dair, now the Earl of Strathsay, and his wife, Rory, and of course, Mary and Dair's mother, Lady Strathsay. They, along with young Teddy, all play a role in bringing Christopher and Mary together – well, except for Mary's mother, who is appalled by the mismatch. One of my favorite scenes was when Mary tells her mother what's what.
Ms. Brant has said that her next book will be Henri-Antoine's story, but dare we hope that someday there is one pairing Teddy and Jack? I suppose that I am looking for ways for the Roxton Family Saga to continue for a long time. I will add that while Proud Mary can be read as a standalone, there is much more pleasure to be had by reading the series in order and learning to know and love this family as much as I and many other readers have. Each book has been a joy to read, and I cannot recommend them highly enough.
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