Review: A Nasty and Adulterous Wife is not a good premise for romance
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 19, 2013
CAVEAT:  I read this novella without having read the others in the series.  This review is aimed more at those who are considering reading this novella as a standalone.I won't give a synopsis of the novella - the review by Rae Smith gives a great explanation of the plot.  I have to say that I can't fully recommend reading this novella as a standalone because I'm assuming (perhaps wrongly) that there might be some insight about Josephine and Traverson's relationship in the other novellas in the series.  If there is no background in the other novellas, I still can't recommend it because I then think their relationship needed to be fleshed out somewhat more in this novella.  I should note that Traverson initially falls in love with Josephine for no reason other than the color of her hair and eyes so there wasn't exactly a lot of meat in this relationship to begin with.The novel begins with Traverson interrupting Josephine's liaison with Lord Penny.  From this start, I had a hard time comprehending (or believing) the state of their marriage, his tolerance for her behavior, the number of lovers she has taken, and her feelings towards her husband.  It was not clear to me, for instance, why she decided she loved Traverson after behaving so rottenly for so long.  And it was really not clear to me why he loved her after nearly four years of not only adultery, but also, her overall nasty attitude.  As love starts to blossom between the two, I became further bewildered at Josephine's lack of regret about her behavior and her delusional belief that he should forgive her because, after all, didn't he love her?  Her friends share this attitude and badgered the poor man when he was considering leaving Josephine:  all of the characters, including Traverson, seemed to be under the impression that if you love someone, it doesn't matter how rotten they treat you because when that person decides to be nice, it is a wonderful, wonderful gift.Overall, the novella did have some strengths.  I think the author is good writer and  I think she  has a talent for creating a compelling, interesting and unique hero.  I also liked that she gave much of the novella's narrative to Traverson's perspective.  Nonetheless, I think the author really started with what is an impossible premise in most romance novels.  Her writing was good enough that she was able to redeem the relationship (the heroine less so) by the end of the novella, which is no small feat considering the length of the work and the heroine's sexual escapades with six to eight other men since her marriage.If you like a romantic storyline involving a marriage of convenience in which the hero is desperately in love with a heroine,  I would recommendMarried Past Redemptioninstead.