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Marrying the Major
Surrounded by callous fortune hunters, beautiful
Emma Fitzwilliam despaired of ever finding a man who truly loved her. Until she came face-to-face with the man who'd once been the object of her girlhood fantasies.
Returning from the Peninsular War,
Major Hugo Stratton was nothing like the lighthearted young man Emma remembered.
Scarred and embittered, his reputation in tatters, Hugo believed he had nothing to offer her. But as she caught glimpses of the man she once knew and felt the heat of his desire, Emma knew otherwise. Though it wasn't until a desperate situation forced Hugo's hand in marriage that Emma got her chance to discover if that were true. But what would it take to bring back to life the man she'd never stopped loving?
Emma Fitzwilliam despaired of ever finding a man who truly loved her. Until she came face-to-face with the man who'd once been the object of her girlhood fantasies.
Returning from the Peninsular War,
Major Hugo Stratton was nothing like the lighthearted young man Emma remembered.
Scarred and embittered, his reputation in tatters, Hugo believed he had nothing to offer her. But as she caught glimpses of the man she once knew and felt the heat of his desire, Emma knew otherwise. Though it wasn't until a desperate situation forced Hugo's hand in marriage that Emma got her chance to discover if that were true. But what would it take to bring back to life the man she'd never stopped loving?
304 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 7, 2002
5 people are currently reading
75 people want to read
About the author
Joanna Maitland
64 books14 followersI am a Scot, born and raised in Glasgow, one of the friendliest places in the world. Unfortunately, there were not many career opportunities in Scotland at the time I left University, and so I migrated to London. Living in England didn't stop me from hankering after the glorious wildness of the Scottish mountains and lochs, but short visits were the best I could do.
I have always been a history fan, fascinated by the detail of how our ancestors lived. I try to imagine the effects of working by candlelight rather than electricity, and how they coped with all that coal and water carrying, all that horse dung in the smelly, unswept streets. I marvel at the idea of scythe men creating a bowling green lawn, or seamstresses hand-sewing every stitch of a spider gauze gown. And I shudder at the extravagances of the rich, who could gamble away tens of thousands of pounds at a sitting, while the working poor subsisted on only a few shillings a week.
Like most writers, I have always scribbled. At school, I concocted a handwritten magazine with tiny writing that hardly anyone could read. I wrote stories and poems for school magazines and competitions. As an exchange student in France, I wrote reams of letters filled with pretty wild imaginings and some bad poetry (in rather suspect French).
When we were living abroad, I started writing children's stories. My children liked them, of course, but the publishers didn't. Then one day, I found Mills & Boon historicals, and I was hooked. I used to write on the commuter train to London and back, for about two hours a day. It was very peaceful in those days; most commuters were hiding behind their newspapers, and mobile phones hadn't been invented. At one stage, I spent several journeys playing piquet against myself with a miniature pack of cards, in order to be sure that all the scores I was quoting in my story were possible. My fellow passengers looked curiously at me out of the corners of their eyes, but nobody ever broke the silence to ask what on earth I was doing. Just as well, probably. What could I have said?
It took me nearly nine years of rejections to get one of my manuscripts accepted. It was published in 2001, as A Penniless Prospect, and short-listed for the New Writer's Award of the Romantic Novelists' Association. I'm still writing Regencies, but I've been studying medieval history since I stopped working full-time, and I'm now planning stories set in that period, too.
When we moved away from London commuterland a few years ago, we did try to find a new home in Scotland, but it didn't work out. We settled near the Welsh border instead. It's an ideal location. The countryside is full of medieval history--ruined castles, Offa's Dyke, cathedrals and churches, black and white villages--and some of the scenery reminds me of Scotland.
I have now indulged my love of Scotland a little by writing a book set there — Bride of the Solway. When I was researching the story, I spent some time in the Border country, visiting the ruined castles and admiring the spectacular scenery. You can see pictures of some of the settings I used in the book here and read some of the romantic background. There are also tales about Gretna marriages and the perils of the Solway on my research snippets page. I found it all fascinating, and I plan to write more stories set in Scotland.
I have always been a history fan, fascinated by the detail of how our ancestors lived. I try to imagine the effects of working by candlelight rather than electricity, and how they coped with all that coal and water carrying, all that horse dung in the smelly, unswept streets. I marvel at the idea of scythe men creating a bowling green lawn, or seamstresses hand-sewing every stitch of a spider gauze gown. And I shudder at the extravagances of the rich, who could gamble away tens of thousands of pounds at a sitting, while the working poor subsisted on only a few shillings a week.
Like most writers, I have always scribbled. At school, I concocted a handwritten magazine with tiny writing that hardly anyone could read. I wrote stories and poems for school magazines and competitions. As an exchange student in France, I wrote reams of letters filled with pretty wild imaginings and some bad poetry (in rather suspect French).
When we were living abroad, I started writing children's stories. My children liked them, of course, but the publishers didn't. Then one day, I found Mills & Boon historicals, and I was hooked. I used to write on the commuter train to London and back, for about two hours a day. It was very peaceful in those days; most commuters were hiding behind their newspapers, and mobile phones hadn't been invented. At one stage, I spent several journeys playing piquet against myself with a miniature pack of cards, in order to be sure that all the scores I was quoting in my story were possible. My fellow passengers looked curiously at me out of the corners of their eyes, but nobody ever broke the silence to ask what on earth I was doing. Just as well, probably. What could I have said?
