Review: Rather bland
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 10, 2014
If the reader likes a squeaky clean story, this is one.Our heroine is forced into a marriage with a man, our hero, who has quite a reputation as a rake.  The hero was forced by his mother into finding a wife.The couple marry, have their wedding trip and seem to fall into their marriage fairly easily.  She catches him sort of flirting with a maid, but that gets resolved.  The couple acknowledge their love for each other, but it seems he is always having to leave her to deal with business or problems with his brother.The hero's mother also resides in a part of the house.  She is an alcoholic and verbally abusive.  Our heroine is left to more or less deal with her while the hero is gone. The heroine takes a stand and removes all alcohol -- except for medicinal or cooking -- from the house.  She also tells the servants she will no longer tolerate gossiping about each other or of any family member.There are a few more problems for the couple to work through, but things get settled.There just didn't seem to be much in the way of depth in the characters.  She had some spirit, but was willing to go the extra mile for him.  He was supposed to be a rake, but I didn't really get that feeling about him.Not a preachy story, and I don't think there was any fire to it other than a hopefully passionate kiss.I give it a so-so rating.