Customer Reviews

The Perfect Wife (Leisure historical romance)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I thought this was a rewritten reprint, but I can't see where it's been revised. Victoria Alexander is much better than this work represents. There are glimmers of what makes her so popular, but The Perfect Wife is a mess overall. If you're looking for a historical novel featuring Egypt, keep looking. While the main characters, their families, their enemies and their friends do all pop off to Egypt as if it were no more trouble than dashing down to the corner store for a pack of smokes, Egypt itself is not a character. It provides some local ethnic types to briefly imperil the ladies, and that's about all it does. This is the sort of romance that, marketed in the 80's, would use the word 'madcap' to describe the heroine. She is interesting - despite making little internal logical sense, she is capable and independent overall. But when she loses her temper she does ridiculous things without making any effort to extricate herself when cooler heads prevail. And she loses her temper easily. Which makes one wonder how she got her reputation as placid and boring. The hero has a lot of guilt over his failure to raise his son. He ruminates on it every so often but that's as far as it goes. His son seems to have no issues with it, he never discusses it with anyone, it changes none of his actions, he just mulls it over when there's a slow spot in the action. Most of The Perfect Wife is taken up by characters moving around in a melodrama while having completely different internal lives. It's like they are actors considering what to purchase for dinner on the way home from the theater then dropping back into character to toss out a few lines when the spotlight hits them. The novel is cluttered, the characters are inconsistent and inexplicable, and the plot is ultimately unrewarding. But there is just enough there to remind you that yes, you're not crazy, the author is better than this.

Sabrina has spent the past 10 years as a very proper matron raising a daughter alone. In truth, she is trying to wipe out her scandalous past as a daring smuggler for the sake of her daughter's marriage prospects. Suddenly facing financial reverses at a time when she desperately needs a dowry for her daughter, Sabrina jumps at the chance to go treasure hunting in Egypt. Not understanding what is happening, her daughter Belinda turns to her fiancé for help, and he in turn pleads with his father to intercede.

An absentee father, the Earl of Wyldewood has been feeling guilty about his past relationship with his son. The endless pursuit of pleasure has left him somewhat jaded and cynical, and he has thought about remarrying, if for nothing more than to have a chatelaine and hostess for his home. When the sparks fly between the earl and Sabrina, he impulsively decides to ask her to marry him. She seems to be a perfectly proper society matron, and the attraction between them is an added bonus.

Unfortunately, she seems to be leaving for an extended trip, and the earl decides to accompany her as a protector. Of course, when their children learn that their parents have taken off together for Egypt, they persuade an aunt to accompany them in hot pursuit. The earl, after all, is a known rake, and certainly cannot be trusted alone with a woman for an extended period.

Sabrina impulsively marries the earl on board the ship, then discovers that he has the power to destroy her if he discovers the secret of her smuggler-past. She loves him, but fears that he will reject her when he discovers how very far from proper she truly is. Not being blind or stupid, the earl realizes rather quickly that Sabrina is in reality a very feisty and spirited lady, and he finds himself entranced rather than repelled. Still, there is something she isn't telling him...something in the past she has shared with the handsome American ship captain. And he determines to stick with her until he discovers what it is.

I really feel this book would be better if it included a more vivid description of Sabrina's days as a smuggler and her run-in with the earl, then a government agent. As it is, those scenes are vague, and the motivation for the earl's fierce determination to catch her just isn't clear to me. If she had been an agent for the French or some such thing, I could understand his dilemma...but smuggling just isn't in the same league as treason.

Other than that, I truly enjoyed the book and would love to find out what happened between Matt and Wynne, since their liaison was not resolved.

I liked the spontaneous way Nicholas was willing to take off on a trip at the last minute to and as yet to be discovered location just to follow Sabrina.

The book was witty, fun and carried off an unusual plot for a historical romance. I enjoyed the side characters finding romance, too.

As the first reviewer said, I wish the motivation were a little clearer, but the story was so fun to read that I look forward to future books from Victoria Alexander.

If you bought this book because of the blurb on the back cover, as I did, you are in for a surprise! THe book is somewhat less than the cover leads the reader to expect, and whole lot more! It was a much more interesting and adventurous story than I thought it would be. The characters are well executed, although, I did feel that Sabrina was a bit too quick to forgive the Earl's insults, their romance escalates at a believable pace. The cast of supporting characters, especially Matt MAdison and Wynne Harrington, were interesting and enriched the story. It was fun to read and in the end, a bit of Indiana Jones meets Regency Romance. Definitely, it is not a "typical" romance.

This book tried to be too many things but none of them well. It wasn't focused enough for me in terms of either plot or character.

If you want smuggling during the Napoleonic Wars, try any of Stephanie Lauren's Bastion Club series, especially "Captain Jack's Woman."

If you want Egypt, try Loretta Chase's "Mr. Impossible."

