Customer Reviews

Merely Married

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Readers of romance novels have all seen the plot of this book before - two people who loathe each other are forced to marry and end up falling in love. Ms. Coughlin updates this plot by giving us wonderful, well-written, likable characters and sparkling dialog. I loved the way Adrian and Leah verbally dueled, and the way that they gradually developed respect, and then love for each other. The love scenes were great, too! I especially liked the way the author avoided endowing the hero or heroine with the unrealistic attributes that some romance authors do to their leads. There were no surprises in the story - I knew exactly where this book was going, but really enjoyed the journey!

I wasn't sure about this book since it is the first of her book I have read, bit I ended up staying up until 2 a.m. to finish the whole book in one sitting. The book was fast-paced (can't stand the books that goes on and on in describing scenes and depicting the inner thoughts of the characters) and extremely funny. However unreal some reviewers may think, it is extremely entertaining. For me, Romance novel is suppose to be unreal and fun... and this one was. Loved the part when Leah showed up at Raven's house unexpected. All the interactions in public were written with lots of humor. I laughed at Raven's reaction to his two friends - they were both rather funny also. The part that he tried to seduce Leah by pretending to be a painter made me laugh. Leah was strong and optimistic - not a meek and whininig person. Raven can be a bit much to take, but is really touching in his own evil way. Although the story is predictable (aren't all romance novels?), I look forward to another from the author.

Adrian Devereau, the Duke of Raven, is not just a rake and a scoundrel. He is REALLY a rake and a scoundrel. He is handsome, extremely rich and unmarried. All qualities fervently sought by young women, girls and their mothers as prime husband material. And they want to take him on as a "project", to reform him. Adrian, however, has had one horrendous experience with a woman he was in love with and vowed never to be used by a woman again. So far he has managed to keep himself out of the clutches of any mother intent on seeing her daughter married to his title and his money, and as an afterthought, to himself. When one of his friends tells him about the "Plimpton Solution" he seizes upon it as a way to satisfy all his worries. And as fate would have it, a potential "Plimpton Solution" female seems to fall right into his life. Surely this is a sign? Plimpton married a woman only to have her die very soon after the marriage. His problem was that he actually had come to love his wife and truly grieved when she died. All the members of the ton left him alone to deal with his grief. Therefore, no matchmaking. When Raven learns that a woman has been given refuge in the rectory,which just happened to be the home of his friend Will Grantley, he decides to have Will perform a marriage service and his other friend, Sir Colin Thornton, can draw up all the legal papers. Since all three are very much influenced by how much they had been drinking throughout the evening at the local pub, this seems like a very good idea at the time. After all, the apothecary said that the woman was dying.

Except that she didn't die. Leah Stretton not only survived, she got Will and Colin to tell her all about her new "husband". She decided to use the situation to her advantage and therefore, made a very spectacular entrance into Adrian's home during a dinner party he was giving in order to convince the biggest gossips in town that he was well and truly married but that his wife was unwell and staying in the country. Leah has a proposition to make to the Wicked Lord Raven. One which will give them both an opportunity to end up with what they want. Of course the trouble is, they both actually want quite different things.

I was enthralled by this book. It was witty - the conversations between all the characters in the book were smart and humorous. Not just the two lead characters were given this treatment by the author. Ms Coughlin had me laughing and chuckling and smiling over dialogue between Adrian, Leah, Will, Colin, and the best depiction of household staff I've come across in quite a long while. This book is also clever. It takes a plot which has admittedly been done many times before and makes it fresh by giving the reader a hero and heroine who seem to delight us in not acting as we expect them to act. It is charming because no matter how "wicked" the Wicked Duke is, we see him begin to change, in very small steps but sure steady progress is made.

I absolutely fell under the spell of this authors work. She writes in a style which was refreshing for me. No cloying sweetness for the heroine, no mistresses for the hero. No feisty bluestocking who must have her way and best the man at everyting but a woman with a purpose and the intelligence to know how to get from point "a" to point "b" by being honest and going in a straight line. Hip - hip - hooray!!!

The Duke must count as the most self-centered, self-absorbed and arrogant man I've read of in a romance, unless he was the villain! He needs to get rid of match-making women and he comes up with the perfect solution, marry a dying woman, she dies and he adopts the 'grieving widow' act: He lives his life happily, women don't bother him any more, the bride is dead...

