Ten Things I Love About You

Name: Ten Things I Love About You
Rating: 4.5 (6391 reviews)

by Julia Quinn Book 3 in the Bevelstoke Series series.

First published 2010

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4.5(6,391)

Annabel Winslow is expected to marry the wealthy but elderly Earl of Newbury because her large family needs financial security. The earl is desperate for an heir, while his nephew Sebastian Grey has every reason to oppose a match that could disinherit him.

Annabel and Sebastian meet without understanding the full conflict between their positions. Sebastian is a former soldier concealing both wartime trauma and a successful literary identity, and their attraction forces them to challenge a marriage market that treats inheritance, fertility and reputation as more important than consent.

Annabel’s situation reflects the economic pressure marriage could place on women whose families had rank without sufficient income. Sebastian’s apparent position as inconvenient heir hides a more complicated private life, while Newbury treats marriage primarily as a route to succession. The novel uses inheritance law and reputation to turn a comic courtship into a contest over who controls Annabel’s future.