Customer Reviews

The Wedding Challenge

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Camp's Matchmakers series has been great reading from start to finish. While I thoroughly enjoyed "The Wedding Challenge" Callie and Brom's characters were no where near as interesting and as spellbinding as the secondary characters of Rochford and Francesca. As far as romance novels go, it's fairly standard in its plot line. As a youngish heroine, Callie's "impetuousness" grates on the nerves a little, and Brom lacked backbone, but their story was light hearted and easy to love. There were some cute plot twists thrown in, but for the most part I found myself wanting Callie and Brom to get on with it so I could get back to reading about Rochford and Callie. Finally at the end of this novel we get some glimpse into the tension that has been building for the past three books and frankly February can't come soon enough!! I can't wait for "The Courtship Dance" to FINALLY get the Francesca and Rochford story that we have all been waiting for!!

*shaking head* HOW can I be the only one to spot such rediculous writing? Writing that makes me laugh at the most innapropriate times! I should not be laughing during sex scenes!

So, first, as usual, since I am not the first (by far) to review this book, I will save the plot recap.

Second, I will say that I agree with the other reviewer that mentioned that the sex scenes were disjointed and seemed thrown in there for the sake of having them. There was also a LOT of repetition in the descriptions. Almost as if the second scene was written first and then when she went back to add the first scene she just cut and pasted and re-worded it.

Thirdly... well, let me just cull some phrases from the book, shall I?

"And when she remembered the way he had kissed her, her loins were flooded again with heat."

"She found it difficult to think of anything but the soft, swollen tingling of her lips or the heavy achy feel of her breasts...or the insistent throbbing deep within her loins."

"Her own body was a stranger to her - her loins throbbing, and a hot damp ache growing between her legs..."

"It geysered up, shooting throughout her body, turning her skin to flame, and settled in a hot, aching mass deep in her abdomen"

"Callie thought of sleeping in one of Brom's shirts, and her loins prickled with desire."

"His body was pulsatingly aware of her hand upon his arm, now burning where it touched."

"Callie quivered beneath his touch, a soft moan escaping her lips."

"With each movement Callie felt desire curl and knot within her, her loins melting, turning her hot and liquid."

"She could feel the moisture gathering between her legs, the tender flesh throbbing."

"Callie felt as if every part of her was on fire, and the molten center of that flame lay deep in her abdomen, where she pulsed and burned with desperate need."

Maybe I object to the use of the word "loins" so much, as it makes me think of beef. Maybe all the quivering, throbbing and pulsating just makes me picture them doing a jig or being shocked or something. Maybe all the flames and liquifying type descriptions make me think of the Simpson's ("all I wanted was some time with my wife, and now the floor is made of lava"). I don't know. But the scenes are so filled with descriptions like these that I find myself laughing when I should be most interested.

I've read a few of her books. They're not usually this bad. There's always some quivering going on there, but this book was just over the top. Also, Callie was whiny, immature, and threw WAAAaay too many tantrums. Brom wasn't so bad except in his determined belief to not see the obvious (c'mon, I have siblings. No matter how much you love them you would never assume that they were telling the truth when their story didn't make any sense).

The only things that kept this from being 1 star was that there was no force (a la Catherine Coulter), and the secondary characters were pretty decent.

Please, people! Is this really what books have come to? Where are all the good authors? I'd love to find some that don't make me slap my forehead so much that I give myself a bruise.

Lady Calandra, age 23, is the sister of a Duke. Beautiful and well dowered, she is much sought after, but she has been in no hurry to accept a suitor. No one had really held her interest until the Earl of Bromwell came along. Although he would appear to be a good match and seems interested in her, the Duke orders his sister to have nothing to do with the man. Uncharacteristically, he refuses to explain his actions and much upset, Lady Calandra goes to stay with her friend Lady Francesca Haughston, the Matchmaker of the series. Lady Haughston does not know that the Duke has forbidden his sister to see the Earl, and under her watch eye, Bromwell begins to court Calandra.

Although the desire between Callie and Bromwell practically sizzles on the paper, all is not well. The Earl has a sister with a grudge against the Duke and he pretends to himself and to her that he is only seeing Calendra to annoy the Duke. He has no idea how much of a troublemaker his sister really is, however.

The plot is a simple one - a romance is building but an impediment must be resolved. The pleasure in reading the story comes from the characters themselves, the growing friendship of Calendra and Francesca, the respect between the Duke and his sister, the essentially honorable nature of the Earl. These are nice people, you want them to be happy. I appreciated the fact that the author has not exaggerated the characters to make an overly dramatic story. The Duke isn't an ogre but a concerned brother. Callie isn't a wild child but someone who carefully weighs her feelings against her brother's wishes and tries to do what is proper. The Earl doesn't set out to ruin Calandra but just to pique her brother.

I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

I really liked this installment of the Matchmakers series. It was well written and thoroughly entertaining. Also it laid the ground work for the next book and left me anxiously waiting to see if Francesca and Rochford get together (I'm sure they will, but I can't wait to see how it unfolds). Anyway this was a really good read that is sure to keep you turning the pages.

Although she is already twenty-three years old and many of her peers proclaim she is on the shelf, Lady Calandra Lilles is not rushing out to find a husband. None of her wannabe suitors have been able to face her protector, her unapproachable brother, the Duke of Rochford.

