The Marquess Makes His Move
Book 3 in the Clandestine Affairs Series
Rating: 3 stars
Thank you to the publisher for the ARC given through NetGalley for review. All opinions are my own.

****This review will contain spoilers****

The Marquess Makes His Move was a good read. It starts of as a quest for Alex to uncover the truth of why he was cheated out of having access to water on his land when it has been in his family for years. It is then that the decides to do some investigating while pretending to be a footman. He gets the job with the Flemings who run a very successful business in creating and printing maps. It is them who created the map where he denied the access to the water. Rose Fleming is the one who is creating them, but because she is a woman it is her husband who takes the credit and collects the monies. Rose is unaware of her husband's dealings and she's also very unaware of his secret family.
Why the 3 stars? Like I said it's a good story, but for the beginning part of the book it felt weird rooting for these two to be attracted to each other because she's married. She's been married for some time. Though we learn that they have not been intimate with each other for years. I almost DNFed because I hate cheating and love triangles in romance...but I continued reading and it is then revealed that she was never married at all. Her husband turned out to be a bigamist. (I kind of wish this would of been mentioned in the synopsis.)
Once this is revealed the story kept a good pace in which we see Rose, helped by Alex, fight for all that she deserves and actual is owner of. Even when she's still being duped by Alex, because he is no footman, but a Marquess. Poor Rose ! I felt bad for her but I enjoyed seeing her fight for what was rightfully hers in regards to Roger and in regards to Alex, she made him grovel for her forgiveness.
I did enjoy those scenes where Owen is teaching Alex in to be a proper footman.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Alex, the Marquess of Brandon, is on a revenge mission. Rose, the foremost mapmaker that hides her identity, is caught in the crosshairs. The two develop an undeniable attraction, but there are many lies and secrets between the couple that they must overcome.

I am very conflicted regarding this book. My most significant issue is in the first third of the book, one of the main characters is attached to someone else. I found this uncomfortable and problematic. However, I felt the resolution to the issue, when it came, was very satisfying. I would have liked less subterfuge and resentment in the book's last third. I felt the couple’s issues were tedious at times, and they could have been resolved much sooner. The dialogue was stilted and seemed forced between the two main characters in certain scenes.

That being said, both Alex and Rose were intricately developed, intriguing characters. The plot had many moving parts that did keep my interest. The connection between Alex and Rose was undeniable. I enjoyed sections of this book immensely, hence the conflict.

The Marquess Makes His Move is the third book in the Clandestine Affairs series. I enjoyed aspects of this book. However, the issues I have addressed hindered me from loving the book. Ultimately this is a book many readers will enjoy; it wasn’t for me.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book through Netgalley and the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

After being scammed out of his land by the treacherous mapmaker Mr. Fleming, the Marquess of Brandon goes undercover, disguising himself as a footman in order to infiltrate Fleming's household. In the process he meets Rose, Fleming's wife--and the secret behind his success.

For years, Rose has been drawing maps for her husband and letting him put his name on them. In a now-cold marriage, Rose is immediately intrigued by her new footman, not realizing that Brandon is actually a nobleman.

As Brandon sets out to reclaim his birthright, he hurtles closer and closer to Rose--but how can this possibly end well for either of them?

I loved Quincy's Her Night with The Duke (about Brandon's sister Leela), while the followup, The Viscount Made Me Do It (centering on their cousin, Hanna) was decent but fell a bit flat in comparison. I'd say that The Marquess Makes His Move falls somewhere in the middle--it's an enjoyable, escapist read, without getting me caught up in its story quite to the extent that Her Night did.

One thing I continue to love about these novels is the way that Diana Quincy (of Middle Eastern descent herself) incorporates the family's heritage into these novels. It doesn't feel pandering or over the top. It's just a fact that Brandon's mother was Middle Eastern, and he's kind of traveling between two worlds. There were a few times in this novel where it felt like he was code switching, and I appreciated that. The point is that Brandon being of Middle Eastern descent was a natural part of his character, not a quirky detail brought up to make him seem exotic or other (and Rose being of Middle Eastern descent, further back in her family history, normalized it further).

