Customer Reviews

The Marriage Lesson

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Marriage Lesson is the humorous story of Thomas Effington, Lord Helmsley, who becomes the keeper of his sister's three young sisters-in-law. His hopes are to marry them off as quickly as he can so his life can get back to it's normal routine. But the sisters have a different idea. Marianne, the oldest of the three, has no desire to get married. The two younger sisters tell Thomas they themselves won't marry until their older sister does. Herein lies the challenge...he must find a husband for the adventure-seeking Marianne.

This story is romantic and funny at the same time. The character of Thomas is so typical male that it's hilarious to read about him. When it comes to love he seems to be rather dense. I think in the end his friends even feel sorry for him because of his lack of smarts where Marianne is concerned. Marianne is truly a heroine to fall in love with. She is smart and full of wit. She is not going to let any man stand in her way. She is very independent and imaginative. She keeps Thomas on his toes. And the romantic things Thomas does to win Marianne's heart are so funny.

The secondary characters are also very well developed and likable. I would like to see more written about Pennington and Berkley. Marianne's sisters were also very enjoyable characters. Especially when they teamed up to help Thomas with Marianne. And the whole idea of Marianne writing the "Absolutely True" stories definitely added some spice to the book.

This book is very enjoyable and is easy to read. I found myself reading faster and faster to get to the end to see what happened. It was definitely a great way to spend a few hours.

Marianne and Thomas are so obviously in love with each other, but neither will admit it. I loved the way Thomas persisted in trying to do romantic things to win her...even if his acts turned out more silly than heroic! How she could keep rejecting his marriage proposals in such circumstances is beyond my understanding!

The characters in this story are endearing; I look forward to seeing them again in future stories. The romantic and sexual tension kept me turning the pages well past my bedtime. Victoria Alexander will hereon in be ranked with Julia Quinn, Christina Dodd, and Jill Barnett as favorite authors of romantic humor.

However, the lady did protest a bit too much, in my opinion. Surely even a dimwit could have divined that Thomas was in love with Marianne, even if he didn't think to say the actual words. And the sexual encounters between the two were too numerous to be consistent with this period. One would have been enough to make any unmarried couple fearful of pregnancy, but as many times as these two go at it...well, it's an accident waiting to happen! And, from the start, I was doubtful that society of the period would cast an approving eye on a situation where three young girls came to live in a home with an eligible bachelor, even sporting a dragon of a chaperone.

Still, this is a captivating story that will have you in tears of joy and laughter clear to the end. Let's have more like this one, Ms. Alexander!

This is the 5th book of this series I have read,(preceded by "The Wedding Bargain", "The Husband List", "The Prince's Bride",and "Her Highness my Wife", although not precisely in that order) and I can say without a doubt that it is my favorite of them all.

Thomas is charming, sensual, strong, masterful and an accomplished lover , as any romantic novel hero should be, but at the same time has flaws,and makes mistakes and even gets himself in ridiculous situations sometimes. Surprisingly, that doesn't take away from him, on the contrary, makes him even more endearing and believable. Marianne is bold, romantic, intelligent and a dreamer. I liked the fact that she wears glasses, its kind of different.

I enjoyed the sex scenes in this book, they were passionate, and well written and balance a story that otherwise would have been too "light". A nice surprise in a Victoria Alexander book, that sometimes tend to not include enough or not develop well this type of scenes.

The story is funny and romantic, althogh there are some things I had trouble believing, like the fact that Thomas needed a clue from Marianne sisters to figure out the stories were about them. Hello? It was pretty obvious.

One thing I have noticed about Alexander's novels is that the characters sometimes tend to act in a maner more appropiate to this century than the rigid English society of that time. The heroines are far too bold and the tolerant and even encouraging attitude of the older people (specially the Dowager Duchess)is a little unbelievable.

But in general is a good story, fast paced, passionate and charming. A real page turner (I could barely put it down) I strongly recommend it.

The Marriage Lesson is the sequel to the Husband List. In The Marriage Lesson, Marianne and Thomas, sister and brother to Richard and Gillian (the male and female protagonists of the original book), are thrown together. Thomas is left holding the debut bag for Marianne and her 2 younger sisters when his parents leave England to visit Richard and Gillian in America. Thomas originally wants to marry Marianne (he cannot even remember her name at the outset of the book and calls her "Merry something") and her sisters off asap. To that end he attempts to persuade a friend to "take" Marianne off his hands and subsequently sends notes to the same effect, complete with dowry information, to the dullest, most respectable bachelors in the ton. Of course between the time he does that and the sisters' come-out ball, he begins to fall in love with Marianne. Meanwhile Marianne longs for adventure, travel and to meet a swashbuckling hero and therefore has no interest in accepting the dull suitors more interested in her dowry than herself. In this book, the author does a far better job of developing the characters' personalities than in the original book. Each has their own believable quirks and irrationalities; Thomas' excruciatingly bad poetry sets him apart from the typical Regency rake characters. The use of Marianne's serialized newspaper story as a slightly fictionalized account of her own life is a nice prelude to each chapter and proves that she does in fact have talent. Even the love scenes are better written in this book, although again I will quibble with the casual attitude toward unmarried sex and its potential repercussions which would not have been typical for the time period. As a former bridal fitter I was slightly annoyed by the ease with which Thomas is able to pull down Marianne's low cut bodice on the balcony of her mansion during her come-out ball (no pun intended): if the garments of this period were properly fitted, it would have been nearly impossible to pull them down unless the neckline were cut almost to the nipple. And would he have really done this in a house literally swarming with guests and servants, any of whom could have walked onto the balcony at any time, thereby forcing them to marry immediately? There is no indication that this was his unspoken intent and the author does not do a sufficient job of convincing us that they were THAT swept away by passion. These are small quibbles, and I would recommend this book as a good read.

