A Necessary Husband [Hardcover]

Debra Mullins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2002

When Garrett Lynch bursts into the glittering Raynewood ballroom like a wild man, a hapless footman clinging to each powerful arm, Lucinda Devering is equally appalled and impressed. How uncivilized! How barbaric! How stirringly strong and manly! Then she learns he's the long-lost heir of the Duke of Raynewood, and that it's her job to transform him into a proper Englishman. And if she fails this impossible task, the duke will reveal her desperate secret, ruining her forever. Lucinda Devering may be the loveliest woman Garrett's laid eyes on, but her eternal rules and regulations about "proper" behavior are enough to drive a man mad. Which should he believe? That stiff spine, or those soft curls and big brown eyes? One thing is certain: that lush, prissy mouth needs loosening up, and he knows just the way to do it! But soon he wonders which is more important: winning this game, or winning Lucinda's hand?

Product Details

• Hardcover: 375 pages
• Publisher: Avon Books; Book Club edition (2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0739425692
• ISBN-13: 978-0739425695
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,781,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very enjoyable, very fast read!, May 26, 2002

By 

Amanda Faulkner (Montreal, QC, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Necessary Husband (Mass Market Paperback)

I sat down to read this book and was finished just over three hours later. During that time I was completely involved with the characters and the story.
This is an engaging tale of an American heir to a dukedom, Garrett Lynch, Marquess of Kelton, unwillingly being forced to acknowledge his title and a poverty stricken widow of respectable birth, Lucinda Devering, who is guiding his sister through a London season. The story flowed very comfortably and kept me interested all the way to its happy conclusion.
The passion between the main characters seemed very real and not at all forced. The hero was very intriguing and came with genuine obstacles to a happy ending just falling into place. Our heroine also came with her fair share of problems, including a lecherous relative in sexual pursuit of her.
The book read very smoothly and enjoyably. Wonderful passion between the leads, many engaging secondary characters and believable circumstances that prevent complete happiness until the ending, all contributed to make this a very worthwhile read.
I thoroughly recommend this novel.

Amanda Faulkner

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Hero was too arrogant for me, February 27, 2006

By 

Gemma "bookworm" (Alberta, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Necessary Husband (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the first book by Debra Mullins that I've read, and it will probably be the last. I realize that I'm in the minority here, but I have my reasons.

It's not that this book was terribly written (hence the two star rating), as the writing had a very nice flow and kept the reader's attention. My problem was that I couldn't connect with the hero. I guess he was supposed to come across as strong and confident, but instead, he struck me as an arrogant jerk.

My problems with him? For starters, he was a sex fiend. Yeah, a healthy sexual appetite is fine, but from the instant he saw the heroine, he thought of nothing but getting her into bed. He didn't seem to care about what kind of a person she was. All he wanted was to get her horizontal. I thought this was supposed to be a romance novel. I didn't find this very romantic. (If this had been modern times, he probably would have walked up to the heroine and said, 'nice shoes, wanna ****?' Seriously, that was about the extent of his courtship.)

Also, he had an 'every woman is just dying to sleep with me' attitude that made me want to smack him one. There's confident, and then there's arrogant, stuck-up, self-satisfied...you get the point.

I could have pushed past this (maybe he grew up later in the book, I don't know) but his 'I'm going to sleep with you, and I don't give a rip whether you want an affair or not' attitude grated at me so much that I finally gave up in disgust less than halfway through this novel. A man courting / wooing a reluctant lady? Fine. A man practially stalking a woman who's told him no more than ten times? Not romantic, but creepy. It doesn't matter if the woman secretly desires him. No means no. There is a fine line between romantic pursuit and sick obsession. I think the hero crossed that line in this book. As far as I'm concerned, and man doesn't have to actually rape a woman for his unwanted attentions to be considered abuse. How many of us would find it romantic in real life if a man we had told 'no' to (several times) kept stalking us?

If you want a book about a man pursuing a reluctant lady that doesn't stray into stalking, I recommend "The Forbidden Lord" by Sabrina Jeffries. As for this book, I don't recommend it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Nice Regency Romance, September 10, 2002

By 

Kristi Ahlers (Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Necessary Husband (Mass Market Paperback)

I have like several of Ms. Mullins stories in the past so I was surprised that this was not going to be a favorite. This was also a nice story but I feel that the ending of the story was a bit rushed and therefore left me feeling like there was something missing. The characters were fun and the story line had plenty of potential I just don't think the author gave it much of a chance. Still in all this was a nice story with a happy ending and it read fast.