Customer Reviews

The Wedding Journey

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Captain Jesse Randall, surgeon for the Number Eight Army Hospital, knew Elinore Mason when she was just a little girl. Even as a little girl, she possessed a strong will and an admirable spirit. Now she's a young woman, and he has no doubt in his mind that he's in love with her. But Captain Randall has a problem: he's painfully shy. He's so shy that some of his fellow soldiers have teased him about it.

Captain Mason, Elinore's father, owes major debts to a man named Major Bones (one of the most despicable villains to grace the pages of a Regency). In exchange for Elinore, all debts would be paid.

In order to protect her, Jesse weds Elinore just before a retreat. And so begins Major Bones' revenge. Jesse, Elinore, and a few others (including some of the sick patients) are left behind, hoping to beat their enemies to the Portugeuse border. Hence, the title: "The Wedding Journey."

There are no words strong enough to describe how strongly I feel about this book. Jesse Randall was a welcome change from all the typical romance heroes. He's not arrogant, he's humble. He's not sure of himself. He's not nobility, and he's not incredibly attractive. He's sweet, but not saccarhine. Elinore Mason has more courage than 100 London ladies put together. The supporting characters are fleshed-out and memorable: Wilkie, Harper, Sheffield, Leger, "the count." The book wouldn't have been the same without them. There is so much adventure and power packed into such a small book. It's quite astounding. You feel the pain of the characters, you cheer for them, you share in their tragic laughter. It is SO much more than a romance novel. I don't know how Carla Kelly does it!

If you prefer a light-hearted book, this book may not be for you. Most of the time, it's quite depressing. If you're looking for fun & laughter, pick up a Barbara Metzger book. If you're looking for a deeply moving piece with complex characters, read this. You won't regret it.

I just literally finished reading this book and am ashamed that I allowed it to sit for weeks on end on my bookshelf before forcing myself to make time and read it. This was literally THE BEST signet regency book I've ever read and I truly loved and adored the characters that were fully developed and unique and every possible way. Despite the summary located on the back of the book that is NOTHING to what the book has in store.
The story all begins with Captain Jesse Randall, surgeon to the English army serving in northern Spain against the dreaded French. He has always loved the young Elinore Mason, a poor beauty with heart and soul. He is not your typical war hero with no fear and all about guts and glory. He is a new type of protagonist I've been waiting to read about. He's kind, shy and always thinking of others before himself. Ms. Kelly delves deep into his feelings and really brings readers to love him and want him to survive ALL that he goes through.
I cannot help but think to myself that this book would make the best movie of all time. It is a great war epic that has (of course) all the things that many love to read about: Romance (naturally), intrigue, drama, and action. There was not one character that didn't stop the even flow of the book and every point and detail given in the narratives only helped you understand situations more. I've never read a more "feeling" book than this and this is number one on my recommend list.

Setting - Spain Napoleonic War circa 1816 --- Set during the siege as English troops retreated to the Portugal border is this most alluring, sensitive and evocative regency that I've read in quite some time. The story begins with a prelude and introduces us to a sprightly 10 year old daughter of a career soldier and his sickly wife. Elinore `Nell' Mason at the age of 10 is more the caretaker of the family than her father, the irresponsible sergeant Bertie Mason and his long suffering wife. She is taken in hand by the kindly Chief of the medical unit, Captain Sheffield, who gives her chores that she tackles with remarkable determination and perseverance of one so young.

Captain Jesse Randall, is a young intern who admires the young child then goes off, assigned to Canada for 8 years, returning battle hardened and then finding that Nell, the child, has grown into a beautiful young lady. Jesse, who is as renowned for his medical skill and dedication to his patients, is also renowned as well for his unassuming manner and intense shyness towards the girl he has come to love.

Upon the death of Nell's mother, her father is compelled to barter her off to the despicable Major Bones, if he cannot produce the monies that Bones advanced to him. In trying to save Nell from this fate, Jesse is somewhat (even though he's been in love with her for two years) coerced into a quickie marriage so that her father cannot trade her off to pay his debts. In response to Jesse upsetting his plans, the odious Major makes sure that Jesse and Nell's medical unit gets left behind, and on there own as the French advanced and the main English army retreated.

