The Marquess in Her Bed

by Olivia Bennet

He knows life is worth living...because he is ready to die for her.

Cecilia Baxter, daughter of a well-known carpenter, spends her days assisting her father in his workshop. Never particularly interested in marriage, her life takes an exciting turn the moment a new client sets foot in the shop.

Nicholas Lymington, Marquess of Clive, is every lady’s dream: young, handsome and...eligible. Complying with his mother’s request to help her choose furniture for their mansion, he finds himself hopeless at the sight of the carpenter's beautiful daughter.

Drawn to each other, the fiery attraction between them grows by the minute…

Ηowever, not everyone is on their side and even old debts must be paid. When Cecilia gets kidnapped, Nicholas has just a few hours to save not only the woman he loves but also himself, from an enemy that seems almost intangible...and ready to crush them both.

*If you like a realistic yet steamy depiction of the Regency and Victorian era, then The Marquess in Her Bed is the novel for you.

This is Olivia's 7th novel, a historical Regency romance novel of 80,000 words (around 400 pages). No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a strong happily ever after.

Genres: Historical Romance

449 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 28, 2019

About the author

Having obtained a degree in Journalism, but with an affinity for literature and creative writing, Olivia Bennet knew from a young age that her future lay in the romantic ideals of the past. With a fascination for the Regency era and a good romance, she started her career as a historical romance author the old-fashioned way: with pen and paper.

Born in rural Devon, Olivia draws inspiration from the vast farmlands of the British countryside and the people living in the surrounding villages. An avid artist, she takes her sketchbook everywhere with her and captures the beauty of nature, which she then incorporates into her books.

Reviews

[Edwina " I LoveBooks" "Deb" · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cecilia Baxter 22 year old daughter of Emmanuel Baxter. He is a carpenter who owns Emmanuel Baxters shop. They build furniture. He has taught his daughter Cecilia the trade and she designs and build beautiful peices of furniture. "I AM SO SICK OF SPINISTER HEROINE" Matilda Duchess of Huxley has commissioned them to build quite a few pieces of furniture. The largest order the Baxter's have ever had. The Duchess does everything she can to stop her sons marriage to Cecilia.

Cecilia meet the Marquess of Clive when she visit his mother the Duchess home to measure for the furniture. They began a conversation and immediately fall in love. HOG WASH!! The synopsis implies there is a steamy romance between the two. But there is NO ROMANCE!! I don't get the attraction. Except Nicholas describes the type of women he wants to marry and Cecilia meets the identical description. There are no romantic scenes with Nicholas and Cecilia together. They don't have sex until they are married. Which was a very mild sex scene only a few lines. They are never together.

There is Nicholas's sister Isobel who is 17. She is written well and I truly liked her character. Her Come Out Ball was not true to the era. She was not presented before the King. She was not presented at court. Nor was she in London for the Season. So a Come Out Ball didn't make sense. But I really liked her antics. I wish her story had been written because she marries a Rich Powerful Duke right after her come out ball.

Cecilia is kidnapped and beaten by Archie Mowbery apprentice who her father trained and she thought of as a brother. He gets arrested but what happened to him? He sort of drops off the storyline. Was he hung? Transported? Sentenced to Prison for hard labor? WHAT?

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (3/16/2021)! 🎁

[Space Cowgirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Commoner and The Marquess🐺🍆⛲

A surprisingly different Adult Historical Romance💕 with Fake Romance and an Abduction💔 and Rescue.

Cecelia💃💋, the young woman this book is about, is a skilled furniture maker and designer, taught the trade by her widowed father.

The young Marquess, Nicholas🐺🍆⛲, is interested in the type of young woman who can do things for herself. He doesn't want some fluttering ton damsel who relies on servants for everything.

When Nicholas🐺🍆⛲ sees the beautiful Cecelia💃💋 helping her father figure out and design some new furniture pieces for his mother, the Duchess, he becomes interested in her.

The Duchess insists he court only young ladies of nobility, so he fakes a relationship with a young Lady to put his mother off.

In the meantime he pursues his ideal woman, Cecelia💃💋.