If you don't like novels where the hero and heroine lie to each other, this isn't for you. Brandon and Rose keep secrets from each other at various points in the story, for varying reasons that never particularly bothered me? But for others, I could see it being a bit much.

There's a soapy edge to the novel for that reason, and I did appreciate the sense that Quincy wasn't holding back. I can't give away exactly how she deals with Rose's marriage in this novel, but it is kind of wacky, and it was one of my favorite aspects of the story. Give me more married heroines! Give me the drama!!!

So while I can't say that this one quite reaches the passionate heights of Her Night with The Duke, it's definitely a return to form in that Quincy just kind of goes for it. I'd recommend The Marquess Makes His Move to anyone who's in the mood for a good romp!

I received an egalley copy of The Marquees Makes His Move by Diana Quincy. I was totally entertained by this third novel in the Clandestine Affairs series. The characters from the two previous books were included with enough information to follow the story line without feeling you were missing something. (Although having read #1 & #2 added to my enjoyment.)
A map maker, Mrs. Fleming, is unknowingly involved in an scheme to defraud Alex, Marquess of Brandon. The lengths that Alex puts himself through to get to the bottom of the problems is quite entertaining. His Arab relatives add to the fun, especially the Grandmother. It gave a different perspective to Regency England
I highly recommend this open door historical. Ms. Quincy can be relied upon to provide pure escapism. Thank you for the ARC copy. My opinions are my own.

This is a new author to me, and I always have high hopes of discovering a new favorite when I take that leap. Unfortunately, this one didn’t overly impress me.

Rose, as a talented mapmaker, is married to a man who takes credit for her work and basically controls her in every way. The Duke of Brandon has been duped by her husband and goes undercover as a footman in their household to gather proof.

My biggest complaint here was the disconnection with the characters. While this is third in a series of which I haven’t read, I was able to connect the dots but unable to get fully involved in the story. Some of the plot line was simply over-the-top (especially with Rose’s husband), and I also felt a little jarred by the leads’ (especially Brandon’s) about face in his feelings for Rose. There were lots of lies and trust issues to get through which were also frustrating at times. Unfortunately I just don’t feel this author is for me.

My thanks to #NetGalley and #AvonandHarperVoyager for providing me the free early arc for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

While I enjoyed this unique premise and think that Diana Quincy did a great job writing characters who were despicable (Roger!), and likable if flawed (Alex and Rose), I have a real problem with what she did to our heroine. Rose has been lied to and led by false pretenses for years by her supposed husband, and then Alex does the same to her. It was terribly wrong for him to sleep with her before he told her his true identity. I found him unforgivable for that, and his grovel was lackluster and then he just threw money at her until she forgave him. I don't know, I couldn't get past it.

They say if the book you want to read isn't out there, write it yourself. Well, if you wait long enough, someone will write that story. And for me, this one comes very close to being that story. Can I objectively say I loved everything about it? Probably not, but there are many things I do love about it.

First off, I will just note that it took me a while to get through. It wasn't that it was tough to read. There have just been too many things going on in real life that have consumed my thoughts while trying to read this. It was nice to know that it was there containing a story that I have very much wanted for years. Finally, when I got to about half-way, I gave myself permission to focus on the reading and then it went very fast to the end.

Why was this a story I've been wanting? Because it features a map maker, not only that, but a female map maker. So much historical context possible with this aspect, and Diana Quincy did a great job at bringing that to life. Another claim out there is that maps are responsible for the greatest "takings" in history. This also was an important plot point.

What about the romance? I really liked both the hero and heroine. They both had strength of character that I appreciated, and I thought worked well together. The attraction was obvious, and the pacing was good (at least it seemed so to me who was barely reading, probably am not a great judge on that aspect).

