8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Great premise peters out.... spoilers follow., September 17, 2002
This review is from: The Proud Viscount (Paperback)
This book was not what the first chapter had promised. Lady Jane Barlow (seen in the prequel A HOLIDAY IN BATH) has been in love with the Viscount Rossmere who loves her. Unfortunately, he suffers from periodic fits of madness, which is hereditary. The couple have therefore postponed matrimony, with Lady Jane hoping to marry her love when she is past child-bearing age.
Unfortunately for her, Richard dies from a fall from his horse - leaving all his unentailed fortune to her by his will, and very little (apart from the horse) to his cousin and heir the new Viscount Rossmere.
Rossmere has inherited very little from his gambler father. He is too proud to marry for money (unlike many other peers), and too proud to ask for more money than necessary from his godmother who just happens to be Lady Jane's aunt. Lady Mabel is herself actively trying to promote a marriage between her niece and her godson, arguing that being a spinster aunt is not all that desirable, that Rossmere needs the money that was left to Jane, and (implicitly) that Jane should hand over the money to Richard's blood heir. [At this point, I began to feel very strongly for Jane!].
Lady Jane is not interested in marriage. She is still mourning her dead fiance. His cousin and heir has shown his lack of sensitivity by bringing and riding the very horse on which Richard had his accident. And he is a proud and disagreeable man, unwilling to accept any financial help from her. And Jane has one other reason - her younger sister Nancy appears to be not-so-happy in her marriage to a gentleman lately from Yorkshire. Rossmere makes little effort to court Jane, preferring to woo a lady of dubious virtue who appears to have followed him down from London. Madeline Fulton is however his type of woman, and Lady Jane exemplifies the meek and well-bred type that leaves him cold.
How then can a romance between these two disparate people proceed? I kept wondering that. Rossmere shows his mettle when he rescues Jane's youngest sister Nancy from a very bad marriage (this sub-plot by the way is distinctly Gothic). In doing so, he brings Jane and himself closer, and also suggests a reason for marriage that is acceptable to his pride and her necessity. But at this time, neither appears to love the other.
I have to say that I found the subplot regarding Nancy a little unrealistic. Lady Jane's father - an man steeped in antiquity and also a strong believer in the traditional place of woman - not only failed to secure Nancy's dowry *outside* her husband's control, but also made no enquiries about his future son-in-law. This was not totally unbelievable, but this was not the impression I had gained from his previous dealings with his elder daughter nor his treatment of Richard. If this had been developed a bit more, it would have been more credible.
Jane and Rossmere marry principally to protect Nancy from her husband. This made sense to me, although the subsequent realization that they were in love did not make sense. There were few indications that Jane was in love with Rossmere, and it seemed that she confused sexual desire mingled with gratitude for love. Rossmere's excessive pride did not appeal to me. Nor did all the stress on his pride and his poverty allow room for him to get to know Jane. Most of the book dealt with the Nancy subplot, which meant that very little space was left for the romance.
Give me Jenny Chawleigh and Adam Deveril (in Heyer's A Civil Contract) instead - there is a loveless marriage of convenience that develops into mutual affection over time. We see the hero's pride in his home transformed over time, and we see his hurt that he must marry for money gradually abandoned. I saw no such process with Rossmere.
This was a fascinating look at a highly dysfunctional family (or two or three such families), and the problems experienced by a young woman who married unwisely. It was not a romance.
Grade = D+ (2.6)
Breakdown = plot development C- (2.8); character development C- (2.8); romance F (1.6); writing B- (3.4)
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
"Dull, Dull, Dull", April 18, 2001
This review is from: The Proud Viscount (Paperback)
Lady Jane Barlow refused to hear of marriage to the Viscount Rossmere. Such a match would be an insult to the memory of the man whom Jane had loved and tragically lost. Moreover, Jane refused to put herself under the yoke of a lord who clearly thought himself superior to her and everyone else. For his part, Rossmere wanted nothing to do with tying himself down to any one woman, especially not the infuriatingly independent Lady Jane. Much more to his taste was the exquisite Madeline Fulton, who offered a wealth of pleasure without demanding he pay with his freedom. But Jane was hard to resist- almost as hard as resisting a love that neither dared admit....
You may like it after all this author has published a number of good books but personally I did not..The ending was a big disappointment.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Great premise peters out.... spoilers follow., September 17, 2002
This review is from: The Proud Viscount (Paperback)
This book was not what the first chapter had promised. Lady Jane Barlow (seen in the prequel A HOLIDAY IN BATH) has been in love with the Viscount Rossmere who loves her. Unfortunately, he suffers from periodic fits of madness, which is hereditary. The couple have therefore postponed matrimony, with Lady Jane hoping to marry her love when she is past child-bearing age. Unfortunately for her, Richard dies from a fall from his horse - leaving all his unentailed fortune to her by his will, and very little (apart from the horse) to his cousin and heir the new Viscount Rossmere.
Rossmere has inherited very little from his gambler father. He is too proud to marry for money (unlike many other peers), and too proud to ask for more money than necessary from his godmother who just happens to be Lady Jane's aunt. Lady Mabel is herself actively trying to promote a marriage between her niece and her godson, arguing that being a spinster aunt is not all that desirable, that Rossmere needs the money that was left to Jane, and (implicitly) that Jane should hand over the money to Richard's blood heir. [At this point, I began to feel very strongly for Jane!].
Lady Jane is not interested in marriage. She is still mourning her dead fiance. His cousin and heir has shown his lack of sensitivity by bringing and riding the very horse on which Richard had his accident. And he is a proud and disagreeable man, unwilling to accept any financial help from her. And Jane has one other reason - her younger sister Nancy appears to be not-so-happy in her marriage to a gentleman lately from Yorkshire. Rossmere makes little effort to court Jane, preferring to woo a lady of dubious virtue who appears to have followed him down from London. Madeline Fulton is however his type of woman, and Lady Jane exemplifies the meek and well-bred type that leaves him cold.
How then can a romance between these two disparate people proceed? I kept wondering that. Rossmere shows his mettle when he rescues Nancy from a very bad marriage (this sub-plot by the way is distinctly Gothic). But his relationship with Lady Jane - who eventually marries him - goes from bad to worse. It is not the financial situation that troubles them so much - Lady Jane's money (inherited from the late Viscount mostly) is placed in trust for their children. Rather, it is Lady Jane's expectations of marriage. And it is this - coupled with her rather unusual premarital experience - that Rossmere cannot deal with.
I have to say that I found the subplot a little unrealistic (we are to believe that Lady Jane's father failed to secure his daughter's dowry *outside* her husband's control). I found Lady Jane's expectations however even more unrealistic. It was not just her premarital experience that I found a little unusual (we are to believe that she and Richard enjoyed everything short of consummation). Why did she agree to marry Rossmere in the first place? And did she really expect a highly reluctant husband to meet the same emotional and physical needs that her much-loved fiance had? Rossmere's excessive pride also made no sense, nor did it appeal to me.
Give me Jenny Chawleigh and Adam Deveril (in Heyer's A Civil Contract) instead - there is a loveless marriage of convenience that develops into mutual affection, and where we actually see the hero's pride being abandoned as he sees how he has hurt his wife.
Grade = D+ (2.5)
Breakdown = plot development C (3.0); character development D (2.2); romance F (1.6); writing B- (3.4)
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