ARC Received from Bookfunnel🌀
I also got this book with KU.

[Holly Bargo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Misleading title, not steamy

This is a sweet story with only a handful of typos easily overlooked. The promise of "steamy" is a gross exaggeration. It's not even particularly sensual beyond the hero's imagination. The hero is a nice fellow, oblivious to what goes on around him. His much younger sister is the canny, observant one. The heroine is everything good and pure, a Mary Sue character. The author dwells a bit too much in passive voice and in telling what the characters think and feel, rather than showing it.

[Mercedes Salvador-McClellan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The carpenter and the lord

Sweet romance plus the right mix of passion and tenderness are main ingredients of this love story. Two people from different sides of society fell in love and they met familial and societal challenges head on. She loved building pieces of furniture and her marques loved and accepted her for who she was. No wonder they built a beautiful family together. Thanks for a very enjoyable reading.

[Stephen Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful story of love crossing the social divide

This is another wonderfully written steamy story, of love succeeding to cross the social divide, in spite of a scheming parent. There is emotional turmoil and some suspense, which when combined with the amazing characters, make for some really exciting reading.

[Debra Johnson]

Purchase Amazon July 31, 2019

[Laurie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Olivia Bennet's "The Marquess in Her Bed" was predictable and poorly written, much as her last several books have been. Her first few books showed promise, but in my opinion her writing has really gone downhill since then. All of her recent books seem to involve an "insta-love" plot, and I'm starting to think she doesn't know how to write anything else. It would be nice to see some kind of relationship development between the main characters so that I can actually believe in their HEA!

Beyond that, there are a ton of run on sentences, typos, and words missing or misused in the text (e.g. "reveal" instead of "revel" at 57% in the Kindle edition; confusion between "its" and "it's" at 71%). Also, the main characters in this book were strangely obsessed with geometry, which I found to be incredibly annoying. I wasn't even a quarter of the way through the book before the author had already exceeded the number of times I want to hear geometry discussed in a romance novel. If I wanted to read about math, I would have chosen a different type of book entirely!

Finally, but most critically, there were many things about the plot that were either historically inaccurate, didn't make sense, or both. First of all, why did the Duchess feel the need to order new furniture for the family's country estate in order to prepare for her daughter's debut into Society? Her daughter Isobel's debut should have taken place in London during the Season, and she should have been presented at court at the same time. I could see why that might necessitate the purchase of new furniture and decorations for the family's London townhouse, but not for the country estate. Had the plot been based on preparations for a house party or something similar, it would have made a lot more sense.

Second, it would not have mattered whether Nicholas and Cecelia married before or after Isobel's debut because Isobel still could have been ruined by the potential scandal. If they wanted to eliminate any possible risk to Isobel's reputation, they would have had to wait to announce their own engagement until after she was safely married. Otherwise, even if she were already engaged, Isobel's fiance could have decided to call off the engagement because he didn't want to be associated with such a scandalous family.

Third, despite what Nicholas thought and whatever promises he made to Cecelia, it would have been impossible for Cecelia to just keep working in her father's carpenter shop after they were married. She would have had to take on some duties as his wife eventually, especially after his parents were gone and Nicholas became the duke. Wouldn't it be better for Cecelia to learn about those duties from his mother in advance? Unless Nicholas planned to hide out in the country for the rest of his life, never take up his seat in Parliament, and never introduce his children into Society, Cecelia would need to know at least a few basic social skills, such as organizing the seating for a dinner party based on precedence. Without those, she'd be a miserable failure as a hostess, and she and her children would be complete outcasts from Society no matter their titles.

Overall, I'm really not sure why I am still reading Olivia Bennet's books, or any of the ones published by Cobalt Fairy. Am I not reading the same books as everyone else? I can't figure out how they all continue to be rated so highly on both Amazon and Goodreads.

*ARC provided by the author/publisher via BookFunnel. All opinions expressed are my own.

[Elizabeth Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's pretty good. It was kind of predictable and the characters were not terribly well-developed. There were a lot of characters, but many seemed to only serve the purpose of supporting the interests of other characters. I suppose it's to be expected that characters are there to serve the purpose of story progression, but this was different. They did not necessarily help the story to progress so much as they served as foils to allow the main characters to pursue their interests.

