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Lord Clayborne's Fancy
Most bridegrooms don't expect to be called "an insufferable toad" the day after their wedding. But Lady Clayborne had provocation enough from his lordship, though she had no idea why he had developed the ludicrous notion that she was not a virgin. Rebecca was not content to be a wife in name only--and Jason was not willing to be deceived. Regency Romance by Laura Matthews; originally published by Warner and Signet
255 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
May 10, 2021
I enjoyed it more than I thought I would!
Knowing the flaws going in helped.
After an intriguing first page or two, the first chapter was a droning bore, as the h’s sister and old governess arrive and pages are filled with monologues of unrelated on-dits and such. I almost dropped the book (same happened a few times later on as well) but I’m glad I didn’t.
Knowing the flaws going in helped.
After an intriguing first page or two, the first chapter was a droning bore, as the h’s sister and old governess arrive and pages are filled with monologues of unrelated on-dits and such. I almost dropped the book (same happened a few times later on as well) but I’m glad I didn’t.
August 20, 2021
A well written Regency where every other character is more memorable than the tepid H and h.
The hero is furious because his wife was no virgin. Bloodless sheets told him so. He is polite but pouty because she won’t apologize. Even when he explains what he’s upset about she still stubbornly refuses to apologize and keeps professing her innocence.
She moves on emotionally and luckily her far more interesting, madcap sister Mary escapes from an Aunt to come for a visit. Mary's superpower is great hearing, and outs together a joust with the H's motherless 4 year old nephew.
The H takes them to London where he visits his ex-mistress, now a very merry widow intent on being even more merry. Mary the sister overhears him making an assignation at Vauxhall, and Mary and the I-forgot-her-name-already heroine go to spy. The I-forgot-his-name-already hero takes the high road and wants nothing more to do with his very skanky ex-mistress. Why he had to meet her secretly to tell her that is a mystery.
The heroine decides to move on physically as well as emotionally and moves to a cute cottage with a close friend Constance. New side plot with an abused young girl who is saddled with a terrible guardian and an even more terrible name, Elvira. The guardian is abusive and is stealing from her estate.
In the meantime, the H overhears a conversation that alerts him to the fact that not all virgins bleed so maybe his wife is telling the truth. He verifies this unknown but important fact with a doctor. Really love it when it takes two third-party verifications in order to believe your beloved’s innocence.
The I-forgot-their-names-already hero and heroine get their happy ever after, but I want Mary’s story and anyone else’s name I can remember.
This review is coming out harsher than I meant because it was well written and I enjoyed even if I wanted to skillet the hero. No OTT angst to report.
If you know if Mary or Elvira get their own book, please let me know.
The hero is furious because his wife was no virgin. Bloodless sheets told him so. He is polite but pouty because she won’t apologize. Even when he explains what he’s upset about she still stubbornly refuses to apologize and keeps professing her innocence.
She moves on emotionally and luckily her far more interesting, madcap sister Mary escapes from an Aunt to come for a visit. Mary's superpower is great hearing, and outs together a joust with the H's motherless 4 year old nephew.
The H takes them to London where he visits his ex-mistress, now a very merry widow intent on being even more merry. Mary the sister overhears him making an assignation at Vauxhall, and Mary and the I-forgot-her-name-already heroine go to spy. The I-forgot-his-name-already hero takes the high road and wants nothing more to do with his very skanky ex-mistress. Why he had to meet her secretly to tell her that is a mystery.
The heroine decides to move on physically as well as emotionally and moves to a cute cottage with a close friend Constance. New side plot with an abused young girl who is saddled with a terrible guardian and an even more terrible name, Elvira. The guardian is abusive and is stealing from her estate.
In the meantime, the H overhears a conversation that alerts him to the fact that not all virgins bleed so maybe his wife is telling the truth. He verifies this unknown but important fact with a doctor. Really love it when it takes two third-party verifications in order to believe your beloved’s innocence.