Any criticisms? I did think the first villain a bit stiff in his expectations on what could happen. I thought he might think a little quicker on his feet. I also wasn't sold on the reason the marquess takes a position of a footman in a map maker's household. It worked in bringing them together, but it also seems like he had other options.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story. It is the first HR that I have read to feature an hero or heroine as a cartographer, and each book in this series has had fascinating historical context with compelling leads. Diana Quincy has quickly become a must-read author for me. I'm really glad I decided to check this series out, even though I have basically sworn-off reading more regency-set titled HRs from new-to-me authors.

<i>Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review this book. Views are my own.

**Spoiler Review**

I went into this with high hopes that were quickly dashed when I learned the heroine is married. A BIG issue in this book is that the issue of her marriage isn't even resolved until the book reaches the halfway mark, and by that time I was so uncomfortable with the whole situation that she was MARRIED that I didn't get that usual build-up of connection with the couple. Every time they had a scene together, I was cringing. Not good.

The plot twist that the husband was already married with kids when he married the heroine was so incredibly bonkers, and then it just kept getting weirder and weirder. Once the heroine realizes she's a free woman, she leaps into the arms of the footman (who later turns out to be the marquess), and her "husband" has the audacity to come back and say "Hey, talked things over with my other wife, and we decided that you and I can have sex so you can have kids who will keep you happy." Excuse me, sir, what? And let's not even get into how quickly we get sexy times with the footman. I didn't even get a break to take in the whole bigamy situation before suddenly she was in the arms of another man.

Ultimately too much drama for me to enjoy. Felt like I was reading a soap opera...and not a very pleasant one.

CW: cheating; pregnancy; gun violence; racism; depression

Since we first met the mysterious Marquess of Brandon in Her Night with the Duke, I’ve been dying to get his story and learn more about him! Diana Quincy delivered with The Marquess Makes His Move. It’s a bit of a wild ride, but it was a ride I enjoyed being on.

Rose Fleming is London’s most renowned mapmaker, yet no one knows it as she passes her work off as her husband’s. If anyone discovers she’s the mapmaker, a scandal would ensue and jeopardize the family business. Rose is trapped in a loveless marriage, but when a handsome new footman who isn’t afraid to speak his mind shows up, Rose struggles to keep her distance. Alexander Worthington, the Marquess of Brandon, doesn’t care that society thinks he lives with a harem of women in the Middle East, but he will not stand for being robbed. When a recent map shows an important piece of his property belonging to his neighbor, Alex decides to disguise himself as a footman in the Fleming household to dig up dirt he can use as revenge. Little does he know the mapmaker is the secretive lady of the house he cannot stay away from.

I went into this story without knowing the synopsis, so once I realized that Rose was married, I was curious about how Diana Quincy would get Rose and Alex together. Thankfully, it didn’t involve them actually cheating, but wow was it something! Alex also wants to seek revenge on R. Fleming, yet he doesn’t know that Rose is the mapmaker added another level of conflict to their relationship. I ended up very invested in how Quincy would untangle this complicated situation, and I loved every minute of it.

As soon as Alex and Rose met, there was an instant spark between them that carried over through the rest of their interactions. The banter between them was super enjoyable, even though Alex acts nothing like a footman should while he’s pretending to be one, and he’s an overall pretty terrible footman. The romance developed at a good pace and the sexual tension between them slowly built until they could act on it. There’s also a pretty great bathtub scene, and I’m a sucker for those.

I will admit, I did get a little frustrated with Rose towards the end. I felt like she kept making really weak excuses for not being with Alex as she clearly loved him. It felt like she thought she needed to be angry because he deceived her, but her heart wasn’t in it to be angry so all her excuses of saying she doesn’t know him or needing to keep her distance didn’t really make much sense to me. This led her to make a few questionable choices about telling Alex something, but eventually, she came to her senses.

