Customer Reviews

The Trouble with Harry

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Harry, the Marquis Rosse is a 45 year old widower with five precocious and lively children who are rapidly driving him insane. When his 13 year old daughter, Lady India, comes to him demanding an explanation on the reasons behind her bleeding, he knows he is in way over his head and must make the ultimate sacrifice -- find himself a woman to be both wife and mother to his brood of hellions. Having his fill of society females, he placed an ad in the "Rams Bottom Gazette" so that no one would really know that he was a marquis. This way, he would sort out the women looking for rich man and find a woman who liked children (not that he wanted any more) but would also be a bedmate for Harry.

Twenty years ago, Frederica Pelham (Plum) had been married for 6 weeks to a man who neglected to tell her he already had a wife. Upon discovering his deception, his family sent him to the continent, Plum's family disowned her over the `scandal' she caused! Plum's life was ruined, she was disowned with barely enough to live on. With few options left to her, and more than enough unsavory offers of protection, she retired to the country where she penned the highly popular but controversial "Guide to Connubial Calisthenics" under the pen name of Vyvyan La Bleu. The book was so controversial (yet ordered by most of the ton) that it was even banned by the government. Really needing some security, not only for herself but for her orphaned niece, and wanting a child of her own, Plum rationaled that she was not really lying about her past, but just an omitting some of the truths.

This was a hilariously funny tale of two middle-aged people who take their bedsport to a new level. Harry's accident-prone children are a trip whose non-stop antics enliven and grace the pages with joy and laughter! Along with a superb secondary cast of unforgettable characters from the entertaining and irreverent Spanish butler Juan, to Harry's rapscallion brood of hellions - India, Digger, McTavis and twins Andrew and Anne -- who do their best to drive Plum crazy the reader should find themselves howling on the floor with straight from the gut belly laughs. Bottom Line - For outrageous fun in a can't put it down rapid page-turner delight from start to finish - look no further than this gem by Katie Macalister! (...)

Katie Macalister is one of the most delightful (and prolific) writers in Romance today. She is not Shakespeare, but then I, for one, thank goodness for that! We already have old Will. When I want the Scottish Play, I blow the dust of my very ancient copies and read it. When I want sheer fun, I look to Lynsay Sands and Katie Macalister. I love British humour (works out nice since I am Scot!), but that dry wit is often missing in the works of a lot of American writers. I am not talking about highbrow humour, but that you-can't-help-but-howl-aloud Benny Hill wacko laughs! The kind that has your erupting with buffos, has people looking at you as if you have gone around the bend one too many times, the kind that has your husband exiling you from the living room while he is trying to watch CASI because you are making too much noise. Many writers can provoke a giggle. Few make me laugh so hard I hurt. There is nothing more special a writer can do for you. They leave you feeling good all over.

And Trouble With Harry is a sheer delight from page one! One of my favourite Hitchcock movies carries this name. It was deadpan humour that was just so on target, so it's not surprising to find this book is the same. It's a delightful Regency - and from the opening scene where beleaguered Harry is trying to explain the facts of "womanhood" to his eldest daughter - you are already laughing out loud!

The Trouble with Harry, 45-years-old- is a father, coming to parenthood late in life. There in little India - no longer the little angel sent to grace her life since she is in urgent need to know about the birds and the bees, the twins trying to "fly" from the barn roof again, Marston - Harry's heir - who thinks he would rather be a blacksmith than the next Marquis Rosse, and MacTavish who presents his father dear with his latest "finds". Harry, left to raise his five hellions...um, precocious darlings on his own, faces the decision he has to remarry, find a good stable woman who can bring some semblance to his chaotic life. Being a smart man, he immediately instructs Templeton, his man of affairs to find him a suitable wife by advertising for one.

He would like a companion suited to him, and one who could bring peace to his herd, so he wants Templeton to move quickly before word gets out Lord Harry needs a wife. He dictates he wants a woman between 35-50, who must like children and be possesses a "certain charm to her appearance", though it's not absolutely necessary. While she might not have to be toothsome, he would like to look at her and not think of a bulldog!