The I-forgot-their-names-already hero and heroine get their happy ever after, but I want Mary’s story and anyone else’s name I can remember.
This review is coming out harsher than I meant because it was well written and I enjoyed even if I wanted to skillet the hero. No OTT angst to report.
If you know if Mary or Elvira get their own book, please let me know.
May 10, 2021
Jason Clareborne fancies himself in love with the evil OW, lady Hillston but the fickle woman marries someone richer. SO he settles for Rebecca. And their courtship was rather sweet and promising... until the wedding night.
Clareborne is under the delusion (as most regency men were) that no blood means no virginity. He's damn certain that she's been with someone else and insists she tell him who. But of course she WAS a virgin and there is nobody else. But he won't listen to reason.
He cheats on her with Lady Hillston until that horrid woman dumps him because he's an old married man now and she wants to marry another rich man.
The story would have been a total bust, if not for Rebecca being such a self possessed person. She isn't sticking around anymore for Clareborne's crap. Especially not now that she knows for certain that he's been untrue. She plans to leave him and will not be talked out of it.
And then she leaves him!
He spins his wheels pretty much coming to the conclusion that he loves her, if only...
Then he hears from a friend that not all women bleed when they lose their virginity. He double checks with a doctor. He's still not 100% sure, but pretty sure that he's fucked up.
Unfortunately his grovel is mitigated by an evil villain who neighbour's the house Rebecca is renting. Still, I felt that he redeemed himself by the end, even if I was underwhelmed by his grovel. Safety is not great
Clareborne is under the delusion (as most regency men were) that no blood means no virginity. He's damn certain that she's been with someone else and insists she tell him who. But of course she WAS a virgin and there is nobody else. But he won't listen to reason.
He cheats on her with Lady Hillston until that horrid woman dumps him because he's an old married man now and she wants to marry another rich man.
The story would have been a total bust, if not for Rebecca being such a self possessed person. She isn't sticking around anymore for Clareborne's crap. Especially not now that she knows for certain that he's been untrue. She plans to leave him and will not be talked out of it.
And then she leaves him!
He spins his wheels pretty much coming to the conclusion that he loves her, if only...
Then he hears from a friend that not all women bleed when they lose their virginity. He double checks with a doctor. He's still not 100% sure, but pretty sure that he's fucked up.
Unfortunately his grovel is mitigated by an evil villain who neighbour's the house Rebecca is renting. Still, I felt that he redeemed himself by the end, even if I was underwhelmed by his grovel. Safety is not great
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 19, 2013
3.5 stars
Angsty cheater story where the stuffy, hypocritical hero accuses the heroine of not being a virgin on their wedding night because there was no cherry to pop. So off he goes and has an affair with his previous mistress who married someone else. (That set everything right!) The heroine, not surprising, is actually the picture of perfection who can do no wrong and is friend to everyone far and wide. Lots of family and filler that I skimmed to get to the juicy stuff. Spent lots of time peod at the H and feeling sad for the h, just the way I like'em ;D
Angsty cheater story where the stuffy, hypocritical hero accuses the heroine of not being a virgin on their wedding night because there was no cherry to pop. So off he goes and has an affair with his previous mistress who married someone else. (That set everything right!) The heroine, not surprising, is actually the picture of perfection who can do no wrong and is friend to everyone far and wide. Lots of family and filler that I skimmed to get to the juicy stuff. Spent lots of time peod at the H and feeling sad for the h, just the way I like'em ;D
can-never-read
February 6, 2016Four words: Disgusting cheater WHILE married...
Self note:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Self note:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
December 9, 2018
"It is a wife's obligation to accommodate her husband whenever he wishes her, and not to question his behavior outside the home. You are to behave always with propriety and never give your husband cause for complaint."
This regency romance starts off with a newly married couple, gives a little backstory, and moves on from there. The wife is sort of a paragon of virtues while the husband is cheating on her and treating her to his cold verbal and emotional abuse. The wife has no one to confide in and spends a year trapped in her situation before leaving the husband. Sounds pretty realistic to me.
