Review: Literary, etc Review
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 09 2, 2013
I'm not sure what to say about Wendy Vella's The Reluctant Countess. From the synopsis it's publicized as a Cinderella type plot and it has aspects of it, but Vella just falls short.As for character development, there are some issues. The main problem for me is the villain. He's introduced as hating Sophie and wanting to find out the truth behind her marriage to the late earl. Villains, especially those in a Regency romance do tend to be dastardly, but this one just was meek. A lot of things just don't make sense. If the earl was dying and as the earl's heir, wouldn't he be there to protect his claim especially if there was talk of the earl's apparent marriage? Speaking of marriage...Sophie married the earl on his deathbed and her son becomes the heir, hence displacing the villain. Here's the thing... her son turns out to be her brother and of course her brother was already born when Sophie married the earl and therefore cannot be the heir! I understand being out in the country and away from London gossips, but here's the thing- communities were small enough that people would be aware if the new mistress of the house was pregnant. Servants gossip and how in the world did the earl's sister, Letty, manage to hush everyone up in the household is beyond me, unless they fired the lot and only retained a few in confidence. I can suspend disbelief, but in this situation it just doesn't work for me. At one point the villain confronts Sophie and she says something to the effect of, "you got a title passed to you." What title was that and why isn't it attached with the others? You can't just pick and chose with titles will pass just like you can't pick out of a hat who your heir is going to be.I didn't find Sophie and Patrick's romance all that convincing. It seemed to me she married him because she didn't have a choice. Obviously marrying Patrick offers some protection (ahem from the possibility of the Ton finding out you weren't married to your first husband), but I never got the impression Sophie loved Patrick. There wasn't any indication of feelings of dislike and distrust turning into admiration and then love. It's also never fully explained why Patrick was interested in knowing more about Sophie. It's not like he had a claim on the title or was in any way a friend of the family. Yes, Vella writes he visited the earl a few days prior to his death, which again brings up the question of Sophie. Wouldn't the earl have mentioned he'd married? Vella presents Sophie as a beautiful woman who pretty much keeps men at a distance. If Patrick was interested in her favors, I'd expect an author to describe his lust at seeing her for the first time or something to that effect, but we don't. His sole purpose is to expose her as a charlatan, but then he changes his feelings regarding Sophie 25% in.I do have to make note of the language because it sounded too modern. I know it is difficult to write a certain way, but for me when an author sets a novel in the past, I expect it to sound like a product of the time period or as close as possible.I debated heavily with the rating. In the end, I gave it a two because Vella fails to execute the plot and problems regarding inheritance. I've read some well- written Cinderella plots in the past. Julie Ann Long's To Love a Thief comes to mind as well as Pamela Britton's Scandal.**This review appears on my blog**