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41 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Vanessa's book -The Huxtable Quintet series, February 24, 2009
The quaint village of Throckbridge in Shropshire is all abuzz with the news that a viscount is staying at the local inn. The gossiping tongues immediately start wagging and nearly every female sighs in delight when the devastatingly handsome -and eligible!- lord arrives at the annual St. Valentines assembly. Bored and agitated, Elliot Wallace, Viscount Lyngate, simply wants to fulfill his task and is impatient to remove himself from this backwater country as soon as possible. Plain and recently out of mourning widow, Vanessa Huxtable Dew, takes an immediate disliking to the arrogant aristocrat but is determined to make to best of the night despite being maneuvered into dancing with the disagreeable man. But her interaction with him is not so short lived for he calls upon her family the next day and shockingly informs them that their brother, a mere boy of seventeen, is the new Earl of Merton. Lyngate insists that his new ward must be immediately removed to Warren Hall in Hampshire (Merton's principle seat) and begin tutoring/training for his responsibilities. As a close knit family, the three Huxtable sisters are determined to accompany their younger brother. Not pleased with the change of events Lyngate submits and looks grimly ahead to the daunting task of launching three women into society . Soon it becomes apparent that marriage to one of the sisters solves a myriad of problems on both sides. Lyngate fulfills his duty, and promise to his grandfather, in acquiring a bride. She, in turn, takes on the burden of preparing her sisters for the ton. But Lyngate is in for one more surprise. He has somehow gotten himself engaged, not to the oldest and prettiest sister, but to Vanessa, the plain unpleasant one who has sacrificed herself in her sisters place. Ultimately he resigns within himself to go forth with the wedding. After all how terrible could it be having a wife who promises complete loyalty and devotion? Balogh is one of my favorite romance authors but I just didn't really care for this first book in the Huxtable series. Although the writing, character development and historical details are top notch, it is the romance itself that I found to be less than appealing. I felt like Elliot and Vanessa were as mismatched as they come and unlike in other books ( Slightly Dangerous for example) there was no spark, no passion between these two. I do not mind a slow moving love story if it comes to a satisfying conclusion. In the end, however, I had the distinct impression that they had settled into a content marriage, far less than the wedded bliss I've come to expect. Vanessa exudes delight and laughter bringing joy to everyone around her but not Elliot. She claims that it will be her mission to please him and make the humorless man laugh. But he seems unaffected by her charms until nearly the end. I also found it tiresome that Vanessa's lack of beauty was referred to over and over again -nearly every twenty pages. And I longed for duty-minded Elliot to come to his senses and finally admit that their marriage had come to mean much more than convenience. He kept flip-flopping back and forth in his mind which was irritating. And when he finally did admit his feelings it happened altogether too quickly and lacked a certain sincerity. A less than satisfying romance, hopefully the rest of the series will be better. My Balogh romance shelf keepers (besides the above Slightly Dangerous): The Notorious RakeHeartlessTrulyMore than a MistressSimply Love
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27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
First book in new series, February 24, 2009
'First Comes Marriage' is the first in a new series by Mary Balogh following the fortunes and loves of three sisters and one brother. At the start of this book we meet the Huxtable family, eldest sister Margaret, youngest sister Katherine, young brother Stephen and the middle sister, Vanessa Dew. Vanessa is a widow, having married a neighbour who died a year and a half ago. Although Vanessa still lives with her in-laws, her three siblings live in a small cottage and make do with minimal money. When a viscount comes to stay in the local inn the village is intrigued, especially when he attends the assembly dance. However the Huxtable family are astounded the next day when they discover that their lot is going to change significantly. As they find themselves moving to a new area and preparing to be introduced to polite society, it seems that Viscount Lyngate is planning to ask the eldest sister, Margaret, to marry him. But Vanessa knows Margaret still carries a torch for her young love, serving overseas in the army, and so she persuades Lyngate to marry her instead. As Vanessa and Elliott settle down to married life, she has to come to terms with his rather sober and unsmiling demeanour and he with her feelings for her dead husband. Some of his past actions may come back to haunt him, along with a former good friend who may well be a rogue, and Vanessa has to cope with her own poor self-image. Can they find happiness and love in a marriage of convenience? Mary Balogh is, in my opinion, one of the finest writers of Regency romances today. 