Here's where the fiction ramps up and the husband sees the light and decides to change and the wife has secretly been deeply in love with him the whole time. Yeah, right. The last couple of chapters were ridiculous. I so wanted to see the plot turn all murder mystery with everyone wondering where the cheating husband could have possibly gone off to. Or the other villainous guy who beat on the kid ending up dead as they fatally killed each other in some duel and everyone feeling a bit sad over the husband's "heroic" death while the widow found happiness in a lively sequel to this unfortunate story of too much reality. Most of the men in this story treated most of the women in this story pretty badly and the ladies all just had to 'deal with the burdens placed upon them'.
The happy ending was not happy, it was crappy.
Violence, vague sex scenes, some language. References to all kinds of abuse of women and children.
This regency romance starts off with a newly married couple, gives a little backstory, and moves on from there. The wife is sort of a paragon of virtues while the husband is cheating on her and treating her to his cold verbal and emotional abuse. The wife has no one to confide in and spends a year trapped in her situation before leaving the husband. Sounds pretty realistic to me.
Here's where the fiction ramps up and the husband sees the light and decides to change and the wife has secretly been deeply in love with him the whole time. Yeah, right. The last couple of chapters were ridiculous. I so wanted to see the plot turn all murder mystery with everyone wondering where the cheating husband could have possibly gone off to. Or the other villainous guy who beat on the kid ending up dead as they fatally killed each other in some duel and everyone feeling a bit sad over the husband's "heroic" death while the widow found happiness in a lively sequel to this unfortunate story of too much reality. Most of the men in this story treated most of the women in this story pretty badly and the ladies all just had to 'deal with the burdens placed upon them'.
The happy ending was not happy, it was crappy.
Violence, vague sex scenes, some language. References to all kinds of abuse of women and children.
May 24, 2020
We get a hypocritical cheating H who treats the h “as a leper” (her words but yes he does) after a wedding night without blood on the sheets(=he thinks no virgin)until finally she has enough.
H cannot “forgive her deception” especially since she’s not asking for forgiveness but adamantly claims her innocence so he leaves h in the country (and goes to his mistress as we and the heroine find out later) and h is very sad and lonely but also very perfect and very (too much so) forgiving,
“She could not bear the anguish he lived with, inadvertently caused by her. To watch him suffer was too painful for her.”
(No, this was not the H after realizing he had mistreated the h through no fault of her, no, this is the H being anguished because his wife was not apologizing for not being a virgin, which she was.)
After almost a year of the leper treatment, the sensible h explains to H that she won’t put up with a life like this, she’s only twenty after all and so she leaves and I cheered.
I wished he would have come to his senses and understand from her character what kind of person she was but no, the dimwit H finds out from a doctor about how blood or no blood fits into the birds and the bees, especially if heroines like to go bareback riding. Then we have A LOT of the author showing not telling that this heroine really really likes bareback riding.
Things happen and she has to come back. H is very kind and ILYs and HEA.
Surprisingly good (no thanks to H) despite parts of the book filled with secondary characters’ really boring dialogue or monologue about other things.
H cannot “forgive her deception” especially since she’s not asking for forgiveness but adamantly claims her innocence so he leaves h in the country (and goes to his mistress as we and the heroine find out later) and h is very sad and lonely but also very perfect and very (too much so) forgiving,
“She could not bear the anguish he lived with, inadvertently caused by her. To watch him suffer was too painful for her.”
(No, this was not the H after realizing he had mistreated the h through no fault of her, no, this is the H being anguished because his wife was not apologizing for not being a virgin, which she was.)
After almost a year of the leper treatment, the sensible h explains to H that she won’t put up with a life like this, she’s only twenty after all and so she leaves and I cheered.
I wished he would have come to his senses and understand from her character what kind of person she was but no, the dimwit H finds out from a doctor about how blood or no blood fits into the birds and the bees, especially if heroines like to go bareback riding. Then we have A LOT of the author showing not telling that this heroine really really likes bareback riding.