The `journey' then, was a remarkably written tale of the rag tag bunch of, physically and emotionally wounded men that made the journey, their various adventures and their individual growth so very outstanding. Not your usual bit of fluff regency but one with full body and fully developed characters whose lives all changed during the `journey'. Elinore "Nell" is a heroine who will certainly claim a piece of your heart as she claimed Jesse's. Jesse's shyness over the love he felt for Nell, that he couldn't believe would ever be returned was so sweet, you'll just want to cry. Harper and Wilkie, Jesse and Nell's self-appointed bodyguards were also a delight and you will cheer as I did, that the comeuppance for the odious Major Bones came to such a wonderful conclusion. Again, this was a very provocative and compelling read that I HIGHLY suggest be placed at the top of your reading lists! -- Submitted by Marilyn Rondeau, Official Reviewer for www.historicalromancewriters.com---

Never have I read such a book. I adore Mary Balogh and Joan Wolf, nothing can top their characterizations and plot development. I was wrong. I have read this book three times and I will read it again, and again. Like the reader in England, I was deeply moved and humbled as well. His shyness, and quite manner, his steadfast loyalty and love made him a believable and wonderful hero. The inner strength and integrity of the heroine was refreshing. I started crying right from the beginning of the book, and continued crying right down to the last page. The unassuming cover and title does not do justice to the powerful and moving love story that is written and unfolds between the covers of this book. Please, please, buy this book and read it! You will never regret it!

Carla Kelly always writes with compassion, understanding and depth; never glossing over the harsh realities of life during this period of history. Indeed, the pivot of most of her stories is usually a particularly hard fact of life - and often death as well (something not often emphasized in a romance novel per se).
Both hero and heroine are well drawn and the reader is soon definitely sympathetic to the feelings of each. The truth of war and its true cost are definitely underlying this tale.

Jesse's love for Elinore is obvious from the start, and throughout we are actually more shown his deep feelings and point of view, than hers. His strength of character is obvious, but his realization of it himself is a large part of the enjoyment of the story. Elinore's feelings are not so easily discerned by the reader, perhaps because she is resolutely not wanting to know them herself due to her hard life.
I was only prevented from giving it a top mark, by two things. First, the very melodramatic resolution of their return to the British Army. It just seemed a stroke too much. Second, the short conclusion of the story in a summation of Jesse and Elinore's married life in England. I wanted to be shown some of their happiness - to contrast with the wrenching suffering & the vale of tears through which they had passed.
Well written and an undeniably engrossing story.

This is an excellent story-- once again the author has taken a realistic historic context and added a plausible romance. The events are dramatic but quite believable (although the final twist at the end is a little over the top). This author consistently writes traditional Regencies with a compelling plot and serious themes and memorable characters.

I have been a fan of Ms. Kelly's for a long time and have, I believe, a complete collection of her Signet regencies (including novellas). Ms. Kelly never fails to produce a story with well-imagined characters in a realistic milieu; her particular strength, from my point of view, is her use of "middle class" characters - rare in Regency romance. Many of Ms. Kelly's novels feature characters in the military professions, all of whom are fully drawn and none of whom engage in anachronistic behavior. It is wonderful to read about such lifelike people; their conflicts are never trivial and their affections always both sincere and believable. I read a lot of genre fiction, including romance, and Ms. Kelly is the one author who consistently can make me laugh *and* bring a tear to the eye within a single chapter. I am in constant dread of her retirement from writing romance! Despite the rather inane packaging of this title, I recommend "The Wedding Journey" to readers of adventure, in particular, as well as to romance lovers.

"The Wedding Journey" is a tender and beautifully written novel of a marriage of necessity during the Napoleonic Campaign in Spain. If you are a lover of British history or you enjoy reading a well-crafted story with well-drawn characters, you will appreciate this latest offering from Carla Kelly. However, if, like me, you are also looking for a story with a grand romance or an unforgettable passion at its center, "The Wedding Journey" will disappoint you. Like Kelly's other books, "The Wedding Journey" features rather ordinary characters who are thrust into extraordinary situations. The hero, Jesse Randall, is a Captain and surgeon from Scotland, and the heroine is the daughter of another Captain who is a gambler and a wastrel, Elinore ("Nell") Mason. Jesse marries Nell in order to save her from being "sold" by her father to Major Bones, a nasty piece of work. I have to disagree with other reviewers who call these characters middle-class. Carla Kelly lets us know that Jesse Randall comes from a well-to-do family in Scotland which has a large house and employs several servants. Both Jesse and Nell's father, Bertie Mason, are Captains in the British Army and would have had to purchase their colors or rank --a very expensive proposition available only to the aristocracy and gentry in those days, not to the very small early 19th century middle class of shopowners and tenant farmers. Jesse and Nell are a courageous, unselfish couple who fall in love quietly as they follow the retreating British Army through Spain to the Portugese border. Their adventures along the way do draw a very vivid and sometimes gritty portrait of what life must have been like during the war between France and England. However, Jesse and Nell are no Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler. There is no grand passion between them nor any other strong emotion besides quiet affection. Two weeks from now, will I remember them? Probably not. If you have liked Carla Kelly's other books, you will undoubtedly enjoy this one, but if you are looking for a story about characters who will live on in your memory and heart long after you finish reading the book, then you may be disappointed.

