Customer Reviews

The Madcap Marriage (Signet Regency Romance)

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I usually never leave a book unread, but, I stopped reading this book 3/4 of the way through and never picked it back up! This is the first Allison Lane book that I have ever read and I probably wont read anymore of hers. The book looked so exciting and the first two or three chapters are really interesting. But, after that I sooo wanted to slap Helen. She is the most mistrustful, ignorant person I have ever read about. She finds fault with EVERYTHING that Rafe says or does and treats him like hes a moron for most of the book. Well, the parts that I read. Not to mention that in the first 100 pages of the book, she must have thought about or compared Rafe to her ex boyfriend from FOUR years earlier like a gazillion times, and she hasnt heard from or seen him since he snuck out a window at a friend's party FOUR years ago. And then all of the sudden he is there, wanting her back. Give me a BREAK!!! And Rafe, well, I just felt sorry for Rafe. If I had to deal with the incessant nagging that he did throughout the whole book, I would have gone crazy! I think I did just from reading parts of this book!!! Not to mention that he is a wimp of sorts. He has all these problems with his masculinity and feels INFERIOR to Helen because she is richer than him and most of the time he is trying to think of ways to bring her to heel. UGGGGHHH...the frustration!!!! Do NOT read this book!!!! I am sorry for all of you Allison Lane fans, but, this book is just awful!!

When the herioine isn't arguing, competing or fighting with the hero, she's just plain annoying. The two are so mistrustful of each other, it's amazing they ever get together. Well, they never got together for me because I stopped reading 2/3 way through, which I don't do very often. There are no elements of the regency period, other than perhaps running away from a forced marriage. Ugh!

This couple had nothing in common except being members of the human race, though with the way they behaved toward each other that was often debatable.
The author struggled hard to get Rafe to have depth, but he just seemed a shallow playboy, and the potential rape, torture murder was just too heavy handed, especially juxtaposed as it was with all of her absurd angst over the slimy worm who let her down. I hated the heroine, the near love making scenes just got to be too much after a while. By the time thy did the deed I cold not have cared less about either of them. With the way the heroine behaved, it was a wonder no one put her in the madhouse before that, she was such a shrew. A badly written failure.

I usually enjoy Allison Lane books. "The Rake and the Wallflower" is a favorite of mine. But "The Madcap Marriage"... what a confusing jumble of a story. I wanted to like the hero and heroine. But I felt like I never got to know them. The story jumped around so much I felt I lost the point several times. I'm not sure there was ever a defining moment when the characters' love became apparent. There was lust in abundance. But love and trust were difficult to find in this book. Too many threads, subplots, misunderstandings, characters, etc. to make this an enjoyable read for me.