Review: Wonderful historical romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 2, 2013
Alasdair, the Marquess of Datchworth was deep in a drug induced fog when he heard the most startling thing, a man was auctioning off a woman explaining that she was a pure vicar's daughter. Alasdair lifted his head and looked at the spectacle and for the first time in a long time he made a decision that would help someone else and he placed a high bid for her.Mary was not sure what was going on around her, however when her head finally cleared she was standing in a room with a man she did not know. She remembers her brother selling everything they owned, even her shoes after her father died and yet he still did not have the money he needed to gamble and do the things he wanted so was doing something drastic.She needs to get to London as soon as possible to find her mother, someone who she thought was dead until her father's death bed confession. Alasdair believes he needs to help her, save her from her brother who continues to believe he can get more money out of her, so they set off on a wild trip with his plans to marry her in Scotland. Mary is not truly convinced he will go through with it and as they travel through the countryside and encounter several obstacles which include her brother, Alasdair's cousin, money troubles and drug addiction, they will both make some decisions that will change the rest of their lives.The story was intriguing and had a wonderful promising premise, I enjoyed the romance between the two however I do believe everything that happened to them was solved very easily for both. From the sale of Mary by her unscrupulous brother, Matthias, to how easily Alasdair recovers from being addicted to opium to how Mary is accepted into society when they arrive in London. Other than a small amount of hardship, their troubles were solved too easy. I really liked the concept of the story, the fact that Alasdair was drowning in blame and despair and he wanted to just stay obliviously drugged and just waste away but how he rallied to save Mary while she was trying to save him. However for such serious subjects as drugs and the selling of another human being there was just no drama.I did like Alasdair, as much as he wanted to just drift away from life; he was an honorable man that kept his word about saving Mary. He immediately wanted to marry her to help her, and then backs off when he believes he is saving her from himself; she is suspicious of him and does not know what to believe however she has her own agenda as she needs to get to London so goes along with him. The story flowed well and was interesting to the end and I liked the two characters together. Had there just be a little more angst I would have loved it.Review also posted at Ramblings from a Chaotic Mind