'First Comes Marriage' has all her trademark skills, including deep characterisation, flawed and yet appealing characters and historical accuracy. She falls unexpectedly into a trap laid by Georgette Heyer who coined in her own books the term 'Cheltenham Tragedy' (which appears twice in this book) and which Heyer used for a plagiarism lawsuit against another author who used the phrase. There were also times in this book where it did feel very much like the start of a series; there was a great deal of scene setting at the beginning and we followed some of the other characters (to be featured in further books) more closely than one might normally expect for a standalone novel. I also felt that the falling-in-love aspect of the book was perhaps a little more rushed than it might have been. Despite these minor comments I found this to be another excellent read which had emotion, action and character in abundance. Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2009
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
3.5 stars...good series start...worth it for that alone...but heroine too insecure, March 21, 2009
The modest lives of the four Huxtable siblings are changed forever when the youngest, 17-year-old Stephen, suddenly inherits an earldom from a distant relation. The relation's cousin, Elliott Wallace, Viscount Lyngate, arrives at their small village bearing the happy news. Elliott, extremely handsome but insufferably self-important, will mentor Stephen until he comes of age. He tries to persuade Stephen to leave behind his three sisters fearing they will be troublesome, but Stephen will not hear of it, nor will the sisters, and soon they are off to a grand new life on their far-off estate. The sister that gives Elliott the most trouble is the middle one, Vanessa, a plain young widow who has very strong opinions about Elliott, and is not afraid to voice them. She tells him that he is over-bearing, overly proud and perpetually glum, and that she worries he will be a bad influence on her brother. Elliott resents her interference and wishes she would just go away. He often finds himself thinking about how much she bothers him...fine eyes notwithstanding. Elliot decides to offer marriage to the beautiful oldest sister, Margaret. He is not the romantic type and feels that Margaret will do as well any other potential bride. His father recently died, so Elliot needs to marry quickly and beget an heir. So too, he feels responsible for the sisters and, once she is his wife, Margaret could smooth the sisters' entry into London society. Unknown to him, Margaret pines for her former sweetheart, away in the army, whom she has not heard from in years. She would accept Elliott in order to help her sisters, but her heart would not be in it. Suspecting his intentions, Vanessa intercepts Elliott on his way to propose to Margaret. Hoping to spare her sister - and perhaps for other reasons she is unwilling to admit - Vanessa asks him to marry her instead! Elliott cannot stand Vanessa and thinks she must be crazy yet, inexplicably, he's willing to consider... The first 2/3 of this book are wonderful. Elliot is delightfully condescending and slyly amusing - and ripe to be transformed by love. Vanessa is feisty and funny and charming and confident - and is just the woman to do it. One suspects that deep down Elliot knows this. Then they are married and after a few days, starting from the incident with her late husband's photo, Vanessa completely changes. She becomes more and more insecure, and less and less entertaining. She carries on excessively to Elliott about how unattractive she is, even though he genuinely finds her beautiful and clearly lets her know it. After a while, it is hard to imagine how her self-doubt would not diminish her in Elliott's eyes. There does seem less spark between them as the story progresses. On the plus side, I did enjoy the majority of this book. I like the sharp dialogue, the couple's rather unconventional 'mating dance', Vanessa's intrepid attempts to jump-start her marriage, Elliott's droll musings, Margaret's shocking news, and the entire supporting cast. It is in fact a very good set-up for Balogh's new series. It's just that Vanessa's character so disappoints me after a great start. Although the issue is eventually resolved, her prolonged insecurity is over the top and weakens her appeal.
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