Things happen and she has to come back. H is very kind and ILYs and HEA.
Surprisingly good (no thanks to H) despite parts of the book filled with secondary characters’ really boring dialogue or monologue about other things.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 6, 2016
Jason's first love dumped him to marry another, but was kind enough to cheat with him on her husband...classy guy Jason.
Rebecca is his new wife, whom he treats like a ex mistress... he is obnoxious and short and quite petty considering his activities with a married woman.... but he gets it in his head that Rebecca is not a virgin and since she will not confess he refuses to have a marriage with her.... then fortunately his old married mistress's husband died and he is at covenant gardens .....
Rebecca and her sister even don disguises to watch him after her sister finally confesses that he was making arrangements to meet his mistress... she is devastated as she was beginning to care for him despite his mistreatment ... ALexis is a tramp... but she is at best a blip in the story ....
Jason finally discovers that she was telling the truth about her absent maidenhead (as she is a bareback horse woman) there is some drama concerning a neighbor after she leaves him...that gives him a opportunity to be a hero to someone as he was never one to her..
Rebecca is his new wife, whom he treats like a ex mistress... he is obnoxious and short and quite petty considering his activities with a married woman.... but he gets it in his head that Rebecca is not a virgin and since she will not confess he refuses to have a marriage with her.... then fortunately his old married mistress's husband died and he is at covenant gardens .....
Rebecca and her sister even don disguises to watch him after her sister finally confesses that he was making arrangements to meet his mistress... she is devastated as she was beginning to care for him despite his mistreatment ... ALexis is a tramp... but she is at best a blip in the story ....
Jason finally discovers that she was telling the truth about her absent maidenhead (as she is a bareback horse woman) there is some drama concerning a neighbor after she leaves him...that gives him a opportunity to be a hero to someone as he was never one to her..
August 26, 2016
I read this because I had this under my hero cheats list. And he does but what an anti climax, it was almost an aside to the main 'misunderstanding', if you could call it that. I was especially disappointed with the h's reaction to it, very matter of fact, maybe in line with society in those days, but still. Their estrangement was well portrayed and every sympathy went out to the heroine. Otherwise it was an entertaining enough read if somewhat protracted. Oh and how's this for a reason to cheat... Well, now I've heard it all.
August 4, 2024
This is an odd sort of book. The reviews are mixed, to put it mildly, and I honestly thought I was going to hate it, and especially the nasty, suspicious, cheating husband, but I found it unexpectedly compelling. Strange.
Note: There’s not much of a graphic nature in the book, but the whole premise and the difficulties between hero and heroine centre on sexual matters, so if you prefer a more traditional read, avoid this one.
Here’s the premise: Jason, Lord Clayborne, and his new wife Rebecca hit a crisis on their wedding night. He discovers after consummation that she hasn’t bled, and everyone knows that virgins always bleed the first time, don’t they? Ergo, she’s not a virgin. He might just possibly be prepared to overlook this heinous crime if she would just confess to it and apologise, but she doesn’t. In fact, she’s initially mystified by his pointing to the sheets (“What do you see?” “Nothing…”), but this doesn’t clue him in. He explains, she’s horrified, can’t account for the lack of blood but assures him she’s innocent of any such behaviour. He is so outraged by this wilful refusal to admit to her crime that he abandons her to shoot all over the country, including visits to London to take up with his former mistress (as we learn later). Meanwhile Rebecca uncomplainingly busies herself with running the house and waiting patiently for her husband to come to his senses.
Now, at this point, Jason is a pretty unlikeable hero, right? Refusing to believe his wife, arrogantly assuming he knows everything there is to know about the female body and then huffily consoling himself with another woman - it’s not a great look. And a lot of the negative reviews focus on that, which is understandable. But I have some sympathy with his position. Even today, there are plenty of misunderstandings between men and women, and even when a man may know something of the workings of women in general, he may not know just how the particular one he’s intimate with works. And in the Regency, when there was no internet and not much public discussion of the facts of anatomy, it would have been much easier for a man to be ignorant of the wide variety of womanhood.