There were too many characters - the devoted servant, the innocent daughter, the loyal butler, the dashing sea captain, the sexually-awakened bluestocking, to name just a few. The hero and heroine weren't very compelling, and their backstories didn't convince me of their motivations.

The mystery is not satisfactorily explained at all and the villain conveniently dispensed with.

It might have been improved with more fleshing out, in, say, another 200 pages, but the plot would still need some more interesting twists to keep me reading.

As I first began reading this book I thought, "Not another stupid smuggler story". Thank goodness that it was way more than that. Love was thrown into a kettle of intrigue, travel, and treasure hunting. A fantastic historical romance that spun my mind into an adventure as I turned each page. I highly recommend this one!

I really liked this book. I thought the characters had great chemistry and I loved the mystery surrounding the whole thing. Yes, it was somewhat a whirlwind adventure at times and at times, unbelievable - but isn't that part of fiction? I do find it hard to believe that she would just leave her daughter at the end but, keep in mind that her daughter was grown and her future was secure. Having your mother run off is certainly preferable to having her rot in jail! I would also love to read more about Matt and Wynne. I actually was online trying to see if Ms. Alexander had another book that included them. All-in-all, it was an enjoyable read.

"The Perfect Wife" is a reissue of a book first published in 1996 but fortunately not feeling outdated as some books written in the nineties can. Sabrina Winfield is a widow, a Marchioness and a calm and well-bred woman whose daughter has just become engaged to the son of the Earl of Wyldewood. However Sabrina is very worried as her money has all but gone and she doesn't have enough for a decent dowry for her daughter, Belinda. When she finds a treasure map to some gold that Napoleon hid in Egypt she decides to find the treasure to turn round her own fortune.

Belinda is worried about her mother, asks her fiancé Erick to do something about it and he asks his father Nicholas, the Earl of Wyldewood, to speak to Sabrina. Nicholas found Sabrina a fascinating woman when he met her at a ball previously and so goes to talk to her. Rather unexpectedly he finds himself accompanying Sabrina to Egypt, not knowing the real reason she is making the journey, but having decided he wants her as his wife.

Their journey to and within Egypt doesn't go quite as planned with various people in hot pursuit, a wedding, jealousy, kidnapping and more and with Sabrina realising that Nicholas is the man who worked for the government in trying to stop a gang of smugglers led by a woman ten years before - and she was that woman. Sabrina and Nicholas both have to come to terms with each other, their histories and their different needs.

This was a very enjoyable read, particularly as most of the events took place on a boat travelling to Egypt rather than balls and soirées in London. Sabrina and Nicholas were both good characters although Sabrina's daughter Belinda was rather annoying. There was a minor plot of three men from London following Sabrina and I felt that this was rather spurious and all wrapped up a bit quickly but the overall story, of Sabrina finally flowering into the person and personality she would have been were it not for events in her youth, was well written.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008

I really tried to like it, but found the relationship between the hero and heroine to be boring. I had no idea it would in any way involve a smuggling plot and I've yet to read an enjoyable book with the hero or heroine being a smuggler. :( Also I just didn't like the hero or heroine as people. They are both unpleasant with her being very judgemental and him being very uncaring. I'll admit these are my perceptions after reading the first third of it, I skimmed though until about the halfway point when they get to Egypt, then I just gave up and read the final chapter. I didn't hate it, but I would certainly not recommend it to anyone.

More often than not, I really like Victoria Alenander; she's one of the authors who got me started on romances. It's probably a good thing this was not one of the first of her books I read. Excellent premise, but the execution was way off.

Nicholas was an okay guy--your typical haughty aristocrat. Sabrina started out with such promise, but in the end didn't live up to her characterization. She's supposedly lived the last 10 years wearing a mask that slowly falls away during the course of the novel, worn that mask for love of her daughter. But in the end, she simply leaves her; I didn't buy it. She supposedly led a band of smugglers who adored her and followed her with unswerving loyalty, yet we see nothing of those qualities in a long and boring trek across the desert--for nothing. This is also the woman who is determined to never be dependent on another financialy again--but she doesn't follow her investments to the point that she's barely solvent? Too many things don't add up.

Everything in the book is set up to get these two together in love; unfortunately that fact is far too obvious. Everytime a new dilemmna is needed, the author simply states a reason for things to be different. For example, Sabrina's daughter is not enamored with her fiance's sea sickness; she needs to see him do something heroic. So the ladies are kidnapped and the dear fiance just happens to be the only one available to rescue them, which he does with absolutely no difficulty. And Nicholas is supposedly an important man with political aspirations--but he can take off for nearly a year at a moment's notice?

As for the witty repartee, it isn't all that witty; Alexander is capable of much better (see her Effington series, except the last one which was as dreadful as this tale). Secondary characters have as much if not more life to them than the main couple. Nowhere near Alexander's best.