Enters Plum. She desperately wants a family, would love children, but no man in all of Dorset would accept her "after the scandal" - well, no man except Harry. She was married once, well almost married. Charles her husband, forgot to mention one little thing before their marriage - that he already had a wife! But Plum is understanding and does not judge all men by Charles. Also, she is an author of "The Guide to Connubial Calisthenics" - a book deemed so obscene to be banned by the government. Plum answers the ad in the paper and is shocked to find after answering three questions that Harry and she are engaged to be married the day after tomorrow. And the fun begins.

Katie Macalister gives us a wonderful, funny tale of middle-age people who think romance has past them by. Three cheers for Macalister and let's hope she keeps them coming! No one does them quite like her!

Don't get me wrong, I love Katie Macalister's contemporaries but she's a breath of fresh air with her historicals. It's so nice to read a historical with such a great sense of humor and such strong and fiesty female leads.

Harry needs a wife. He's got five out of control children and is in desperate need of a woman to run his household and, er, attend to his needs. Enter Plum, a woman who's been ruined by her first husband over 20 years before. She's also the mysterious author of a very racy sex book. Both the romantic leads are over 40, something that pleased me compared to books with 19 year old women married to 35 year old men.

Of course, this being a Macalister book, silly hijinks ensue, the kids are wild, the household staff are a wild assortment from the lothario butler to the bodyguard footmen and Harry and Plum engage in all manner of bedroom gymnastics with great energy and creativity. Plum is no pushover and even when it becomes obvious that someone is out to harm her new family, she does not waver. You gotta love the heroine who doesn't wilt at the first difficulty. You also have to love Harry for loving Plum so much.

All in all, The Trouble with Harry is an amazingly entertaining read that will supply plenty of laughs and more than a little heat between Plum and Harry.

Here's yet another wonderful submission from Katie Macalister. If you enjoyed 'Nobel Intentions' you will love 'The Trouble With Harry'. This book has the same quick wit and sexy interludes. Plum and Harry strike sparks off of each other right from the start. The secondary characters are hilarious (I love Thom and the children). We get a brief glimpse of Nick from 'Noble Intentions' which I hope means a book about him will soon follow! Have no fear and go ahead and purchase this one!

This book is wonderful! It dares to stray from the typical romance heroine with Plum, a 40 year old woman with a heart of gold. She marries Harry, a widower with five rambunctious children, and becomes the glue that holds the family together. The story includes the wit and hilarity that is typically found in a Katie MacAlister book. I loved it and have been encouraging friends to read it too!

A wonderful, funny and touching story by Katie MacAlister. Besides getting to know Harry and Plum, there is the pleasure of revisiting Noble and his son Nick. Also Plum's niece Thom is a delight. Harry's staff including his overenthusiastic butler is also a well rounded cast. After finishing The Trouble With Harry you will be left with a smile on your face and a yearning to have Nick's and Thom's story.

"Plum" is a 30+ year old single woman who has many secrets. She is the secret author of "Connubial Calisthenics" and she was embroiled in a scandal years ago which has made her one wish in life to have children look like it will never happen. Not only is she getting to old to have children but no one will let her forget the scandal. Years earlier she had married a man she was in love in only to find out after six weeks that he was already married to another. This makes society "the ton" decide that she was his mistress.

Marques Harry Haversham is a 40+ year old widow with five "hellion" children. He decided that he needs a wife to keep him company and to help raise his children. Feeling that it would be a waste of time to spend a season trying to find someone that would fit him he decided to put an add in a local paper for a wife.

Plum is the 33rd applicant and it is decided that they will be wed the next day.