It took me nearly nine years of rejections to get one of my manuscripts accepted. It was published in 2001, as A Penniless Prospect, and short-listed for the New Writer's Award of the Romantic Novelists' Association. I'm still writing Regencies, but I've been studying medieval history since I stopped working full-time, and I'm now planning stories set in that period, too.
When we moved away from London commuterland a few years ago, we did try to find a new home in Scotland, but it didn't work out. We settled near the Welsh border instead. It's an ideal location. The countryside is full of medieval history--ruined castles, Offa's Dyke, cathedrals and churches, black and white villages--and some of the scenery reminds me of Scotland.
I have now indulged my love of Scotland a little by writing a book set there — Bride of the Solway. When I was researching the story, I spent some time in the Border country, visiting the ruined castles and admiring the spectacular scenery. You can see pictures of some of the settings I used in the book here and read some of the romantic background. There are also tales about Gretna marriages and the perils of the Solway on my research snippets page. I found it all fascinating, and I plan to write more stories set in Scotland.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 20, 2013
This book was kind of slow. Or at least, it didn't really catch my attention, especially in the first half. I started it a couple weeks ago, but then put it down and read ten books before picking it up again.
The contrivance for the hero and heroine's marriage of convenience seemed absolutely idiotic. She's caught kissing his brother, who she was fantasizing was him, so her father tries to make her marry the brother, but then the hero nobly stands in because he wants her and thinks his brother would make an awful husband. Huh?
And then they have an awful wedding night because although both of them are in love with each other, they can't seem to say anything or communicate very effectively, so the heroine thinks the hero hates her, and the hero thinks the heroine finds his scars repulsive. Thankfully, they got over this problem surprisingly quickly. But they still didn't communicate very effectively, and it took a near-death experience in a duel for them to finally admit to their feelings.
So overall it was okay, I guess, but not particularly interesting.
The contrivance for the hero and heroine's marriage of convenience seemed absolutely idiotic. She's caught kissing his brother, who she was fantasizing was him, so her father tries to make her marry the brother, but then the hero nobly stands in because he wants her and thinks his brother would make an awful husband. Huh?
And then they have an awful wedding night because although both of them are in love with each other, they can't seem to say anything or communicate very effectively, so the heroine thinks the hero hates her, and the hero thinks the heroine finds his scars repulsive. Thankfully, they got over this problem surprisingly quickly. But they still didn't communicate very effectively, and it took a near-death experience in a duel for them to finally admit to their feelings.
So overall it was okay, I guess, but not particularly interesting.
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June 25, 2021Read 2021
September 25, 2009
Regency
April 22, 2012
A sad thing when you read a series that needs to be in order, out of order. I sure it was better than two starts.
October 17, 2014
ok read
December 6, 2014
Always love Joanna Maitland's works! Her heros and heroines are fantastic and I really liked the premise of this with the mistaken younger brother prompting the engagement between the couple.
April 15, 2017
This book frustrated me. There were glimpses of a great story/character/relationship arc here, but it was buried in flip-flopping, too late plot reveals, character pronouncements and waffling vs character building, and lack of the all important 'why.' ie why the leads are compelled to want one another and why we should care about it. Just a bundle of being told things, but never shown them.
I felt like the hero & heroine went through a series of meet-cutes (or meet-awkards), and fumbled each one along the way, instead of developing a relationship through building interactions. Emma (heroine) was far too fickle for my taste, and also against the oft-repeated characterizations of being smart, knowing her mind, and discerning. I liked Hugo, but he was overshadowed by too many things to stand out: the muddled plot & muddy reveals, Emma's fickleness, and to some (ironic) extent, his younger brother Kit.
Kit seemed to me a prime example of a secondary character cropping up in a book & becoming the author's favorite, so they wade past writing *this book* in order to get to the discovered fave's next.
I really wanted Emma to explain -- at least to herself -- why as a girl she decided she wanted Hugo as she stared down at him from her perch in an oak tree. And to build from that point going forward in the book. But nope, not really. Then in the epilogue, as the couple stood under that oak, I anticipated that would be mentioned, and Hugo glad/knowing, and for it to be a lovely full circle moment shared, but nope. Missed opportunities all around, here.
I felt like the hero & heroine went through a series of meet-cutes (or meet-awkards), and fumbled each one along the way, instead of developing a relationship through building interactions. Emma (heroine) was far too fickle for my taste, and also against the oft-repeated characterizations of being smart, knowing her mind, and discerning. I liked Hugo, but he was overshadowed by too many things to stand out: the muddled plot & muddy reveals, Emma's fickleness, and to some (ironic) extent, his younger brother Kit.
Kit seemed to me a prime example of a secondary character cropping up in a book & becoming the author's favorite, so they wade past writing *this book* in order to get to the discovered fave's next.
I really wanted Emma to explain -- at least to herself -- why as a girl she decided she wanted Hugo as she stared down at him from her perch in an oak tree. And to build from that point going forward in the book. But nope, not really. Then in the epilogue, as the couple stood under that oak, I anticipated that would be mentioned, and Hugo glad/knowing, and for it to be a lovely full circle moment shared, but nope. Missed opportunities all around, here.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews