Review: Very odd and nonsensical plot
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 07 1, 2013
The synopsis given for A Wife for Winsbarren doesn't discuss at least half of the plot: while the socially inept Viscount Winsbarren, aided by Lady Penelope, is looking for a wife via the placement of an advertisement in Ladies Gazette, he is also repeatedly proposing marriage to his favorite and long-term ladybird, Lady Rowena.  Though he tells Rowena he doesn't love her, he is very fond of her and is quite willing to give up his title in exchange for marriage to her.Rowena refuses Winsbarren and herein lies at least some of the weirdness of the novel: Rowena's background, her refusal of his marriage proposal, and basically all of her actions throughout the three years she has known Winsbarren make absolutely no sense.  No sense at all.  Rowena created and perpetuates a completely unnecessary and complicated ruse.The other weirdness within the novel is the premise that no one wants to marry Viscount Winsbarren because he is socially awkward.  We are told at least twice, and here in the words of Viscount Winsbarren, that he is "rich, titled, and handsome.  Surely, those three things outeweighed his lack of social graces and two left feet."  Uh yeah, I think that being rich, titled, and handsome would be pretty much be a godsend during this time period and you would be batting away women even if you were a little awkward.  Within this novella, though, no woman has spoken to him for more than two minutes during the last decade and he has even failed to snare a low-born woman as a spouse.  This scenario just doesn't make sense.  And since when is acerbic wit a problem (isn't that a trademark of pretty much all of Georgette Heyer's heroes)?Initially, the clumsy, but sweet hero was shaping up fairly well in Ms. Gallagher's hands, though I started to lose sympathy with Viscount Winsbarren very early on.  He, for instance, displays very little emotional depth or character when he dismisses two of the applicants on the basis of their appearance alone.  Apparently, his desperation to marry could be easily tempered by a woman's appearance and he doesn't consider love with a plain woman a possibility. Lastly, when the big reveal occurs in the end of the novel, I started to wonder why Rowena even liked Lord Winsbarren..........***SPOILER****:  If you were really enamored of someone and had a pretty memorable encounter with them, wouldn't your remember their face a decade later? Particularly when said person hasn't had plastic surgery and you remember every other aspect of their attire and appearance?  I would have been positively insulted!On a positive note, I do think that Ann Gallagher is a good writer.  She writes very clearly and she does have some good characterization.  Unfortunately, in the case of A Wife for Winsbarren, the plot undermines her writing talent.