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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Haven't I read this somewhere before??, September 18, 2006
First, I would like to address M. Garland who didn't care for this book and wasn't sure she would read any more. Don't let this one book influence your opinion of a really wonderful author. I've read all of Julia London's books (save for the Highlander series because I'm just not into that sort of thing)and this is my least favorite. She wrote Devil's Love and Wicked Angel and then the Rogues series and they were all really, really good. Even her contemporaries are worth a read.
This book grinded me for several reasons and I'm not just picking on London here, but every author who does it. Two people marry for convenience and then one day, the woman decides she wants more out of her marriage and she starts to pout and whine because he can't give her more for one ridiculous reason or another. They become estranged and then poof, one day he wakes up, gets hit with a brick and realizes that yes, he does love her. Then everything is fixed and good thing, because she's usually pregnant.
Another thing that I'm tired of seeing is the total lack of communication between husband and wife. If my husband saw me come out of the woods with another man (a little role reversal, but the same idea)whom he suspected I was having an affair with and I really wasn't, I would say a little more than, "I'm sorry." It only made Jared look more guilty and gave his wife yet another reason to sulk. Why didn't he explain to her what really happened??? Why is there always such a frustrating lack of communication between the hero and heroine? Why can't they just be honest and forthright with each other so that we're not left skimming through the several pages of 'she couldn't live like this' and 'he couldn't live like this' before they FINALLY decide to really talk to each other?
Ava set out to find herself a husband with a prestigious title and a few bucks in his pocket. Jared set out to find himself a wife who would not repulse him in bed. I would say he would have a bigger axe to grind with the gold digger than her with him but it didn't play out that way. We were to believe that she was the wronged one and, as usual, it's the guy who's brought to his knees.
It's not a boring read but I did tire of all the sulking going on. And just because I wasn't as impressed with this book as I've been with some of London's others doesn't mean I won't read her forthcoming books. I always look forward to another of her works in print.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Give this book a try! It's good!, May 26, 2006
I liked this book. I have read literally hundreds of regencies. And I think you must agree that many regency heroines do pretty stupid things.I liked Ava. She was not stupid. She's everything a regency heroine should be: intelligent, lovely, loyal, and kind. There was a lighthearted tone to this book that I enjoyed. The banter and flirting between Ava and Jared were very well done. The situtation with the household staff she recruited was comical. She was typical of girls of her class who were encouraged to marry "up." When she agreed to marry Jared, she was virtually destitute. She loved her sister and cousin (they in turn loved her which reflects Ava's worthiness) and she wanted to provide for them. How better than to marry the heir of a duke? Now, the hero. Typical regency hero: handsome, rich, and a hottie. But he was not cruel as many of them are; he was indeed conflicted. He had real issues with his father and the early loss of his mother. He didn't believe he even knew what love was. Wow. Now I'm flashing back to that notorious interview of Prince Charles and Princess Diana where he said (the cad!) "whatever 'in love' means." Sorry to digress. This is not an intense Lisa Kleypas-type historical regency. There's a little angst but the good hearts of both the hero and heroine win out in the end. After reading the first reviews posted, I thought "What?" I actually reread the book to determine if I was that much off-base. I'm happy to say I'm not. As a veteran reader of hundreds of historicals and regencies, I think this is an enjoyable read. I'm giving it 5 stars because I think the extremely low rankings of other reviews are very unfair. There was misuse of the word exacerbated (should have been exasperated)and Miss Pennebacker was misnamed as Miss Downey at the end of the book (sloppy editing no doubt). The denouement seemed rushed but I really liked the interplay (verbal and physical) between Ava and Jared. I look forward to the other 2 books in The Desperate Debutantes trilogy.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Lightweight Regency, November 22, 2006
I found this book lightweight - not in its physical properties (it was a satisfyingly chunky book at nearly 400 pages) but in terms of its content. The basic story is that Jared, the Marquis of Middleton, is a rake who has numerous affairs but has no wife and legal heir. His father, the Duke of Redford, wants him to settle down and get a legitimate heir but Jared is unwilling.
Ava and her sister Phoebe discover, after their mother's death, that their stepfather will not give them any money - they merely have their small dowries left. Therefore they need to get some money in order to continue to live acceptably and to provide employment for the various people that they have helped (Ava's lady's maid is a former prostitute, the butler is another lame duck, etc).
Of course Ava hits on the plan of marrying the Marquis of Middleton to solve their problems and, spookily, he hits on the plan of marrying Ava to shut his father up. So they marry. After a successful wedding night they become estranged, the reason being that Ava wants his love and thinks he's still seeing his mistress. Jared believes he can't love, it's not within him, so keeps away from his wife - apart from telling her he needs an heir.
It's often said that authors should "show, not tell" what's going on in their characters' lives. This is a very true adage in respect to this book - Julia London TELLS us all the time what people are feeling but we can't really sense/detect this from their behaviour. It's pretty tricky to understand why Jared likes Ava and puts up with her being pretty annoying. And why he just doesn't tell her outright he's not still keeping a mistress - the Big Misunderstanding doesn't work properly when it could so easily be discussed. There's a side plot about an illegitimate son and Ava's cousin travelling in Wales to visit her family (which is no doubt a set up for another book) but I found this book generally pretty dull, I often put it down with boredom and it didn't even have any interesting historical vignettes to keep me interested. As always, the American author included some Americanisms in grammar and speech - and the most notable of these, for me, is the choice of names; I don't think that either Jared or Ava were names commonly used in the Regency. Jared, being a biblical name, might just have turned up - Ava is a German name which I believe first started occurring at the end of the 19th century, so would not have been in this historical/geographical timeframe. What does this say about the author's research?
If you just want basic escapist reading with a dishy leading man and a beautiful heroine then you might like this book. If you want an interesting, in-depth and worthwhile Regency then read Georgette Heyer or Laura Kinsale's "Flowers From The Storm" and leave this book alone.
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