As it odd as it may seem, he somehow manages to find the perfect woman. Leah is very gravely ill indeed.. dying.. her younger sister will be left penniless and homeless.. on her death-bed, she agrees to marry the Duke and the first part of his plan is accomplished. A while later, Leah miraculously recovers and shows up in London with the aim of marrying off her younger sister Christina. The Duke finds himself cornered and stuck. he cannot annul the marriage because that will look very bad on his record.. and his plans are going up in flames..

In the country, his plans tumble further and further when he finds himself attracted to the lovely Leah who finally admits that she loves the arrogant Duke...

Wonderful, original, different, entertaining. Definitely a book worth reading, and keeping. Prepare for a thoroughly enjoyable time with Leah and Adrian. The characters are very well developed and they are always behaving and talking true to type. The plot original and the dialogue... what can I say?

MERELY MARRIED by Patricia Coughlin was an enchanting read from start to end. Not only was the plot line catchy, and interesting, the characters were also a delight to read about!

From the beginning you read about Adrian Deveanor, sixth duke of Raven, you'll quickly realize he is definitely a one-of-a-kind type of hero. Handsome, egotistical, conceited yet still at the same time, charming, he's really a man any girl would swoon for. As his name suggests, Wicked Lord Raven, he's well known among many as one of the ton's top-rated bachelors. Wanting to escape from all the nagging mamas, he and his friends come up with a, what they believe to be, brilliant plan for Adrian; he is to marry a lady, presumably dying, that way when he becomes a widow, the ton will be off his back and give him his own space as he deals with his "grief". Well this sort of lady they manage to find, and Lady Leah Stretton is the perfect match. Lady Leah was on her way to London, to prepare for her younger sister's coming out season, but managed to fall ill upon her arrival. Soon Adrian and Leah are married with Leah being semi-conscious throughout the whole ceremony. Two weeks pass, and Adrian has his first gathering at his house, with the ton's top gossipmongers and there he spills his whole marriage, and a made-up story of how the two met and courted, but the official death of Leah is still unknown to Adrian, so as a result, he still cannot publicly declare himself widowed. But imagine his surprise, when a very alive, energetic Leah appears at his home, and plays the role of his "wife" to perfection!

Woo-hoo, isn't Adrian in a fix now, for all his foolishness has caused him!!!!

Soon the two come up with a plan, Leah and Adrian will play the perfect husband and wife, until the end of the season, (by then Leah hopes her sister will have found herself a husband, and by using Adrian's great status as a duke, that should come easily), in which the two will have an annulment and Leah will return to her normal life. But as usual these silly plans never work out the way one wants it to, especially when the two realize in the end that they can't live without one another. But before that happens, Adrian and Leah must come up with enough courage to share with each other, the deep buried painful past they've both experienced in order for the two of them to achieve true love... how does this happen? You simply must indulge yourself in this funny, light and enjoyable read!

MERELY MARRIED is filled with hilarious dialogues, and as a reader, you can truly appreciate Ms. Coughlin's humor. Enjoy!

This was my first read by Patricia Coughlin, but it definitely will not be my last. In the same vein as Julia Quinn and Suzanne Enoch, Coughlin takes us back to the wonderful Regency era with a story filled with witty dialogue and colorful characters. Raven is a rogue, a rakehell, and a scoundrel. Leah is an innocent, a virtual spinster. She is strong-willed and knows what she wants: which is not a husband. Raven weds Leah on her 'death-bed' with the plan in mind that the ladies of the ton will not bother a grieving widower with their plans of marriage. His plan has but one flaw: Leah does not die. This book kept me entertained for the 3 hours it took to complete it. It was a delightful read I would recommend to friends.

This book is about a man named Adrian who is a well known bachelor. He does not agree with marriage nor does he believe in love. When he can take it no longer and must marry so that he might be left alone, he hears of a sick, young woman not supposed to survive through the night. Well, while she is on her death bed and unconscious, he marries her. By morning, Leah, his bride, is quite a chipper little thing, and quite healed at that. So, she makes him a deal that she will keep his action secret if he will pretend to be happily married just until her younger sister finds a suitable man and marries him. So, he agrees. And from there is where it all starts. I really liked the characters in this book, and they were silly and enjoyable. Leah is not your ordinary wimpy lady of that time. She is smart and funny and she writes these cute children's books as she herself, though denying it, wishes for a true love of her own. The people of Adrian's home, the cook, the butler, the gardener, are also quite enjoyable. I recommend this book as an easy, very enjoyable weekend read.

