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Title: The Wedding Night by Barbara Dawson Smith ISBN: 0-312-98230-5 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 06 April, 2004 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (2 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: an average ok-ish read
Comment: Using several well known plot devices and gambits, authour Barbara Dawson Smith finishes her Kenyon brothers/Rosebud series with "The Wedding Night." And whether or not readers think that the novel is a worthwhile buy/read is going to be strictly a matter of personal taste and inclination.
In a bid to start his own socially powerful dynasty (so that he can compete with his legitimately born Kenyon half brothers), rich Samuel Firth marries fifteen year old Lady Cynthia Grey. The only daughter of a gambling mad duke, Cynthia's father agrees to marry off his young daughter in return for money in order to pay off his gambling debts. A shy and scholarly girl, Lady Cynthia approaches her marriage with the notion that she's marrying some kind of romantic hero. Except that Samuel is no romantic hero: he's cold and forbidding and when he tries to consummate his marriage, his young wife breaks down into hysterical tears. Disgusted, Samuel leaves his wife and departs in order to make a trip around the world.
Four years pass, and Cynthia has grown into a lovely and intelligent young woman, used to leading a life without a husband. Desiring her independence, Cynthia hits on the notion of asking for a legal separation from Samuel. And when Samuel gets wind of this, he rushes home to confront his errant wife. A legal separation would not help him in his plan to throw his social success in Kenyons faces. But instead of finding a meek and biddable wife, he finds an independent and determined young lady -- a young lady that he would very much like to bed. And so Samuel comes up with a plan: if Cynthia will live with him for a while, and help him establish himself with the ton, he will sign her separation. Of course Samuel has every intention of seducing his wife into seeing things his way. But he has a lot to contend with: a wife who (apparently) has close ties to his despised Kenyon relatives and who is determined not to share a life with him; someone who is trying to kill him; and a horde of suitors who seem to be in love with his wife! Can Samuel pull off his scheme?
Unfortunately, there is really nothing new (plot-wise) or fresh about "The Wedding Night" -- yet another older man who marries a teenager, and who takes off for 4 years because she's unable to contemplate being bedded by him, but who returns when she demands a legal separation from him -- even the characters are the same stock characters we see in most romance novels: a remote and much misunderstood hero who hides a heart of gold, a heroine who is clever and beautiful and who is still in love with her undeserving spouse, etc. So that whether or not you will glean any satisfaction from reading this novel will depend on whether or not you are a fan of the series. Even there, however, you might be a little disappointed: in earlier novels, the eldest Kenyon brother (Michael) has always expressed reservations about Samuel's character, yet here, every Kenyon is eager to embrace Samuel, thus making his reluctance to have anything to do with them (while understandable) seem churlish. Whatever reservations the Kenyon brothers may have had about Samuel seems to have evaporated somewhere along the way! Even the stalking/attempted murder subplots failed to lift the book from it's average read status.
I found "The Wedding Night" to be a well written novel that rehashed several overused plot devices, and as such was a middling ok-ish read -- but there really was no compelling reason to urge anyone to rush out and buy/borrow this book.
Rating: 5
Summary: A beautiful love story
Comment: In 1816 Samuel Firth, illegitimate son of Marquess George Kenyon who spawned him and his mother, buys fifteen year old Lady Cassandra to be a bride. He chose Cassandra because she is the perfect blue blood to help him engineer his vengeance against his sire, but he also selected her because he was hooked when he saw her making angels in the snow. Samuel pays off the enormous debts that Cassandra's father accumulated.
On their wedding night, Samuel expected a somewhat reticent wife, but he found a frightened child with no idea what to expect waiting in bed with him. Instead of forcing himself on her, Samuel leaves. He travels the globe for the next four years looking at his business interests while waiting for his spouse to grow up.
Samuel returns but Cassandra is now an intelligent beautiful woman who has a circle of men paying their respects to her though she is not a flirt. Samuel informs her he will take his dividend soon, but instead they fall in love. However, a secret admirer plans to do anything to gain her hand including murder and abduction.
THE WEDDING NIGHT is a fine Regency romance that showcases the skills of Barbara Dawson Smith to use multiple settings for her tales. The story line is fun to follow as Samuel and Cassandra battle for "supremacy" in their relationship, a skirmish that neither can win solo, but both can triumph if they choose to win-win together. Though the villainous subplot adds suspense and provides a final impetus to bring the heroes in concert, it takes away from a powerful love story between two obstinate charmers.
Harriet Klausner
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Title: A Deal With the Devil by Liz Carlyle ISBN: 0743470036 Publisher: Pocket Star Pub. Date: 01 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Slightly Sinful by MARY BALOGH ISBN: 0440236606 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 27 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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Title: Guilty Pleasures by Laura Lee Guhrke ISBN: 0060541741 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 27 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Your Wicked Ways by Eloisa James ISBN: 0060560789 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 30 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: It Takes a Hero by Elizabeth Boyle ISBN: 0060549300 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 30 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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