If you read the Husband List, you will remember Thomas Effington who is Gillian's(heroine of The Husband List) brother and Richard's(hero of The Husband List) best friend, and Marianne who is Richard's younger sister. Well in the Marriage Lesson, Richard and Gillian are married and inspecting land in America they inherited from their marriage. They have left Richard's three younger sisters in the care of Thomas while they are gone. Thomas wants them married and off his hands as soon as possible, but the oldest sister, Marianne, will not make it easy for him. She has no desire to get married, but wants to be independent and have adventures. Unfortunately for Thomas, part of her planned adventures involves experiencing intimacy and Thomas is the one she wants to experience it with.

One problem I had with this story was the repetition of ideas. Okay Marianne, we get that you want to be independent and have adventures!

Another problem I had was with Marianne herself. She is described as this intelligent woman, but she doesn't show it a lot. She wants to experience intimacy, and doesn't care about her reputation because she has no plans to marry. Didn't anyone explain to her that if she and Thomas were found out, no one would want to have anything to do with her? That not only would she be completely ostracised, but that she would hurt her sisters' marriage prospects, turn Thomas into a known seducer of innocents, and embarass her brother and sister-in-law? I guess not because it never occurs to her.

Not to say that I didn't like The Marriage Lesson, but The Husband List was much better. I have heard Alexander called the next Julia Quinn, but I like Quinn's style of writing much better. But despite some flaws, The Marriage Lesson is a cute story and you should give it a chance and see what you think.

Lord Helmsley finds himself in a position no self-respecting rake should ever be placed in: acting guardian to three lovely sisters who are related to him through their brother's marriage to his sister. Helmsley must house these three ladies and launch their debut into society while his parents and sister are out of the country. At the same time, Helmsley has been charged with finding a wife for himself; he believes watching over the sisters will interfere with his own search for a quiet/biddable bride who will believe he hung the moon and stars. (These three are definitely not quiet and biddable!)

Finding husbands for the girls would get them out of his house and out of his hair. But, as a TV character used to say, "Surprise, surprise!" These ladies don't want to be married off! After living quietly in the country, they want excitement. In particular, the eldest wants to "experience life" and decides that Helmsley will be the one to instruct her.

Despite his being a rake, Helmsley has been raised correctly and knows that he can't seduce his brother-in-law's innocent sister. ("Why not? My brother seduced your sister.")

The verbal skirmishes begin and the reader is enchanted. The two verbally fence, dancing back and forth, each winning a skirmish here and there. Each believes they are winning the battle. Marianne wants more lessons from Helmsley who wants to continue as her instructor even while he knows that he shouldn't.

THE MARRIAGE LESSON is a genuine 5-star read and an enchanting follow-up to Ms. Alexander's other two novels: THE MARRIAGE BARGAIN and THE MARRIAGE LIST. Ms. Alexander has definitely joined my "must read" list of authors.

Never had this problem before. This is my first Victoria Alexander book, so I am not sure how she normally writes.

I gave it four stars because it was very entertaining and so funny. The stars are all for the laughs in this book. I do not think I have laughed so much in a romance before.

I love the story and the characters were very suited, I also loved the sisters, and Thomas's friends.

The part I did not like, was how dumb Marianne was at times. For a woman who was suppose to be such a bookworm and intelligent...she seemed to much a dreamer and silly at times. I wanted to smack her. I understand independence, but she just did not seem very independent to me.

It was fun to read, and I really laughed hard at how hard poor Thomas tried to win her heart....my four stars are all for you Thomas Effington.

A truly adventurous romance that moved me. It's witty and entertaining, with a fun storyline

"The Marriage Lesson" is the light amusing story of a woman who longs for adventure, only to find it in a place she hadn't expected.

This is an often-hilarious look at two people attracted to one another despite their best intentions. Alexander's writing flows smoothly, and the dialogue between the two protagonists is witty and clever. The characters are related to characters from "The Husband List," and I, for one, always appreciate revisiting characters from previous books.

Despite all that, this book displayed some weaknesses. It almost seems as if Alexander decided on a plot and stuffed her characters into it despite their growth away from it! The plot seemed old and hackneyed, and the characters, although clever and appealing, were not well-developed. Their motivations seemed very shallow and somewhat unrealistic.

All in all, I'd call this book a good light read for someone who enjoys laughing out loud and doesn't mind a lack of development and realism.

Before you embark on this treasure, read the Husband List, a sexy, clever and funny novel by Victoria Alexander.

In The Marriage Lesson, we find the return of Richard Shelbrook's three younger, lively and affible sisters as well as his very best friend, and Brother-in-law, Thomas Effington...the future Duke of Roxborough. Thomas, a noted rake, has suddenly found himself in charge of these three beauties and is responsible for taking them out into society and finding them suitable husbands, while at the same time find himself a "biddable and soft spoken woman" to marry and satisfy his family obligations. Soon this rake turns into a responsible fuddy duddy, plotting to maneover these adventure-seeking women into the arms of dull and respectable marriage minded men as soon as possible. What he does not expect is that these girls are not quite ready to settle down, especially Marrianne, the vision that unsettles him. Marrianne has other plans, as she has decided to never marry and instead decides to earn her own way as a writer. She has the tons tongues wagging with her weekly, anonymous column of an orphan country girl flirting with her rake guardian and heading for disaster. Very entertaining..and the main characters have great chemestry.