Review: Not your typical Regency heroine or hero
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 12 27, 2013
I would give this 2 1/2 stars.  Two stars for the H/h and the story, and a half a star for lacking the usual typos and grammatical errors that stand out in many Amazon Kindle novels.  This is not the typical, heart-warming Regency Period story in which the bride has been sold into an arranged marriage with a much older, very unappealing lord, earl, or duke only to then run away to become a writer, a governess, or companion, or better yet, is held up by a highwayman who turns out to be a lord who is also the love of her life.  No, in this at times very sad story, the bride does marry the unappealing old fart, .... er, lord, and endures months of a loveless marriage.Enter the H of the piece.  He resents the h's husband, who hosts a party in which to show off his Egyptian artifacts which the H believes belong in a museum.  He engages in a conversation with the h and gains a little insight into her life and marriage.  Later that night, a thief enters the house intent on stealing the artifacts.  He can hear the hounds at a distance and must hide.  But where?  Well, how about the h's bedroom?  He should be safe there for a few hours.  Well, I think you  can probably imagine what is going to end up happening, as well as figure out the identity of the thief.The H is not likable (see spoilers below).  I was also disappointed in the h.  She felt it was her duty to agree to an arranged marriage to become a brood mare for an earl because as the eldest of 10 children she knew it was an opportunity to help feed her sisters and brothers since the earl had promised a tidy sum should she produce an heir.  However, I wished that she had instead become a governess, or had been rescued by a highwayman who is really an earl (though that has already been done by Georgette Heyer in her masterpiece, The Black Moth).  It was sad to read about what she was forced to endure in her loveless marriage, not the usual uplifting Regency fare, but, on the other hand, if you would like a more realistic Regency, perhaps you will enjoy this one.SPOILERS******************The H is just simply unlikeable.  He meets the h, then plans to steal the artifacts belonging to the earl.  Now, there are many people out there who believe that artifacts belong in museums, or better yet, should be returned to the country of their origin.  That's fine.  What isn't fine is that he ends up hiding in the h's room, seduces her (can't call it rape since she figured out that he wasn't her husband even though he refused to introduce himself), impregnates her, and a month later when told by her maid that the h is pregnant and under house arrest, the H takes a "wait and see" attitude toward the whole thing.  Maybe the earl will accept the child as his own- not very likely since he has figured out the child is not his and hence the house arrest of the h.  Only when the maid returns to say that the earl intends to keep the child and send the h away does the H finally rescue the h and his child- and re-introduce himself as the h's dinner campanion, oh, and the father of her child.  Now suddenly, since he has a son, he announces that it is his right as the father to name the child.  Really?  After sitting by for eight months and doing nothing?  Over nine months if you count back to the night of the party.  Not a character you can respect, so therefore hard to like his story or that of the unfortunate h.  She has all the luck with men it seems.