This latest Carla Kelly Regency romance is not the usual kind of novel that one would expect from a Signet imprint. It's a gutsy novel that deals with the impact of war, and it centers on the bravery and fortitude of ordinary people (no lords and ladies of the English ton here), who somehow find the courage within themselves to soldier on in spite of the obstacles put in their path, and about the pluck of one particular couple who manage to forge a deep and enduring love admist all the mayhem and danger around them.

Nell Mason has spent her entire life following the drum and trying to care for her family -- her father is an officer who is unfortunately a hardened gambler, and her mother has long since given up trying to cope her husband's fecklessness and the family's obvious poverty. Now, however Nell faces a threat that even she is at loss as to how she will cope: her father owes a very large sum of money to a lecherous fellow officer, Major Bones, who has indicated that he would be only all too willing to have Nell in exchange for canceling the debt. Nell has no idea as to how she can save herself when Captain Jesse Randall, assistant surgeon of Marching Hospital Number Eight steps in. Jesse has long admired Nell for her courage and fortitude, and has been in love for the past few years as well. But being a shy and unassuming sort, has not made his feelings known to Nell. Now, he offers to marry her in order to save from Bone's lecherous intentions, even promising to give her annulment if she should so wish once the campaign is over. And in spite of all the death and hardship all around him, Jesse has hopes of winning his new wife's affections and esteem, and making their marriage a real one. What he didn't count on was having to contend with Bone's thirst for revenge as well...

If you prefer your Regencies feature sighing heroines and frustrated heroes, that either take place within the context of the London Season, or within the confines of some palatial estate or the other, this may not be the book for you. "The Wedding Journey" is quite sombre in tone. The novel, after all, deals with war and all the death and treachery that comes with it, as well as the unexpected acts of kindness and heroism from surprising quarters. (And Carla Kelly does a fantastic job of bringing the realities of the Spanish-Portugal campaign to life.) Also, character development, rather than storyline, is the focal point here -- and not only Jesse's and Nell's but also the rascally privates who had been seconded to help Unit Eight, and the Frenchman they pick up along the way. And while the romance between Jesse and Nell is somewhat muted at times, I thought it actually fitted in rather well within the context of this particular book -- the book is after all about a 'wedding journey' in which the newly wedded couple would get to know each other a little more intimately. It was wonderful to 'watch' how both Jesse's and Nell's character unfolded as each discovered untold reservoirs of courage and compassion within themselves. And it was wonderful to 'see' their romance gently blossoming admidst all the death and danger.

"The Wedding Journey" is so much more than a mere romance novel. While there was practically nothing 'fluffy' or lighthearted about this book, it still turned out to be a very engrossing, captivating and endearing read. Definitely a book that should not be missed.
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What to say about Carla Kelly's latest book? Words almost fail me as I have been overwhelmed by it. Others have summed up the plot very well so I won't go over it again. I just want to add to the cheers and applause that have already been registered. I am very interested in military history, most specifically Wellington's Peninsular campaign as I have said in several reviews I have posted about Kelly and other authors so this story was particularly of interest to me; I was truly rewarded by reading it. (Marjorie Farrell writes well about this episode of British history as well.)

The Wedding Journey was unlike anything I (and I am sure most Regency fans) have ever encountered. It is the story of ordinary people caught up in momentous and dangerous circumstances who become truly heroic in the truest and most meaningful sense of the word.

The way that Kelly portrays the circumstances of a "daughter of the regiment", the internal frustrations and spiritual journey of a surgeon from a Catholic Scottish family (well done here for educating him abroad, Carla Kelly - I hope others picked up on what this was all about!), the redemption of some of Wellington's "scum of the earth" - eg Harper and Wilkes, and the meaning of friendship (the French surgeon Phillipe) is a humbling experience for the reader. Against a backdrop of fear, filth and fraught circumstances, a deep and abiding love develops between Captain Jesse Cameron Randall and Elinore Mason. Everything that happens to them on their "wedding journey" is so well portrayed that you can feel the mud encrusting their clothes, feel the pain of their hunger, the depths of their despair, their fear of exposure and hostility of their Spanish hosts.

I can only hope most sincerely that Kelly continues writing for Signet. I understood from an on-line interview that she had agreed to a 2 book contract and this would be the second book, I believe. This novel is her best effort to date - it is deeply satisfying and, whilst sometimes painful to read, her best "love" story. Read it and then consider some of the other offerings available in this genre. Sometimes there is no comparison. If this book does not win a few awards, there is something wrong with those who judge such contests. I feel honoured to have read it.