At a masquerade ball, the Earl of Bromwell dances with her and for the first time in a long time she feels an attraction, but assumes he will turn into a coward when he meets her sibling. Instead to her shock, he shows his animosity towards Rochford. Intrigued by the reactions of the two men, Callie is further stunned when her brother orders her to never see Bromwell again; she asks why but he offers no explanation. Not afraid of her sibling, Callie obtains the help of friend Lady Francesca Haughston so that she can continue to see Brom although she knows someday a reckoning between her and the two men in her life will occur.

The keys to the third delightful Matchmaker Regency romance (see THE MARRIAGE WAGER and THE BRIDAL QUEST) are once again the strong support cast and the hostile relationship between the two men the heroine loves. The story line contains mystery elements involving Callie's need to know why her brother and her beloved are such loathing enemies. Fans will relish Candace Camp's terrific historical as revenge appears to trump love.

Harriet Klausner

I thoroughly enjoyed the third installment of the matchmakers series. I wondered how the author could possibly explain the past history for Francesca and Rochford but she delivered. I won't go into the plot--you'll just have to read it. But now, I have to wait until February for the finale!!!

I have been a loyal reader of Candice Camp since she wrote as Lisa Gregory. This book really disappointed me. Yes, all romance books are pretty formula, but at least in previous books, the characters were fleshed out a bit. Callie and Brom had no depth, no life, and unfortunately, as I read the book, I could have cared less. I agree with other readers that there was a lot of repetition. The descriptions of the locations were uninspired and the sex scenes were perfunctory.

Author Candace Camp seems to be building to a crescendo in her intriguing Matchmaker series with the third of four books depicting love and witty repartee among the upper classes in Regency England. While I was increasingly engrossed by the first two books in the series, The Marriage Wager (Matchmakers) and The Bridal Quest, The Wedding Challenge had me from "Hello." Camp's true strength as a romance novelist is her ability to seamlessly weave subplots and minor characters into the main story. Here she has done that masterfully, and pushed what could have been a merely journeyman effort about the attraction of the sister of a duke and a secretive earl to highly entertaining first-rate romance.

Lady Calandra, the much younger sister of the tall, dark and handsome Duke of Rochford, has decided to approach Lady Francesca, matchmaker to the rich and desperate, about finding herself a husband. At twenty-three and having enjoyed five years out in society, Calandra (called Callie by friends and family) is tired of hearing her continued single status harped upon by her grandmother and the other older ladies of the ton. However, Callie is determined to choose her own husband rather than pick from the boring, but upstanding, men who are being pushed upon her by the older set.

In approaching Lady Francesca, Callie has a secret motive, however. She has met someone who makes her heart go pitty-pat, a new face on the social scene -- Richard, Earl of Bromwell. But for some reason her formidable brother has forbidden her to see the dashing Lord Bromwell. So Callie figures that she will be freer to explore romantic possibilities with sexy Brom if she is being chaperoned by Francesca, and is far away from her brooding brother's influence.

What follows is a scintillating mixture of romance and revenge, as the character of Brom's sister, Lady Daphne, enters the picture and we find out that both Daphne and Brom have reason to despise the Duke of Rochford. They despise him enough to entertain thoughts about exacting retribution on him and on his unsuspecting sister. The question is: Just how far are they willing to go?

The story unfolds just fast enough to keep the reader glued to the page. The sexual tensions grow, not only between Brom and Callie, but between Francesca and the enigmatic Duke. Readers of the first two books in the series will be interested to discover some fascinating history about Francesca and the Duke. But though this book sets the reader up perfectly for the final book in this wonderful series, it never strays from the central romantic story being told and does stand on its own.

I love this series and recommend it highly to romance fans who love tightly-written prose and a strong story line which leads to a satisfying conclusion.

The Wedding Challenge is a novel about revenge, one of my favorite storylines but it lacked the spark of deep seated anger. To be sure the hero was intent upon dallying with the heroine to get back at her brother but I never sensed any real intense resentment.

Callie and Brom meet at a masquerade ball and are instantly attracted to each other. They share a kiss and just a few words but neither knows who the other is until Callie's brother, Sinclair, the Duke of Rochford spies them together and warns Brom away from his sister. (btw Callie's brother can be insufferably arrogant where Callie is concerned treating her like a child)

Brom's sister had accused Sinclair of seducing and abandoning her years ago and leaving her with his baby. Brom sees an opportunity to get under the Duke's skin by courting his sister. He is encouraged to do so by his sister too.

Callie is unaware of past troubles between Brom and her brother, all she knows is that she desires to be with him, so she manages to get her friend Francesca to act as her chaperone while her brother is out of London. Francesca is glad to do so, seems there is a history with the Duke and Francesca too.

Callie and Brom continue a rather proper courtship with Brom hoping that the Duke will take note and confront him. He has no desire to ruin Callie nor does he wish her harm. His sister does have some evil intentions and through her machinations puts Callie in harm's way.

The characters here had good chemistry but were not vivacious like the secondary characters of Francesca and even Brom's wicked sister. Also a more vengeance minded hero would have put a little more spice in the action. Brom was almost tame. Callie was proper and did try to stand up to her brother but she was no dynamic heroine. However, the sexual tension was good. I had not read the prior books in the series so had no knowledge of some of the characters. This book can stand on its own.

I've read some really good books by this author, but I didn't enjoy this one. The story was driven mainly by the heroine's childishness, foolishness and naiveté. Personally I prefer characters that I would want to be like -- smart, sophisticated and sassy! I thought this would have been an appropriate read for a pre-teen if it weren't for the sex scenes, which were a bit jarring and out-of-place, almost as if added after the story was written. Fortunately the villainess got what was coming to her at the end, saving the book from being a total loss. Other Candace Camp books I would recommend instead are A Stolen Heart and No Other Love.