I liked the female characters in this story, all of whom were portrayed as especially intelligent, and even if Nicholas' mother wasn't particularly nice, it couldn't be said she wasn't clever. Cecelia was a very strong, independent, resilient, and likable character. I don't want to write any spoilers, but I do need to say that although there were literary hints regarding the bad intentions of a particular character, there were not actually any personality or behavioral clues to indicate any kind of tendency toward the actions he took. In short, although it was expected, it was not believable.

Nicholas was nice enough, but I have trouble sympathizing with his insta-love and determination to marry a commoner about whom he knew very little. His mother had a good point. He barely knew Cecelia, yet had already decided he loved her and would marry her. Cecelia's infatuation and fantasizing made more sense. Overall, as I mentioned, the book is pretty good, but it’s not one of Olivia Bennet’s best.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Marquess in Her Bed by Olivia Bennet is the love story between Cecelia Baxter, a furniture maker, and Nicholas Lymington, the son and her to a Duke. She was the most interesting woman he had even met. He had about given up on women being anything but dull and he was immediately attracted, rank not withstanding. His mother was after him to marry and so took him to visit Lady Annette, the daughter of a nearby Earl and between them they cooked up a plot to pretend to be courting so their parents would leave them alone. He found her quite pleasant and was amazed that a woman existed that was not looking to chase down a husband. Nicholas and Cecelia had quite a nice little romance going until Nicholas' mother noticed and then things started to happen. Will they get there happily ever after?

The Marquess in Her Bed as a lovely book, just the thing for reading by the pool or a pleasant day in a comfy chair. Olivia and Nicholas were pleasant characters but the really good ones were the evil ones: the Duchess and, the furniture maker's journeyman, Archie. It is always easier to write evil. I enjoyed this very pleasant read and its happily-ever-after. I know you will, too. I recommend it.

I received a free ARC of The Marquess in Her Bed. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. Reading from page to page went smoothly at a moderate pace. It kept my attention because of the attraction and chemistry between the H/h. The heroine's character, Cecilia Baxter, had a sweet yet determined personality. She was able to compartmentalize her feelings because of her work as a carpenter. When working with the carpentry machines one must concentrate and not be distracted. Otherwise it would cause injury. The only thing that kept her from being an ideal character was when faced with difficulty she became overwhelmed and had to constantly calm herself down. That I feel was overdone too many times. Our hero, Lord Nicholas Lymington, Marquess of Clive, heir to the dukedom of Huxley, was a real gentleman. He treated his mother, father and younger sister with love and respect. When he first laid eyes on Cecilia, he became enamored. It did not matter that she was not of peerage. He knew he had to get to know her. As the story continued, the closer Nicholas and Cecilia got, something popped up unexpectedly to pull them apart. I liked the twists in the story. I did not expect them. This is a good read and I do recommend it

[Ramona Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cecilia Baxter spends her days helping her father do carpentry work in his workshop. Never truly interested in marriage she's never bothered to learn how to cook are really cheap house. Mrs. Williams the housekeeper who was hired after her mother died has tried her best to turn Cecilia into a young lady not a carpenter. The Duchess of Huxley decides to have some new furniture built for her home before her daughter's debutante ball and comes to the Baxter's carpentry shop to talk to Mr. Baxter. Cecilia goes with her father to help with the measurements that he needs to take in the Duchess decide she needs another bookcase in the library. Cecilia goes into the library to measure the space and meets Nicholas Lymington, the Marquess of Clive, and they discuss the bookcase that they are to build for his mother. As Cecilia her father and his journeyman Andy start building the furniture the Duchess surprises them in his unhappy to see Cecilia working on furniture. She's even more unhappy when Nicholas spends his time talking to her about the furniture so he says. Through the trials and tribulations whether Cecilia will marry Nicholas you have to read the book. It's a very good book…

[Peggy]

Cecelia Baxter, a carpenter’s daughter, and Nicholas Lymington, Marquess of Clive, meet when he accompanies his mother, Duchess of Huxley, to the Baxter’s woodshop to order new furniture. After they get to know each other, Nicholas determines to marry Cecelia. Mama, the Duchess, will do her best to prevent it. Will she succeed? Do Nicholas and Cecelia have a chance for a future together?