After they marry, Plum learns that Harry is a Marques and that he doesn't want any more children. She is so taken aback she tosses him out of her room on their wedding night. But, the next morning she has realized that she has just as many secret. When she reveals them to Harry she is surprised that they don't seem to worry him. In fact their attention is immediately drawn to the fact that the children seem to be more than a little accident prone. When they are almost run down by a carriage and Harry's godson is there to see that the driver had not really been passed out, they both come together and try to determine who is trying to hurt their family.

As usual this was a fun and lighthearted offering from MacAlister. You even get to see a couple of characters from her earlier books. Her writing and "spunky" character continue to keep me waiting for her next book.

I picked this book up on my usual book store run and i have to say that this was a great book just loved it even though one part stuck in my mind because i had read almost the same thing in an early amanda quick book but i have always loved katies books and recommend this or any of her books to anyone.

Forty-something widow Marques Harry Haversham decides he needs a wife to help him raise his five unruly children, but feels too old to enter the marriage mart and besides he does not want to suffer the torture of the Ton. Instead of soirees and balls, he places an advertisement in the paper. To his shock, he receives numerous candidates from all types of life, shapes, and age. He chooses the thirty-third interviewee, "Plum" Pelham as his spouse.

After they marry, Plum learns that Harry is marques, something he conveniently hid from her. He also concealed the five kids he expects her to nurture. Though taken aback, Plum adapts because she has a secret too. Two decades ago, she married only to learn her spouse was a polygamist; her family blamed and disowned her. However, her past surfaces when her first "spouse" tries to blackmail her, but even worse someone is trying to hurt the children. Plum will do anything to protect Harry and the kids and he feels likewise, for THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY is that Plum loves him.

This is a terrific Regency romance starring two delightful forty plus protagonists. The secondary characters propel the tale as the children add comic relief until the accidents occur and her "ex" provides a bit of intrigue along with the person causing the accidents, who could be the polygamist though Plum doubts that. Readers will enjoy this fabulous historical starring two middle age heroes.

Harriet Klausner

For me this book had some cute moments but it also had many more moments which were nothing but pure irritation. I did not find it funny that Harry did not tell Plum about any of his children before the wedding and had actually intended to introduce her to the children one a day until she had met them all. How ever did he intend to perform this miracle? In the first few pages the five got into more scrapes and mischief than most children get into in a full year. A bull in the foyer? With no person seriously trying to get the animal out? With Harry actually hiding in his office? See, I don'lt find that kind of scenario funny. To me it is so totally impossible that it makes me thoroughly dislike where the author seems to believe I can be led. Were we supposed to believe that Plum could have just hitched up her skirts and waded right in to become the perfect Mum to this crew?

Also, Plum had been married for six weeks twenty years previously. How in the world did she gain enough sexual experience in that time to be able to write a book? Why did she even get the idea of writing a book? Did she write it soon after Charles left her? Did she write it because she needed money? Did she write it because she just wanted to share her vast knowledge? The author gives us no clues and answers no questions and because of that this part of the story made absolutely no sense. Had she not had a hankering for "Connubial Calisthenics" in all that time? What was it about Harry that triggered her overwhelming longing to once again practice these "arts" after being married to him for five hours? They were practically foaming at the mouth for each other yet neither knew the first thing about the other. It made me think, I'm sorry to say, about "connubial calisthenics" for hire. He lied, lied, lied. She lied, lied, lied. Is this funny? Not for me.

I wanted very much to like this book. Harry was an older hero and he wore glasses and he wasn't gorgeous. Instead of sympathizing with him and his plight, I just wondered why he didn't get a grip and deal with his children and their horrible behavior. Plum was an older heroine which is refreshing in romance novels but I didn't like her because every time she found out another of Harry's lies she blamed herself and tried to figure out how to keep him from sending her away. When the brats were being brats she blamed herself and tried to come up with ways to keep Harry from sending her away. How could she be expected to be a perfect mother to five hellions? She had never been a mother to even one hellion.

Unfortunately, not recommended. This author had a good idea but with kids who were so totally bratty and two adults whom I never liked, this story did not stand a chance with me.