Married By Morning by Lisa Kleypas

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Moving right along with my reread, the next book is book 4 of the Hathaways by Lisa Kleypas, Married by Morning. This book focuses on our only brother Leo, the Viscount and his romance with Catherine Marks. 

I absolutely love getting this as book 4 in the series. It's just so gratifying to see Leo grow and come to terms with his grief and figure out who he is as the Viscount. He's still a little bit of a rogue and ladies' man, but he also plays up the rumors. Leo is very charming and even when Cat and him where fighting in the other books, you could feel the tension between them. Cat, as we find out in book 3, is actually the half-sister of Harry and had a pretty traumatic life growing up. Once Harry rescues her she ends up with the Hathaways, almost as a way to experience a true family. 

I loved the push and pull between Leo and Cat, and even though he teases and goads her a lot, Leo is really attracted to Cat and enjoys seeing her get all worked up. It's kind of mentioned in other books, but Leo is really drawn to Cat and wants to know ALL of her secrets. Cat ends up being confronted by someone from her past and runs. However Dodge the ferret stows away in her bag and she ends up getting left half-way to London at a tavern. Leo quickly comes upon her and this forced proximity between them really starts to force Cat to start coming to terms with her feelings for Leo.

I love that there is no scene or big issue made of their class difference. While Leo is now the Viscount, he didn't start out that way so it's not something that he even thinks of. A lot of time there is more angst made of the class difference and I have to say, I'm not that big of a fan of it. It also lends itself to some other tropes that I don't like. The issues were mostly more internal between them and Cat coming to terms with herself and, similarly with Harry, allowing herself to both fall in love and be loved. Leo was all in for her and there was nobody else once he made up his mind. Leo does have some internal issues though, knowing that when he loves and loses, the grief really destroys him. He's worried that if something were to happen to Cat, it would completely destroy him even more than when Laura passed. 

While this is my least favorite of the series, I still absolutely adore Leo and Cat and feel like their story actually starts in Win's book and we can see the start of their foreplay in the background. As I have mentioned in all of my reviews so far, I really recommend this series. Lisa Kelypas is not only a great writer, but just really knows how to form a family and characters that see so real and grounded.

Have you read Married By Morning?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Married By Morning, Lisa Kleypas, 5-stars, 0 days, paperback, 342 pages, published in 2010