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Title: To Wed a Stranger by Edith Layton ISBN: 0-06-050217-7 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 25 February, 2003 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.78 (9 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Lady Annabelle redeemed - and I thought it couldn¿t be done
Comment: Lady Annabelle Wylde, beautiful but capricious, is getting desperate. The man she'd loved all her life married someone else a couple of years ago, and the men she'd turned to after losing Damon have all abandoned her for other women - though she's self-critical enough to admit that at least some of it is her own fault. So when her father brings her a proposal of marriage from a man she has never met, she's just desperate enough to escape the whispers to accept.
Miles Croft, recently returned from the wars and sold out of the army, needs a wife. Money isn't an issue; what he needs most of all is someone who has a secure position in Society, so that she can launch his younger sister Camille and provide a steady influence for his younger brother. His mother, cowed by her second husband, has neither the confidence nor the influence to help - so his choice of wife is crucial. Lady Annabelle appears to fit the bill in every respect.
So a marriage of convenience, entered into not because either character even likes the other. Annabelle, on her wedding night, is shocked to discover that her husband actually intends to consummate the marriage *now* rather than waiting until she feels ready to do so - and, although the act is mildly pleasurable for her, the pain she feels doesn't recommend lovemaking very much to her.
But then, the very next day, as they journey to Miles' holiday home in Devon, Annabelle is taken ill. She has influenza, and is very badly affected, almost dying. A quack doctor has her head shorn and cuts and bleeds her; that, combined with an alarming degree of weight loss, robs her of her good looks and turns her in appearance into a skeletal, bald, pock-marked child. Miles has stayed with her throughout, out of pity and a sense of responsibility, but it is during this time that the couple actually become close - far closer, it seems, than they might have become had Annabelle not been ill.
But then, how can she re-enter Society with her looks gone? How can she possibly help Camille? And be the kind of wife Miles needs? Annabelle fears that he will never see her as attractive again, let alone want to make love with her and give her children. But does Annabelle's only interest for Miles lie in her looks?
Contrary to another comment, Miles does not lose all sexual interest in Annabelle while she's recovering; he does want her, but he's afraid to hurt her or get her pregnant before she is strong enough to carry a child.
This book continues Edith Layton's C series, and readers of that series will recognise Annabelle as the capricious, selfish woman rejected by Damon, Rafe and Drum, and in whom Eric Ford pretends an interest order to help Rafe. Can she be redeemed? I really wasn't sure - but then Layton confounded all my expectations and made me like Annabelle. It is her illness which makes all the difference: robbed of her beauty, Annabelle has to fall back on finer qualities, which make her a much more likeable person.
You will also get glimpses of characters from previous books in To Marry A Stranger, and there is hope that Eric Ford may get his own book next. A good read!
Rating: 1
Summary: Love Story? Desperation Story!
Comment: Fortunately, the author does acknowledge the story's major fallback. To sum it up, if Annabelle and Miles were together in a populated area, they wouldn't give each other the time of day. They marry in the first chapter and the wedding night ends with his pleasure and her resigned acceptance. Days later, she gets sick and almost dies. She recovers and he only keeps her company out of guilt and duty, which they BOTH acknowledge.
During her illness, she loses lots of weight and some quack doctor cuts offher hair. Layton does a decent job describing the emotional trials of a woman used to being desired for her beauty then becoming a tragic waif. Unfortunately, Annabelle's lost so much weight that Miles's erection falls down just thinking about bedding her. True romance, hm?
Somehow, these two decide they're in love and that's fortunate for them because I am truly disgusted. So she goes from conceited snob to grateful waif, and he just bobs along as an undefined joker. Yuck!
I keep returning every Edith Layton novel I buy and finally I've decided to give up on her. If you'd like a good book, check out Gaelen Foley or Kat Martin or Susan Johnson. Their much more worthy.
Rating: 3
Summary: Entertaining, but not brilliant
Comment: The plot has been sufficiently described already, so I need hardly do so again. So, straight to my opinion - I liked the story, I enjoyed my read ... but ... Yes, there is a good deal that drags an interesting tale into bouts of boredom. We are privy too far too much of Miles's thoughts, it is good to know the hero's mind - but after a few pargraphs one felt a trifle overloaded. It began to slow down the action drastically and repeat itself.
The subplots involving the various members of Miles's family were very perfunctory and regarding his siblings, definitely bore the dire air of being possible sequels. The blackmail subplot involving his mother stuck out like a sore thumb. All that lead up with the mother's odd character and behaviour with Annabelle, and the revelation seemed very much an anti-climax for all its drama. Perhaps because the mother was an unconvincing mish-mash? She had absolutely no character - but maybe this was the author's intention. The subplot involving Annabelle's father was far better done and definitely a surprise. This was handled well, Annabelle's reaction of dismay and disillusion was particularly believable.
Both Miles and Annabelle were well drawn charcters, even if they droned on to themselves in a wallowing manner. The illness, the recovery and Annabelle's change due to the whole experience were the backbone of the book. Again, well done. So the irritations stood out more.
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Title: To Tempt a Bride by Edith Layton ISBN: 0060502185 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 28 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: The Conquest by Edith Layton ISBN: 0380818639 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 31 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Choice by Edith Layton ISBN: 0061013927 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 01 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: The Challenge by Edith Layton ISBN: 0061014338 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 01 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: The Chance by Edith Layton ISBN: 0061014346 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 01 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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