Outside the romance, I really liked Alex and Roses as individual characters. Alex is initially driven by revenge – both against the Flemings and the Ton who look down on his mixed heritage – but once his heart gets involved, he’s pretty willing to put all that aside to find happiness. And while he does deceive Rose of his true identity, she’s also deceiving him by not telling him she’s the master mapmaker in the family. I also felt like he tried so dang hard to make up for his deception because he realized how much he loved her. I also really loved Rose as a character and my heart felt so bad for her. She was stuck in a loveless marriage with a man who was stealing all her accomplishments and claiming them as his own. I was so glad to see her finally gain the confidence to take on her terrible husband and own her talents in the end.

As this is the third book in the Clandestine Affairs series, we also had plenty of cameos from our previous couples. I really loved the scenes with Alex and his sister Leela, as well as the scenes with the whole Arab side of their family. There’s such genuine affection between everyone and I loved watching everyone call Alex out for acting like an idiot at some points in regards to Rose. They also fully welcomed and embraced Rose as part of the family, which was nice to see since she had essentially no family left.

The Marquess Makes His Move was the perfect way to wrap up the Clandestine Affairs series. I found myself devouring it a lot quicker than expected. And even though there were a few small things that I wasn’t the biggest fan of, I overall really liked this book. This series was an unexpected treat and I’m so glad I picked it up last year!

Thank you to Avon/Netgalley for the ARC. All thoughts, ideas and opinions expressed in this review are my own..

I loved the first two books, but I found the characters so insufferably out of touch in the first 10% and I didn’t know if I liked the direction it was going. The hero fares slightly better, but only by virtue of the fact that he’s a nobleman posing as a servant who realizes very quickly that the servants aren’t being well treated, and not just because he’s not used to hard work. I get the impression there’s something going on with the heroine’s marriage, but I don’t know if I care enough to bother to find out.

3.5 Stars!
Author Diana Quincy has terrific story ideas and I’ve loved the premise of all the Clandestine Affairs series. In this book a reclusive half-Arab sexy Marquess, Alex, who smells like bergamot and cedarwood, pretends to be a footman in the household of a mapmaker, aka our talented and hard-working heroine, Rose, who is married to someone who takes the credit for the mapmaking! What? What kind of romance starts with a heroine married to someone else? How will this work out???

I don’t want to spoil the book's many surprises (though there is one I will share at the end of this review), but I will say that this book is a little bananas! The story is driven by plot, rather than character, and there were many moments where I had no idea where the author was going, but it was an entertaining ride.

I loved that both MC’s had Lebanese backgrounds! I think the Arab representation was so well-done in this book, and Quincy improves the seamlessness of incorporating it in each book. I am looking forward to seeing more of it in the future. I’ve read every book in this series so far, and each one is better than the last.

There’s a cast of secondary characters that lend humor and educate on the work of household servants. I loved the appearance of previous MC’s and secondary characters from the earlier books in the series. Also, If you’re squeamish here’s a CW: there’s a scene with Hanna, the bonesetter, and a knee.

All in all, this was a fun read and I’d love to see more historical romances with diverse representation.

Spoiler:
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One of my biggest issues with this story, is that the MC’s have sex twice without discussing birth control. Both characters are too intelligent and thoughtful to have made that believable for me.


Thanks to NetGalley I received an ARC of this book for my honest review.

I have been in need of a romance that I could get lost in and this did exactly that. I adore maps. I have a degree in Geography and have always found cartography fascinating, so I was thrilled to find that Rose, our heroine, is a map maker. Rose has been designing maps for her husband’s powerful patrons while he acts as the face of the business. Alex, our hero and a Marquess, learns that his neighbor used a commissioned map to steal a portion of Alex’s property so he enters Rose’s household masquerading as a footman to get to the bottom of things.

I loved both Rose and Alex. I’m usually not a big fan of secrets in romances, but this one worked because they both had secrets and the secrets were not kept from the reader, just each other until things had to be revealed. I enjoyed the wide range of secondary characters from Alex’s Arab family members to the downstairs servants. I think Diana handled the sticky situation of Rose’s marriage well and did not have any actual cheating involving our hero and heroine. I have read the first book in this series and own the second but have not read it. The couples from the first two books briefly appear in this one but their books do not have to be read to enjoy this one. I can’t wait to see what Diana writes next.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved the first two in this series, but this one fell flat for me. I didn't think the main characters had compelling chemistry together.

