Married By Morning (Hathaways #4) by Lisa Kleypas

I love Married by Morning... it has mostly to do with Leo Hathaway really.

Leo has come from the annoying emo wreck of a brother into a wonderfully delicious romantic hero. I actually adore that he did not come from the dissolute wastrel to an overtly serious lord of the manor. It would be out of character for the Hathaway family. I also like the fact that he didn't become one of those "Oh, I can never love again because of my dead girlfriend" types. Instead, what I was presented with was a much more poignant notion of...

"...I have an extraordinary fondness for her memory. But it was a lifetime ago. and I can't ever go through that again. I love like a madman." 

"...it would be worse. Because I was only a boy then. And now who I am, what I need... it's too damned much for anyone to manage."

This is one of the best interpretations I have read to address the Dead Girlfriend plotline. I also like how Leo doesn't take every rejection against Cat, instead acknowledges that there's still something more he can and must do to get through her defenses.

Well... he is still has a shirt on.

I also liked Catherine Marks. Her back story has a little bit too soap opera but that's usually the case for governess stories and it still well within my suspension of disbelief. Tethering on the edge, but it's still there. The Harry Rutledge connection is the bit too much, but I think I developed an appreciation for it because it finally satisfied the character development I desired for Harry that I found so lacking in Tempt Me In Twilight.

I really didn't mind the story line involving Lattimer and Althea because... well, they're insane. Also, they kind of fit in with the soap opera that is Catherine's over-the-top life. What I found a little jarring was the copyhold story line. The story would have gone on without it. Leo doesn't give a damn about it at all and it doesn't propel, inspire and push him into his pursuit for a wife. All in all, the copyhold clause story line becomes a footnote and an afterthought once he and Cat left Hampshire, away from the people who actually cared about keeping Ramsay House.

One of the things I like about Married By Morning is that, finally, Harry Rutledge finally becomes human. He is far more relateable as a brother rather than as a husband. I think this is a writing trick LK employed - similar to Cam Rohan's from Mine Till Midnight. However, Cam had no real expectations of getting anything more other than his ending in Midnight, but with Harry there was still a promise of being a big brother to Cat and it was to be expected that since Marks was the h in this book, Harry will be involved.