Review: An unusual love story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 24, 2011
The unusual part here is that the heroine is portrayed as a selfish, shallow woman who takes advantage of a man's good nature to entice him into marriage. I found myself wondering how such a woman could possibly be the HEROINE! But I kept reading, nonetheless, and I'm so glad I did. A heroine needs to have at least some flaws; who can identify with a heroine who is so perfect that everyone falls in love with her? Not me, that's for sure!As the story begins, Carlotta is a war widow who is seriously depressed after being dumped by the man she loved and expected to marry, even though he told her from the beginning that he would never marry her. Although he apparently supported her and gave her expensive gifts, she never saw herself as his mistress until he gave her a diamond necklace and told her he was marrying another, but that he wouldn't mind if she continued as his mistress. Carlotta realizes that she has been nothing a whore to him, and has sacrificed her reputation for no good reason. Okay, this is where the weird part begins. Unless her lover had been indiscreet enough to shout their relationship all over town, why would this make her a pariah? Widows were allowed to enjoy discreet liaisons, even taking on protectors, without repercussions from society, even though, gulp, everyone knew about it. So it makes no sense that this one affair would cost Carlotta all her friends and cause her to feel like a fallen woman. But hey, I liked the book so much I couldn't stop, so I forgive the author for this somewhat glaring error, and move on to what made the story so riveting.And essentially, it was the characters. In the beginning, Carlotta is not only worldly and grasping and still devastated from her ill-fated affair, but she harbors a deep hatred for man who caused her husband's death six years ago. James has unexpectedly inherited a title and a fortune, and nearly the first thing he wants to do is make amends to the widow and son of the man who died because of his mistake in battle. Carlotta really wants to throw him out, but she is deeply in debt and cannot make herself turn down his financial assistance. When he expresses interest in her son, who has lived with her grandmother almost from birth, she recklessly agrees to send for him, and then discovers that she is a stranger to her son. With James's help, she learns to be a good mother to her son, and when James offers to marry her--even though she suspects it's because he wants to be a father to her son--she agrees, all the while determined to hide her past love affair and make up for it by becoming a devoted wife and mother.Of course, James has eyes enough to see that she was an indifferent mother at first, but is gratified to see how quickly that changes. The beautiful, flirtatious, shallow, and selfish Carlotta becomes a loving mother as she spends time around her son and learns what it's like to truly care for another person. Although she frequently reflects sadly that it's a shame she doesn't love her husband, she is actually falling under his spell as she sees what a responsible, caring man he is. And since she owes it to him to be the best wife she can, she goes out of her way to match him as a responsible, caring spouse. Of course, they go through the usual ritual of each thinking the other doesn't love him/her and then realizing that they do, but there is still much heartache in store for them, and it's not hard to anticipate what it will be. Carlotta has managed to keep her love affair secret for many months; how could she know that she herself would be the one to inadvertently reveal it and jeopardize the happiness of all three of them?I loved this book and intend to read the other two books in the series as well. One thing I have learned is not to pay too much attention to ratings. People have different tastes, and I've found a lot of mediocre books with 4-5 star ratings because of 2- or 3-line gushing reviews, presumably by the author's generous friends. Few books are unflawed, but in my opinion, any book that keeps me engrossed all the way through is worth five stars, and this one definitely is.