An Unwilling Bride

An Unwilling Bride by Jo Beverley 1105 

Beth Armitage grew up quietly, but happily, with her Aunt Emma and eventually became a satisfied school teacher for young ladies. The Duke of Belcraven originally accepted his wife's son, conceived with another man, as his own, but when his own two sons passed away he had difficulty being completely happy with the situation and it caused a rift between him and the Duchess. When he discovers that Beth is his own bastard child he decides that the perfect solution is for Beth to marry his heir, Lucien de Veux, the Marquess of Arden. Lucien is shocked to learn the truth of his parentage and feels adrift to no longer be a true de Veux, but he has no intention of following the Duke's orders until Belcraven threatens to leave all of his money elsewhere and leave Lucien with a bankrupt estate. Beth too is horrified by the proposal but the Duke once again resorts to blackmail to get the marriage he wants and Beth is moved to London where she tries to fit into London society and tries to get to know her future husband. 

Beth has always been a believer in equality for men and women and for the classes and it is not long before she and Lucien are exchanging quotations and philosophizing on the rights of men and women. They both enjoy the banter but Beth is not reconciled to her plight and she insinuates that she may not be a virgin. Despite not being a virgin himself, Lucien is horrified at the implication and her mistake colors every interaction they have as he cannot look at her the same way. She regrets her hasty words but the chasm between them only continues to grow as he starts to go out in the evenings. No matter how awkward the wedding must go on, but now she is terrified of consummating the marriage as the gulf between them continues to widen and they both wonder if anything will ever come of their marriage. There is also the matter of a man from Lucien's past who is threatening the happiness of one of Beth's former students and she is determined to help her friend. Lucien and Beth work together to help this girl and in the process discover that they are perfect for each other. 

I love that Beth had a career and a purpose in life and was so well educated she could hold her own with the most well to do men. She was shy and introverted and her reactions to being forced into marriage were very realistic because she recognized she had to succumb because of what the Duke was holding over her head, and yet her pride still compelled her to do all in her power to try to stop the wedding. She was insecure about herself and unsure of how she would fit with her very handsome husband and his glittering and well connected friends. Lucien overcame the truth of his parentage very quickly and he reacted fairly to what was happening to him and Beth as neither of them got very mad at each other and they recognized that they were both victims of this scheme. I felt like they were too controlled and were holding so much in and went about their interactions far too rationally. There was  a lot of talking, a lot of them sharing quotes to see who was the best at it, and it was jut not to my taste. Seriously? Taking turns quoting people? Completely ridiculous. 

Because of Beth's fear of intimacy there was basically no sex in the book and very little lust even though that very little was enough to make Beth's head spin and send her off into endless little mind tortures. This book has apparently gained some notoriety because Lucien backhands Beth when he believes she has had another man in her room. I obviously found it abhorrent but I was willing to be open minded given the right circumstances, but those never arrived. She just accepted that it would never happen again and that he was provoked (even though I did not feel like it was that big of a provocation) and he apologized and spent less than a page regretting what happened. I was also horrified by the fact that less than an hour after the slap Beth was sitting in Lucien's former mistresses house and they were becoming the best of friends. Ugh. The plot involving her former pupil became the entire focus of the last quarter of the book and overwhelmed what could have been them finally falling in love. The book also felt like an homage to Beverley's former books in the series and a setup for the next which I didn't like.

Rating: Two incredibly talkative people who did not behave normally around each other and actions I didn't like and a side plot that overwhelmed.

An Unlikely Countess

An Unlikely Countess by Jo Beverley 828

Catesby Burgoyne is out walking the streets near a fairly poor neighborhood when he sees a woman being attacked and comes to rescue her. Prudence Youlgrave had found her tiny little house in White Rose Yard confining and had escaped to the outside, only to be attacked. She is wary of her rescuer but invites him into her house and before either of them really understand what is happening, they are sharing stories over glasses of brandy. She shares that her mother and her had been living in barely genteel poverty in order to send her brother, Aaron, to law school, but now that her mother has passed away and her brother has finished his schooling, he is refusing to help her out. He shares that he and his family have recently had a large falling out and he worries that he will never be welcome back into the family, even while concealing that his older brother is the Earl of Malzard. Catesby departs in the morning but neither can forget the evening spent over brandy as he goes about his business in London and she decides to go to Darlington and confront her brother and his new wife and demand her due.

Catesby is informed that his older brother is now the Earl and he rushes to the family estate, Keyning, which he has always coveted, much to his shame. He finds that his mother and sister-in-law have not forgiven him for the row he had with his brother and he escapes and finds Prudence about to marry a rich merchant. He senses that something is wrong so he objects to the marriage, which leaves them little choice but to marry themselves, even though her former fiance vows revenge and Catesby does not inform Prudence of his new social standing. He can not hide it forever though as their arrival in Keyning stirs up a pile of trouble as his sister-in-law does not bother to hide her resentment of the woman who is taking her place as mistress of the house and her new mother-in-law hides herself in her room. Prudence is determined to learn how to be a countess and with Catesby's help and support she manages to succeed and maneuver around her new position. But there is still someone out there who wishes them ill and Catesby will stop at nothing to protect his unlikely countess and usher in their long life together.

The book started incredibly slowly, with only 20 of the first 100 or so pages spent with them in each other's company and while I recognized the need to build up the background into how these two got together, I wanted them to be together more. The relationship developed slowly and when she "realized" she was in love with him, I felt like it came out of the blue. They both certainly thought about the other a lot but there was not enough getting to know each other, and I wanted to see them having more fun together. There was no sex between Catesby and Prudence and despite the reasoning behind this being explained, I felt like a big part of the book was missing. Prudence was an admirable character because she had to fight to get what she felt was her rightful place, but I lost some respect for her when she agreed to marry the wrong man I wondered what would have happened if Catesby hadn't come by in time to save her. I also admired her pride and sense of self and determination to hold her own, even if she isn't totally prepared to be a countess.

Catesby was confusing to me because they tried to portray him as a wastrel type but then it became clear that he was far from that and it just was awkward that they had done a complete turn around like Beverley had chickened out of a bad boy character. He cared about Prudence and several times actively protected her, both physically and possibly mentally from issues at his house. I just felt like he was not a very special character. His relationship with the people in his family was interesting but not completely explored to my satisfaction. The side characters in this book were really fun to explore, especially the sister-in-law because she was hurt and bitter about life and yet I could completely empathize with her situation. I also wish there had been some comeuppance for Prudence's brother Aaron for abandoning her and was disappointed on that end. The side-plot about the ex-fiance was short, quick, and fit well in the story but wasn't really much of a surprise or mystery and I knew from the beginning how it would end. I did like that there were a lot of historical details, such as the class hierarchy, and obvious research.

Rating: A slow moving book that lacked in the romance department and featured two fairly lackluster characters.