Rane Aria

This was another good addition to the Marriage Game series and while it started off very strong as the story progress it started to taper off.

First and foremost this is Anna's story. It through her love and struggles which she's able to hold her own in a business of smuggling that women just didn't. I really admire her strengths and the dance she lead Sebastian, Baron Rutherford to prove himself and his love. Anna herself has to prove she's not just some miss whose going to follow Sebastian's lead, but make her own way in the world and her own choices.

Sebastian has always had a soft spot in his heart for Anna, but waited for her to grow up before marrying her. Of course him hanging and hiding behind Phoebe Stanhope's court didn't win him any brownie points when he finally up and asks Anna's hand in marriage. And finding out about who the Anna is now, instead of the young girl he once knew, well he has his work cut out for him.

The first half of the book was wonder, with the cat and mouse game played between Anna and Sebastian, as Anna has to hide the smuggling she inherited from her deceased brother Harry and try to fight off Sebastian trying to win her over. Sebastian while trying to woo Anna is on a mission to discovery the identity of the leader of the local smuggling group. This push and pull with the toppled with the sexual tension between them was red hot.

When they finally reveled their feeling and a surprising person shows up, the book seems to taper off with another love life thrown into the mix and Anna and Sebastian hopping like bunnies. Now don't get me wrong, I love a good sex scene, but I want a build-up to it not something that feels like it's on ever other page.

Another thing that bugged me [ was Harry who after losing his memory in a ship wreak is saved and falls in love and marries a young woman for two years.When his wife dies in childbirth, he slowly regains his memory he almost quickly falls in love with a "Lady" and then he starts making those sayings of "Well my wife couldn't have lived in this type of "society"" I felt she almost became an afterthought. I would have loved it more if he had her as a treasure in his heart and moved on, instead of the first marriage feeling like it was a mistake. I've read books with that scenario in it before, but his first wife truly loved him and in others the wife or husband was bad news, user, gold digger etc. I think a short story of Harry finding his memory and falling in love again after a time would have been better believable IMHO (hide spoiler)]

Still I greatly enjoyed this addition to the series with it's adventure and drama between Anna and Sebastian as they figure out their emotions while embracing their feeling after so long.

ARC Courtesy of Netgalley