Chasing Cassandra

Chasing Cassandra (The Ravenels #6)- Lisa Kleypas
Avon/HarperCollins Publishers
Release Date: February 18, 2020

Rating:
📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Railway magnate Tom Severin is wealthy and powerful enough to satisfy any desire as soon as it arises. Anything—or anyone—is his for the asking. It should be simple to find the perfect wife—and from his first glimpse of Lady Cassandra Ravenel, he’s determined to have her. But the beautiful and quick-witted Cassandra is equally determined to marry for love—the one thing he can’t give.

Severin is the most compelling and attractive man Cassandra has ever met, even if his heart is frozen. But she has no interest in living in the fast-paced world of a ruthless man who always plays to win. 

When a newfound enemy nearly destroys Cassandra’s reputation, Severin seizes the opportunity he’s been waiting for. As always, he gets what he wants—or does he? There’s one lesson Tom Severin has yet to learn from his new bride: 

Never underestimate a Ravenel.

The chase for Cassandra’s hand may be over. But the chase for her heart has only just begun . . .

__________________________________________________________________

Cassandra is the last in her family to remain single, but not because she has anything against marriage.  On the contrary, she wants a home and family of her own but has one requirement of her husband: love.  Men may offer for her because of her beauty and wealth, but they don't look beneath the surface to the woman inside and she's determined not to accept a traditional, 'surface' marriage.  Tom Severin is more intelligent than most men, his brain always running five steps ahead of everyone else in business- a talent that has made him rich and powerful.  But he doesn't know much about people, and even less about the heart.  He's willing to give Cassandra everything she wants- except love.  Can these opposites do more than attract, but find a way to be happy together?

Cassandra may be willing to play by (most of) society's rules, but she refuses to lose herself and what is important to her as she navigates the Season's dangers.  She's intelligent, curious, compassionate, and loving- a delightful combination of personality traits that men tend to ignore in favor of her appearance.  Kleypas did a wonderful job switching up the expected trope: instead of a plain wallflower waiting to bloom, Cassandra is a beauty hoping to be seen for herself.  Kleypas also addresses a form of body shaming with delicacy and tact: Cassandra is told because of how she looks, she's clearly "asking for" whatever a man wants to do to her.  Fortunately, while she may question herself and believe this, she has a loving family who's more than willing to set her straight on the subject.  Through them, she learns the difference between men and boys (other rather excellently descriptive phrases used by various Ravenel men can also be entered here). 

At first I worried that Tom was going to be too similar to Rhys Winterbourne (Marrying Winterbourne).  While I love Rhys (he may be one of my favorite Kleypas heroes), something different was needed for Cassandra.  I shouldn't have doubted Kleypas though.  Tom may be a self-made man who is now rich and powerful, but that's about where his similarities to Rhys end.  Tom is incredibly intelligent, but not necessarily when it comes to people.  He prides himself on having only five emotions, believes that his own upbringing didn't affect who he is now, and is sure he is incapable of love because it isn't a real thing.  Despite all that, he's a good person without knowing it.  And his interpretations of the point of various novels are priceless.

Chasing Cassandra can be read as a stand alone book, but other Ravenels and their spouses are key characters throughout the book, so if you've enjoyed the rest of the series you get to catch up with them.  It was a fast-paced and entertaining, with Kleypas' usual excellent writing style drawing the reader right into Cassandra's world.  An excellent new book reader's are sure to enjoy!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Marrying Winterbourne

Marrying Winterbourne (Ravenels #2)- Lisa Kleypas
Avon Publisher
Release Date: May 31, 2016

Rating (out of 5):
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis:Savage ambition has brought common-born Rhys Winterborne vast wealth and success. In business and beyond, Rhys gets exactly what he wants. And from the moment he meets the shy, aristocratic Lady Helen Ravenel, he is determined to possess her. If he must take her virtue to ensure she marries him, so much the better . . .

Helen has had little contact with the glittering, cynical world of London society. Yet Rhys’s determined seduction awakens an intense mutual passion. Helen’s gentle upbringing belies a stubborn conviction that only she can tame her unruly husband. As Rhys’s enemies conspire against them, Helen must trust him with her darkest secret. The risks are unthinkable . . . the reward, a lifetime of incomparable bliss. 

Lisa Kleypas' newest historical romance, Marrying Winterbourne, is a brilliantly engaging book, returning us to London in the late 1800s. The more traditional landed gentry are clashing with the nouveau riche, trains get one places instead of long rides by horse, and Winterbourne's giant department store has become the place to shop for rich and poor alike. 

Self-made department store tycoon Rhys Winterbourne has it all: money, power, and success.  What he wants now is an aristocratic wife, and Helen Ravenel, in-law to his friend Devon, fits the bill perfectly. She's beautiful, accomplished, and can trace her family's heritage back for generations.  It doesn't hurt that Rhys is fascinated with her and desperately wants to possess her.  Rhys is dark, arrogant, far to used to getting his own way, and has learned to approach life in terms of buying and selling, bargains and favors.  Helen is his exact opposite.  Shy, quiet, unworldly, Helen is used to being ignored by her parents, taking care of others, and always trying to see the best in people.  You would think that a marriage like this would be disastrous.  You would think that Rhys would steamroll over Helen.  However, Kleypas is a master at taking two complete opposites and creating a strong and deeply loving relationship, and she does so again here.  It was wonderful watching Helen become confident in herself, not only with Rhys but eventually with others as well.  She blossoms into a woman who is no less strong for being quiet and discovers who she is and what she wants out of life- whether or not Society says that she should.  Rhys undergoes his own transformation into a man completely in love, who is forced to question some of his own motives and preconceived ideas about life and what he wants.  The two are definitely among my favorite characters- Rhys is one of those devils you just can't resist and I loved every interaction between them.

Kleypas excels with close-knit families of unconventional siblings, and the Ravenels will remind longtime readers of the Hathaway family.  They are learning to try and fit into the world of their birthright, but still  hold on to the qualities and ideals that make them unique.

Marrying Winterbourne picks up where Cold-Hearted Rake left off. While a new reader probably doesn't need to have read Rake to enjoy Winterbourne, it would definitely help. Kleypas continues to create a seamless world around excellent characters and readers will get lost in this newest book and be desperately waiting for book 3.  As Devil in Spring won't come out until February, I suggest reading Kleypas' Wallflowers quartet, since the teaser chapter promises that we'll be seeing some familiar Wallflowers, their rakes, and rakish descendants come Spring!