The Marquis Who Mustn't

The Marquis Who Mustn't, Courtney Milan (2024 TBR stack)

This is the second book in Courtney Milan's Wedgeford Series - with a third book coming in July. The setting is a small town in Kent in the 1890s, where a community of Asians (some recent immigrants, some natives of England) have settled. The town is best known for an annual competition called The Trials, which draws people from all over the kingdom to play. According to the author's note in the first of the series, The Duke Who Didn't, it is based on "The Royal Shrovetide Football Match" held in Ashbourne in Derbyshire since the Middle Ages. The first book is centered around The Trials, with the titular Duke returning to take part.

In this second book, another former resident returns home. Liu Ji Kai lived in Wedgeford as a child, while his father systematically conned the residents out of their savings. He claimed an ancient Chinese title, and he told the town that he had the secret to creating priceless works of ceramic pottery. One night he abandoned the six-year-old Kai in the village, returning later to drag him off to learn his part in the family's real inheritance: fraud. Twenty years later, Kai is coming back to restore what his father stole.

On his way to Wedgeford, he meets Naomi Kwan, who works her family's inn (Naomi played a key part in the first book). She desperately wants to take ambulance classes, since the town has no doctor. Her parents have talked her out of it year after year, but when she finally makes her way to register, she is told that she must have permission from her father or husband. Naomi quickly presents Kai as her fiancé, and he plays along, though he doesn't tell her that they were betrothed as children. Since this is a romance, it shouldn't be a spoiler to say that their fake (second) engagement starts to become more real. But Kai still needs to face his past and his father's actions, and Naomi has her own family complications to deal with. It's lovely to see them stand up for each other as they are learning more about themselves and each other.

I really enjoy Courtney Milan's historical romances. My only quibble is that they can be a bit repetitive, with people asking the same questions or having the same mental conversation more than once. Her books are self-published, and someone recently asked on Goodreads if she has an editor, who might catch some of this. I also saw some typos in this book. But these are quibbles, and I am looking forward to the third book next month, The Earl Who Isn't.