Merely Married takes the time honored plot of a forced marriage and throws in a twist here and there. It works and it doesn't. The characters are well developed with full backgrounds but for a book that is touted as being very clever, the characters, especially the heroine, are almost humorless.

Adrian, the Duke of Raven decides one drunken night he must escape the matchmaking ton. He does not want to really be married but being a widow will buy him time away from match making matrons. He marries an unconscious sick Leah Stretton thinking she is at death's door. After his wedding he returns to London leaving his wife with a friend believing she will pass away soon.

He is absolutely stunned when Leah shows up at his house weeks later fully recovered introducing herself to his friends as his wife. Leah has a plan of her own, it is to stay married to Adrian until her younger sister has her come out and marries, and then she wants an annulment. In the meantime publicly they are to be the adoring couple.

Adrian agrees to the scheme but does not want the annulment. He would like to be married and stow his wife somewhere outside of London so he can carry on with his libertine ways. So begins a game between the two of one-upmanship. Leah plans to thwart her husband's seduction and does so pretty well by tweaking his ego. Adrian fell for her ploys rather quickly and Leah is almost smug in her victory. Adrian has a few tricks up his sleeve too.

Both characters have wounded backgrounds which affect their present actions. Adrian was horribly used by his former fiancé. Her actions were really despicable. Now he is afraid to love. Leah's mother cuckolded her husband and had other lovers. She was banished for this and Leah's father punished his daughters by never setting eyes on them again. Leah is conflicted; she has somewhat romanticized her mother but does not want to be like her either.

The dialogue is best when these two discuss their past because there is real emotion between them, even if it is negative. There is no laughter between them, no real moments of shared mirth. Most of the humor is directed at one character getting the better of the other.

For a woman who prides herself on her logic, Leah has some real ups and downs with her emotions. It was almost as if she were lying to herself in the beginning of the novel. Fortunately, she realizes the importance of honesty for the last third of the book. Adrian was pretty consistent with his emotional barriers. When they came down it was quite moving. This novel is almost a four star read. Nice plot and some heartfelt dialogue but missing sincerity in the beginning of the story.

Adrian Devereau, Duke of Raven, is thirty-one, handsome, rich and titled, but still unmarried. And that's just the way he likes it. Nicknamed the Wicked Lord Raven, he capitalizes on that reputation to remain single. But the young ladies and their marriage minded mammas are all trying to reel him in, and change his wicked ways. So he concocts a scheme to keep the women at bay, and earn him some peace. He will marry a woman on her deathbed, and play the part of grieving widower after she passes on. It didn't take long to find the perfect candidate. Leah Stretton was traveling to London when she became critically ill, and wasn't expected to live through the night. But when his new bride appears at his home healthy, beautiful and headstrong, he finds he must go along with her wishes. Leah would not allow a scandal to ruin her sister's chances of finding a suitable husband in London. So if Adrian will play the devoted husband in public, she'll grant him an annulment after her sister is safely wed. The only hitch in her plan comes from the unintentional challenge Leah issues to Adrian. She proposes the basis for their annulment will be the lack of consummation of their marriage. Adrian will never allow society to think the Wicked Lord Raven couldn't bed his own wife, so the challenge of seducing Leah begins. However, in the end, the real challenge may be for Leah to melt the wall of ice surrounding Adrian's scarred heart.

This is the first novel I've read by Ms. Coughlin, and it looks like she has mainly written Silhouette and Harlequin series books to date. I did find one other stand-alone title by her, "Lord Savage", which I believe I'll try to find. This was an enjoyable read and I was pleasantly surprised. The story was original and fresh with an added bonus of humor. Adrian and Leah were interesting and well developed characters. Definitely a keeper that I recommend without reservation.

Leah was traveling to London to prepare a house so that she could launch her sister into society and make a great match. On the way she becomes sick and is expected to die. Along comes Adrian, the Duke of Raven, he is so obsessed with on marrying and being tied down to a woman that he thinks marrying Leah and the playing the grieving widower will keep him out of the "marraige mart and the matchmaking mamas". Little does he know that Leah is destined not to die and thus begins the very funny tale of Leah and Adrian. Leah is such a strong character that stands up to Adrian when she wants something. She is very good at adapting to her surroundings and making the best of any situtation. I thought that when Adrian tried to suduce Leah in the artist studio was so funny. But then when he broke her heart, I didn't think anyone could be that cruel. Through it all Leah bears every situtation with quiet self-assurance and proves that love can win in the end.