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39 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Galling, October 7, 2009
This review is from: The Earl Claims His Wife (Mass Market Paperback)
Okay, I have to say I was swept up in the beginning of the book, but quickly got disillusioned by several unforgivable faults.
1. This author really needs to restudy/bone up on her vocabulary. Not only did she repeat phrases over and over but she would use words in a completely inappropriate context. Those are not typos those are out and out mistakes that never should have made it past the slush pile!
2. The heroine, Gillian, was very annoying. She would change her mind about the hero on the turn of a dime. She goes on and on about how badly he treated her for four years and ONE DAY LATER she is exchanging renewal wedding vows and body fluids in a coach with this "terrible husband."
3. Everything wrapped up WAY too quickly. But that goes back to the fact that these characters would go from eternal hate to a love fest within the span of a page or two.
4. Finally, the love scenes were basically non-existent. Now, don't get me wrong I don't like when the sex is dragged out for an entire chapter, but in this book if you blinked you missed them. What WAS there was boring.
This is the last book I will read by this author. I just don't understand what is happening to publishing these days! Some houses seem ready and willing to publish any piece of shallow tripe sent their way.
As disturbing as some of the 80's era romance novels could be with their underage heroines and rather violent heroes, at least they were meticulous in research and talented in writing (the ones I read anyway). Now romance novels read like they were written by 9th graders (and not very talented 9th graders either).
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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Hated both characters, October 18, 2009
This review is from: The Earl Claims His Wife (Mass Market Paperback)
I could find very little to like in this book; the hero (Brian) is a huge jerk, and his wife (Gillian) are both terribly annoying characters. I was rooting for Andres, the "other guy." Andres, unlike Brian, is gentle, sweet, handsome, and genuinely in love with Gillian, and while Gillian professes to love Andre back, just some simple gestures and stories from Brian is enough to make her fall out of love with him? I don't think so. The most touching scenes, and the best scenes in the book, were between Andres and Gillian, near the beginning of the story. After that, the book just falls apart.
I'm not complaining about the lack of steamy love scenes, yeah, yeah, in every romance novels, the title characters are passionately in love and wants nothing more than to get each other's clothes off, so I could care less about that. I am upset with the lack of character development.
I love the premise of the story, about the repentant rake, going back to claim his abandoned wife's heart; instead, Brian is a jerk, and he does little to redeem himself. He ignores his wife for 4 years, then gets her back when it's convenient for him, because he needs her and what she can do for him as a marriage partner, and lies about it repeatedly. After he stops lying and professes to be in love with her, he's just...really boring; I can't see what Gillian sees in him at all. Even his father, the overbearing and evil Marquess, is more interesting; for such a professed rebel, I don't think Brian had much of a backbone.
As for Gillian, she is, like previously mentioned, extremely fickle. Good god, she had Andres, who was handsome, gallant, and madly in love with him (Andres is a poor aristocrat, but then again, Brian DID bring her back to a hovel in London). Brian professes to love her, tells her a few cute war stories, and she falls madly in love with him again, and again, and again, after all the lies he's told her. I just wanted to shake some sense into her.
When I prefer the antagonists to the protagonists, to me, that's a sign of a bad book.
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29 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Surprisingly Good Book......, September 30, 2009
The back cover synopsis of the book does nothing for the story.
This novel is a return to the "old" Cathy Maxwell when her books were rich with detail and character development. Instead of the canned "unexpected heir to title needs to have estranged wife produce an baby" theme...here comes "The Earl Claims His Wife."
The story begins with Gillian ...wife of Brian Ransom the new Earl of Wright, third son, now unexpected heir to his father's title of Marquess. Gillian hasn't seen her husband since the morning after their arranged marriage four years ago when he destroyed her childish dreams of love by telling Gillian he was in love with his mistress. Since his abandonment, Gillian has become a woman in charge of one of the estates of her cousin, the Duke.
Now Gillian wants a divorce from Ransom. A new love has her entered her life, a Spanish Baron named Andres. Without a lengthy back story on the Baron, Ms. Maxwell places Andres as Gillian's love interest. It is apparent this has been a platonic love but Gillian wants more and she finally feels strong enough to ask for it.
Meanwhile, Ransom, the Earl of Wright, has returned to London after his father pulled him from his position as Colonel in the British army. Ransom's two older brothers have died recently leaving Ransom as the new heir. Ransom's life has changed dramtically since he married Gillian, and it's still changing when he writes Gillian several urgent letters telling her to "come home" to him.
Gillian has repeatedly ignored the Earl's letters until he finally arrives one moring while Gillian is longingly watching the Baron, Andres, put an Andulusian mare through her paces. (The story of the Andulusian mare is one of the interesting historic details peppered throughout this novel that don't overwhelm, but definitely add to the ambiance of the novel.)
Ransom's arrival, coming just when Gillian has decided to ask for her divorce sets the stage for a confrontation between Gillians, Ransom, and the Baron. I won't detail that part of the book because while it's interesting, it just sets up what happens next.
To be honest, I truly didn't like Gillian or Ransom at first. Both characters were one-dimensional shallow creatures. That's the surprise to me. I learned to care about Gillian and Ransom as both lead characters grew into three-dimensional people dealing with real challenges. I won't go into what the challenges are, that would spoil your enjoyment.
Unlike the typical "regency" where love grows through ballroom garden interaction these two people were wrenched into growth by learning to trust one another in day-to-day living. Yes, there was one incident of shopping on Bond Street...but the bulk of this novel was gritty and real.
I loved this one, and strongly recommend it as a purchase in paperback versus ebook. You will want it on your keeper shelf.
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