This was such an enjoyable read and nothing like I’ve ever read before. The Marquess was English and Arab and kept to himself because of the way society treated his mixed blood family. Someone was trying to steal his land so he went undercover as a footman in a mapmaker’s house to try and find the culprit. He knows nothing about being a footman and some parts are hilarious as he makes his was around to try and find out who is making incorrect maps of his property and do his footman duties at the same time. Unbeknownst to him and everyone else, the mapmaker is a woman – Rose. As their relationship develops, they start to care for one another but lies and deceit threaten to destroy their friendship. Rose is married and the author manages to clear this up nicely. This was a first for me and quite interesting. I could not wait to finish as there were so many twists and turns. I will definitely read more from this author. This was a well written story - romantic and with some humor. I received an ARC from NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager and voluntarily reviewed. All opinions are my own.

The Marquess Makes His Move by Diana Quincy is the third book in the Clandestine Affairs series. This book follows Brandon and Rose.

A Marquess of half-Arab descent, Brandon has disguised himself as a footman in the home of a respected mapmaker, who he plans on taking revenge on because he cheated him out of land.

Rose is a talented mapmaker, but this must be kept a secret because society would frown upon it. She struggles to keep this secret from the new footman who shows lots of interest in her. And who she finds very attractive.

The two soon find themselves unable to resist each other. But when Brandon discovers the truth about Rose, things become complicated.

This book was really fun. I enjoyed seeing Rose and Brandon grow closer and closer together.

The new footman doesn’t seem to know his place…
London’s most renowned mapmaker is a woman...but nobody knows it. If anyone discovers that Rose Fleming is the power and talent behind the family business, the scandal could ruin them. Rose’s secret is tested by the arrival of a handsome new footman who shows far too much interest in his new mistress. Rose battles an intense attraction to the enigmatic servant, but maintaining a proper distance isn’t easy when you and temptation live under the same roof.
She makes him forget he has a score to settle…
Few have met the reclusive half-Arab Marquess of Brandon, who is rumored to live with a harem of beauties among his mother’s people near Jerusalem. Brandon couldn’t care less what society thinks of him, or that his fellow peers are disdainful of his common blood, but he won’t stand for being robbed. That’s why he's disguised himself as a footman in the home of a respected mapmaker who cheated Brandon out of his land. But the nobleman's plans for retribution are complicated by his growing attraction for the secretive lady of the house.
When Brandon uncovers the shocking truth about Rose’s role in his stolen birthright, can a love born of deception really conquer all?
This is a poignant, sexy, and sweet romance.
Brandon masquerades as a footman to catch the thief of his land.
Unbeknownst to her Rose has taken part in the theft. Will they still get the point of this treachery.
Diana Quincy has written another fine book which makes me want to read more by her.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion of this book which I read and reviewed voluntarily.

I absolutely enjoyed reading this story. I couldn't put the book down and I adored all the characters. The story is very well written and entertaining. I can't wait to read more from this author.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this eARC.

I fell absolutely and unequivocally in love with "The Marquess Makes His Move”.
Quincy wrote a story that touched upon tropes that I adore, and spun them in a fresh, new way.
I went through the gamut of emotions-delight, angst, devastation, and love-with Alex and Rose.
This book is definitely on my list of books to read again!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this eARC thanks to Avon/Harper Voyager and Diana Quincy. All opinions are my own.

The witty rapport in this book had me hooked right from the beginning, and although I loved the main characters (Rose and Alex), it was the injection of humor through the supporting cast (Owen and Dudley) that made the book so very entertaining. I will definitely read more from this author.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley. These are my opinions.
This was a very enjoyable and different type of storyline. There are many lies and deceptions throughout the book and some humor which makes it an interesting.read. This is the first book I have read of Ms. Quincy's, but it won't be the last.