Much Obliged (Zebra Regency Romance) [Mass Market Paperback]

Jessica Benson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2001 | Series: Zebra Regency Romance

Despite a longstanding agreement between their families, Addie Winstead has never believed that John Fitzwilliam, the Earl of Claremont, will marry her. The life of a carefree bachelor obviously suits him far too well. But when he arranges to meet Addie to discuss the matter, he realizes that she is no longer the girl he remembers from childhood, and now, his awakening heart is forever lost.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Regency (April 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821767836
• ISBN-13: 978-0821767832
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,471,532 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Devilishly Engaging Regency Romp, May 1, 2001

By 

K. N. Nelson (California, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Much Obliged (Zebra Regency Romance) (Mass Market Paperback)

Ah, Saturday. And a perky little book to wile away the time while awash in a rainy day outside and laundry day inside. So, what to do but read while-u-wait. Here is a wickedly humorous quickie by a new author, who, if she sticks to her own devilishly engaging and very hip style of writing about intellectually empowered women who know what they want, yes, even in Regency England, will become quite successful in a genre otherwise all too full of vapid, victimized, damsels-in-distress which, to this reader is soo boring.

The heroine in this tale is Addie who is betrothed by arrangement to her lifelong heartthrob the naughty "rake" John Fitzwilliam, Earl of Claremont. The Earl, however, still has a whole bushelful or two of wild oats to sow and wants no part of marriage for he is content with his lightskirt du jour and relishes his freedom and bachelorhood. Yes, he would "do right" by Addie, "only if", but he really would prefer that she release him from the marriage contract that was brought about by their respective parents, and for her to move on and get married to someone else.

So he arranges an evening out with Addie and family to facilitate the romance between her sister and his best friend Drew, respectably accompanied by their maiden aunt. They all go to a Winter Festival at the notorious Vauxhall where he believes that during a private moment he can ask her to set aside their arranged future marriage. She assents, but, as she reviews their near impoverished conditions brought about by the bad fiscal management of her late father, she believes herself forced to accept a proposal from a former suitor the really repellant, albeit rich, and totally hypochondriacal Wallace Raines who is doing a rerun for a bride and offers again for her hand. Alas, she is completely unsuited for this medieval-minded moron, and in her heartbreak over losing Fitzwilliam she attempts to convince herself that she was right to accept the undesirable suitor in order to preserve her security and reputation. Her conflict is hightened by her secret source of income garnered from her highly successful "illicit" writing skills as an anonymous "gossip" columnist which may be discovered by society and ruin any marital prospects for herself, her sister or her aunt.

But, Fitzwilliam, in a moment of lust kisses Addie and begins to wrestle with a burgeoning conflict heretofore unknown to him. He realizes that he is slowly falling "in like" and then into love with her and, much to his dismay, wakes up to smell the coffee after she has betrothed herself to dear Wallace and his ever present, controlling mother. Literally.

The plot is fairly predictable but the hilarious dialog and madcap twists and turns by the adorably likable and well suited hero and heroine makes this story quite amusing as they attempt to untangle themselves from the misbegotten mess that they have each created respectively. Much Obliged is the second novel by Ms. Benson and according to other reviews her first book Lord Stanhope's Proposal is even funnier. This one is an unstuffy, laugh out loud jaunt into a period of time that, although we can no longer relate to in our modern lifestyle, delights nonetheless for its outrageously clever spin on that era and the eternal joys of youthful love and lust.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indeed!, September 10, 2001

By 

kellytwo "kellytwo" (cleveland hts, ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Much Obliged (Zebra Regency Romance) (Mass Market Paperback)

Regency readers everywhere may now rejoice. The very enchanting "Lord Stanhope's Proposal" was not a fluke. Jessica Benson's second book, "Much Obliged" is every bit as wonderful as the first one was. This is not always the case, as many of us have learned to our sorrow.

Here we have John Fitzwilliam, Earl of Claremont, who was betrothed to Adelaide while she was still in her crib, both fathers being age-old buddies. However, as is usually the case, distance does its thing, and now that the younger ones are of an age to marry, they're rather disinclined. Neither father is still around to provide any nudges, which is also a hindrance to their once-grand plot.