So I can totally accept that he may not have known that some women don’t bleed the first time, and if he genuinely believed that she’d deceived him, his anger and hurt are all too understandable. A certain amount of avoidance of his wife would be expected in anyone of less than saintly character, and although the mistress is generally a no-no in a hero, I can see how he might have been so thrown off his axis that a determined woman could successfully seduce him. It’s bad, but it’s forgivable, I’d say, although I see why others may think differently.
The best part of a year goes by, and they’re still estranged, but a multitude of new characters turn up, so there’s a trip to London and then back to the country, during which time Jason and Rebecca are thrown together more than they have been, and he definitely starts to soften. It’s clear that he’s being gradually drawn back to her, just as when he was courting her. It’s obvious to the reader that he’s in love with her and perhaps he always has been, but he’s not quite ready to be open with her. Probably a mistake, but it’s very much in keeping with his character.
But in London Rebecca discovers that he saw his mistress again after he was married, and that is the final straw. She takes off with yet another new character to live apart from Jason, and she won’t even tell him where she’s going. And because he loves her and can’t bear her to be unhappy, he lets her go and even ups her allowance so she can afford to keep her horse.
This is the point at which any half-sensible hero would have come clean about his feelings. Something along the lines of ‘I love you and surely we can work this out without you leaving? Let’s talk about what might work.’ But of course talking is too simple, so we have to suffer through the whole separation thing before the author conjures up a tediously silly and overwrought subplot to bring the hero charging to the rescue.
By this time, he’s finally discovered that - oh noes! He was wrong about the whole bleeding thing so maybe his wife is innocent of wrongdoing after all. He’ll have to grovel and (at last!) tell her he loves her. But she’s constantly rushing round after other people and it’s hard to get a moment alone with her, and when he does, he decides the time isn’t right for grovelling, so we have to suffer through yet another tediously silly and overwrought subplot before he finally gets to grovel. It’s probably not a sufficiently grovelly sort of grovel, considering the hell he put her through, but it does the trick, since (fortuitously) she’s in love with him too. And that’s another thing some reviews take issue with, but since he’s actually very nice to his wife, apart from the whole abandonment and mistress thing, I can see where she’s coming from.
So for me, the main plot worked pretty well and I think the author did a good job of making both hero and heroine (mostly) likeable and understandable. My only real complaint is the plethora of plot-device extra characters who were wheeled on in the second half, and those tediously silly and overwrought subplots. There was also far too much space given to the minor characters, especially the garrulous governess and piously lazy clergyman (not amusing enough) and the annoyingly precocious child (not cute enough). All in all, about a third of the book and half the characters could have been dispensed with, without great loss. There are a few Americanisms, but nothing to frighten the horses. Too much talk of sexual matters for traditionalists, but I enjoyed it. Four stars.
Note: There’s not much of a graphic nature in the book, but the whole premise and the difficulties between hero and heroine centre on sexual matters, so if you prefer a more traditional read, avoid this one.
Here’s the premise: Jason, Lord Clayborne, and his new wife Rebecca hit a crisis on their wedding night. He discovers after consummation that she hasn’t bled, and everyone knows that virgins always bleed the first time, don’t they? Ergo, she’s not a virgin. He might just possibly be prepared to overlook this heinous crime if she would just confess to it and apologise, but she doesn’t. In fact, she’s initially mystified by his pointing to the sheets (“What do you see?” “Nothing…”), but this doesn’t clue him in. He explains, she’s horrified, can’t account for the lack of blood but assures him she’s innocent of any such behaviour. He is so outraged by this wilful refusal to admit to her crime that he abandons her to shoot all over the country, including visits to London to take up with his former mistress (as we learn later). Meanwhile Rebecca uncomplainingly busies herself with running the house and waiting patiently for her husband to come to his senses.
