Review: Cynical Heroine... Lacking in Romance
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 11, 2013
Background:  Caroline, Lady Ballister, was married at age 18 to a man she didn't love and who never gave her satisfaction in the marriage bed.  Before she married, she was extremely infatuated with Lord Sutbridge who was 20 years old at the time.  Now, she is a widow nearing age 30 with two young sons by her previous husband.Her joyless marriage has contributed to Caroline's cynical and hardhearted attitude and her decision to never marry again.  However, she does want to have a sexual relationship in part because she never received sexual satisfaction with her husband.  She feels that her most attractive years are behind her but she does want something out of life other than what she has known.Since Lord Sutbridge's sister, Julia, is her best friend, she sees him on a regular basis.  When she approaches him about a relationship on her terms, he turns her down.  Apparently, he has wanted her since he was 20 and was taken by surprise when she married.  He has longed for her since that time but he is ready for marriage and all that it involves.  In fact, he strongly desires Caroline but only if she will marry him.*Spoilers*  Initially, Sutbridge tells Caroline marriage is the only way he will have her but changes his mind thinking she might come around to the idea of marriage if he can get her with child.  So, they do indeed begin an affair.  Caroline is very controlling and basically lets him know she will tell him when she wants him, etc.  This doesn't go over very well with Sutbridge and they have a rocky start in their romance - if you could call it that.  In my opinion, there was very little romance in their relationship except for the fact that Sutbridge wanted her and said he would be faithful to her.  At least that was something.In order for them to actually come together, Julia told Caroline that Sutbridge had become engaged to another woman and only then did Caroline realize that she loved and wanted Sutbridge.  I realize this book is a novella and there isn't a lot of room for character development.  However, to the extent these characters were developed, I found very little to actually admire or to enjoy about their personalities or relationship.  This story didn't pique my interest much at all.  I give the book three stars instead of two because even though the story-line was one I found uninteresting, the basic writing skills and editing were pretty good. I do wish writers of romance novels would realize that romance, desire, friendship, kindness, gentle touches, etc. are way more romantic than sexual details.  In my opinion, the aforementioned elements are conducive to tugs on the heart and vital to keeping a story in the reader's mind long after the book is gathering dust or in the case of my Kindle, stuck in the "archived" section.