The Marquis Who Mustn’t was a charming read. Our leads Naomi and Kai were likeable and compelling romantic leads. And, like its predecessor The Duke Who Didn’t, I especially appreciated the parent child relationships explored throughout the novel. Unfortunately however I found aspects of its construction a tad clunky. 

As with most Milan novels we establish the interior struggles of our lead Naomi early. She feels trapped by expectations of her community to follow directly in the footsteps of her mother despite her personal ambitions to do more than run her family's inn. Naomi eventually realizes complexities of her mother beyond the narrow box she pigeonholed her in. And that conversation between Naomi and her mother was really well done. However this arc didn't feel successfully woven through the narrative. Naomi and her mom really only have one conversation to clarify their misunderstanding and the conflict is immediately dropped. And while I appreciate Milan's exploration of ace identity in this novel that point similarly felt like something that could have been better signposted and explored throughout the novel. 

Don’t get me wrong the romance itself was solid. Naomi and Kai were a sweet couple and I fully bought into their growing affection for each other and the angst keeping them apart. Naomi and Kai's connection felt real, their bonding over their similarly fraught relationships with their parents was engaging. I really liked Milan's take on a fake engagement story. She often sidestepped the obvious points of conflict in those types of stories and that did well to sell Kai and Naomi's bond. However if I could quibble with one point Kai's insistence on the misuse of the word fraud added a layer of convolution to the ending I didn't love. 

Overall The Marquis Who Mustn't was a solidly fun read. I had some problems with the plotting but overall had a good time with it. I can wait to get another installment of The Wedgeford Trails series (fingers crossed it's an Andrew book).