The Marquess in Her Bed has an easy to read mostly predictable storyline and an interesting cast of characters. Cecelia, Nicholas’ sister and Lady Annette are independent confident women. Nicholas is courageous and honorable, and just a bit overwhelmed by the women in his life. Mama is prickly and sneaky, but in a twist you don’t see coming, a truly dangerous villain emerges. This is a nice story, and I recommend it. I love the epilogue.

I received an ARC of this book from the author. My review is voluntary.

[Virginia VanSaders · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of Nicholas & Cecelia. Nicholas will inherit the Dukedom. Cecelia is the daughter of a carpenter, which she is one herself. Neither think that they will ever marry. They are attracted to each other. Nicholas' mom, The Duchess, tries to do everything in her power to stop the relationship which will end in marriage. There is a twist to this story which you could not imagine. There are secondary characters in this story, also. It is well written, easy to follow and ends up happily.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing like a noble mother on the hunt for a suitable wife for her son! Spare me! Lol! I think Archie had ulterior motives with his "advice" to Cece! Geez. Buzz off boy! I liked the comraderie between Izzy and Nick ! Everytime there was a conversation with the duchess I literally cringed with apprehension! That vermin! I could hardly swallow the filth the duchess spat at Cece! Izzy was a great ally to Cece. It was good to see the old viper (the duchess) lost some if her bite by the story's end. Mommy dearest has nothing on the old duchess!!!

[Maria Jesus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love at first sight - will it endure?

Wonderfully written book with well developed and complex characters. Love story between 2 people of very different social standings - a scandal in the making. Romance is in the air and so is the opposition. Intrigue, manipulations, insecurities, loyalties, kidnapping, friendships, and an unexpected twist giving the story an additional and wonderful oomph. Facing so many obstacles from close to home, will the young lovers survive their unending trials? A must read.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This romance revolves around a Marquess and a carpenter’s daughter. The attraction between Nicholas and Cecilia is instant and not what his mother wants for the future Duke. There are two instances that almost break them apart but in the end love wins out. This is a well written love story that would be appropriate for any age group. This is as clean of a love story as you will find. I would recommend it as a good read.

[alfawolf1 ~Sherri K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cecilia is the daughter of a carpenter and helps him in his trade. They meet when Nicholas comes to their shop to purchase furniture for his mother. Despite their class differences, they fall in love. His mother does not approve and works to end their association. Can their love last and overcome all the obstacles put in their way?

[Catherine Tijerina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Olivia has done it again. Starting with her cover I loved this book. Nicholas and Cecelia are from different worlds but their attraction is immediate. This storyline has danger and romance. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in a good read. I received this ARC in exchange for a voluntary honest review which I have freely written here

[Carol · Rating 1 out of 5]

The plot was nothing special and neither was the dialogue. The characters weren't developed enough and I must have read a 100 books like this, certainly not with the same plot line but close enough, to make the book completely predictable. I kept waiting for something to develop to make the book noteworthy but I was sorely disappointed. Sorry Olivia better luck next time!

[Ramonita Roldan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nikolas & Cecelia aka Cece's story was inspiring. As a duke, he has always known of his responsabilities. She grew up independent, and loving her proffesion. When they meet all rules of propriety & social behaviour go out the window. Determined to be together they will defied all the odds. Highly Recommend. Happy Reading!

[Dee Jay Blaylock · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mother determined to have her way is the obstacle that Cecilia, the daughter of a carpenter, and Nicholas, a Marquess, have to overcome as they find that the feelings that they have for each other makes it all irrelevant.

[Tom Prejsner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Romance

Thank you for sharing these wonderful romance novels series books. Please keep writing more of these wonderful books. Thank you

[Sharon Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book!

Loved everything about this book. Fell in love with the characters and storyline. Book was full of drama,forgiveness and emotions.