Addie's father was somewhat of a gambler, however, and left her and her younger sister Justine, with pockets to let, but in the care of their Aunt Honoria. Addie has a pair of very special skills, which she is not at all hesistant to utilize in the necessity to keep them all fed and clothed and reasonably warm. Her father was a best friend of the noted pugilist 'Gentleman' Jackson, who has retired from the ring as a fighter, but runs the noted salon where other gentlemen may work out with him from time to time, and learn the art of manly protection. Addie learned all about this science at an early age, and is now considered to be very knowledgeable on the subject by none other than the Gentleman himself. Her other skill is the written word, and she combines these two activities to pen an anonymous column about the happenings at Jackson's salon.

When Fitzwilliam comes to grief at the hands of a friend, what worse will happen to him when he is challenged to defend Addie's honor -- in the ring? Jackson and Addie set up a training regimen to be conducted at Claremont's country estate, which promptly turns into a farcical house party, complete with encroaching Mamas, (none of whom are at all friendly with any of the others) hopeful daughters, a know-it-all son (temporarily betrothed to Addie, in what she saw as a self-defence mechanism -- she needed protecting from herself as well as from Fitzwilliam), an abundance of dogs, tempermental servants, you name it--it's to be found at Kenton House. Along with lots of Benson's wonderful ways with humor and words. A triumph! Now, we can only--and eagerly--anticipate the next sure-to-be-delightful opus.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Funny but not believable, November 10, 2002

By 

M. Rondeau (West Springfield, MA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Much Obliged (Zebra Regency Romance) (Mass Market Paperback)

This second novel by Jessica Benson was another light read comedy of errors using an abundance of fresh witty dialog that saved this novel from becoming too boring and unbelievable.

It starts off with two deaf ladies discussing the latest on dits contained in the boxing column of the London Post - again, funny, witty dialog - then switches over to our hero, John Fitzwilliam, holding a poultice over his blackened eye as he reads the same column describing his embarrassing defeat. The boxing column and the unknown anonymous writer are key to the original plot depicting our heroine, Addie Winstead, as anonymous in order to help ends meet in their not too well to do household. This was an original concept in depicting a regency era young lady with a wealth of knowledge on a subject that would have been quite taboo during that period.

Fitzwilliam, and Addie had been betrothed by their respective fathers from birth only Fitzwilliam, was not ready for marriage, now and probably not ever as he was having too much fun sowing his oats and believing that he would be exactly like his father. His childhood memories of a not so rosy marriage between his parents, with both parties being indifferent to one another, along with his father's numerous affairs did nothing to entice him to enter the marital state.

Addie, who had grown up idolizing and loving Fitzwilliam ever since she could remember, had quietly waited for him to `come up to scratch', yet, in her heart, knew she could never marry him knowing that he would be doing so as an `honor bound duty'. So rather than him ever knowing her financial difficulties, she would continue her clandestine writing as anonymous.

Caring about his old childhood friend, he felt that he should do the honorable thing and release her from the betrothal so that she could get on with her life and accept another suitor. It was like a `wake-up call' for him as he realized after he released her; looked at the grown up woman she had become; and kissed her that she sparked something in him that was not at all a familiar feeling. It was after that kiss that a chance discovery, that could have ruined her, by a drunken friend mistaking Addie for a lightskirt led Fitzwilliam to declare her to be his `betrothed'.

Addie, so hopelessly in love, thought that she would save Fitzwilliam from marrying her by accepting the suit of an absolutely revolting `mama's boy'. Even then, Fitzwilliam could not admit that what he felt was anything akin to love, yet he did not want to see her throwing herself away on such a prig as her newly betrothed!

The multitude of secondary characters and the dialog saved this story from being tossed aside by this reader as I found it hard to believe that such a forward thinking heroine such as Addie would have stood one moment for such a self-righteous prig of fiancé. No one woman could have endured this man let alone the forward-thinking Addie. The other problem I saw was that her sister, who she was extremely close to, would not have told her fiancé, who was Fitzwilliam's best friend, what the real problem was!