Claiming Lady Marianne by Crystal Kauffman

Story: 8
Presentation: 9
Total: 17
Publisher: Ellora's Cave
Erotic Historical
To Purchase

Blurb: After Marianne is caught en compromise with another woman, her husband, the vicious Viscount Cobham, is enraged. He remands Marianne to the care of her beastly grandfather with orders that she take a lover—a male lover. She is to get herself with child by the time he returns from his travels in six months. He will have his heir, one way or another. Marianne’s grandfather charges his stable master with the task, and Marianne is bound to her bed every third night to await the burly man.


Michael Ainsworth is no stud horse, and Baron Thurlow’s task is too ghastly to consider. But Michael longs for a glimpse of the pretty girl who used to cling to the paddock fence to watch the horses. When he finds her terrified and unwilling, his honor demands he protect her—despite the heartbreaking knowledge the viscountess can never love a lowly servant.

Reader Advisory: Contains simulated acts of rape, but no highborn woman was harmed in the making of this story.

Review: I’m an avid reader of historical romance. I love the sights, the sounds, the flavor that transports me back in time to a place of elegance and stature. I love rakes and scoundrels, but in Claiming Lady Marianne, I fell in love with Michael. He’s nothing more than a servant, but his heart is pure and his devotion to Marianne is all a woman could imagine. Marianne hasn’t known love and tenderness from a man. Her husband is cruel. In just a few encounters, Michael begins to heal her heart and give her a reason to trust. The development of their relationship was spellbinding and wonderful. I had to know how Ms. Kauffman was going to resolve the issue of Marianne’s husband. And while I felt the resolution of the Viscount was a little easy, I loved how she resolved the issue of how a Viscountess can love and have a future with a servant. The “historical” flavor is a little lost because the story primarily takes place in one room. However, I loved being in that room with Michael and Marianne. Their encounters were hot and the writing was smooth. In the end, this was a excellent book that I didn’t want to put down.