Now, at this point, Jason is a pretty unlikeable hero, right? Refusing to believe his wife, arrogantly assuming he knows everything there is to know about the female body and then huffily consoling himself with another woman - it’s not a great look. And a lot of the negative reviews focus on that, which is understandable. But I have some sympathy with his position. Even today, there are plenty of misunderstandings between men and women, and even when a man may know something of the workings of women in general, he may not know just how the particular one he’s intimate with works. And in the Regency, when there was no internet and not much public discussion of the facts of anatomy, it would have been much easier for a man to be ignorant of the wide variety of womanhood.
So I can totally accept that he may not have known that some women don’t bleed the first time, and if he genuinely believed that she’d deceived him, his anger and hurt are all too understandable. A certain amount of avoidance of his wife would be expected in anyone of less than saintly character, and although the mistress is generally a no-no in a hero, I can see how he might have been so thrown off his axis that a determined woman could successfully seduce him. It’s bad, but it’s forgivable, I’d say, although I see why others may think differently.
The best part of a year goes by, and they’re still estranged, but a multitude of new characters turn up, so there’s a trip to London and then back to the country, during which time Jason and Rebecca are thrown together more than they have been, and he definitely starts to soften. It’s clear that he’s being gradually drawn back to her, just as when he was courting her. It’s obvious to the reader that he’s in love with her and perhaps he always has been, but he’s not quite ready to be open with her. Probably a mistake, but it’s very much in keeping with his character.
But in London Rebecca discovers that he saw his mistress again after he was married, and that is the final straw. She takes off with yet another new character to live apart from Jason, and she won’t even tell him where she’s going. And because he loves her and can’t bear her to be unhappy, he lets her go and even ups her allowance so she can afford to keep her horse.
This is the point at which any half-sensible hero would have come clean about his feelings. Something along the lines of ‘I love you and surely we can work this out without you leaving? Let’s talk about what might work.’ But of course talking is too simple, so we have to suffer through the whole separation thing before the author conjures up a tediously silly and overwrought subplot to bring the hero charging to the rescue.
By this time, he’s finally discovered that - oh noes! He was wrong about the whole bleeding thing so maybe his wife is innocent of wrongdoing after all. He’ll have to grovel and (at last!) tell her he loves her. But she’s constantly rushing round after other people and it’s hard to get a moment alone with her, and when he does, he decides the time isn’t right for grovelling, so we have to suffer through yet another tediously silly and overwrought subplot before he finally gets to grovel. It’s probably not a sufficiently grovelly sort of grovel, considering the hell he put her through, but it does the trick, since (fortuitously) she’s in love with him too. And that’s another thing some reviews take issue with, but since he’s actually very nice to his wife, apart from the whole abandonment and mistress thing, I can see where she’s coming from.
So for me, the main plot worked pretty well and I think the author did a good job of making both hero and heroine (mostly) likeable and understandable. My only real complaint is the plethora of plot-device extra characters who were wheeled on in the second half, and those tediously silly and overwrought subplots. There was also far too much space given to the minor characters, especially the garrulous governess and piously lazy clergyman (not amusing enough) and the annoyingly precocious child (not cute enough). All in all, about a third of the book and half the characters could have been dispensed with, without great loss. There are a few Americanisms, but nothing to frighten the horses. Too much talk of sexual matters for traditionalists, but I enjoyed it. Four stars.
May 1, 2018
Another traditional regency and another emotional story. It seems to me those older books deal with darker issues than the more recent European historicals, not every book does of course but it seems I've been finding tortured and interesting people more in those old books than in the new ones.
This one presents a husband who believes his wife is not a virgin on her wedding night and thus insults her and behaves badly towards wanting her to confess to something that is not true. The wife is naturally very upset with how she is treated after her wedding night but since regency misses go to their weddings totally ignorant it takes her a while to see what the problem is.
He is very insulting towards her and I think she showed more serenity in dealing with him than what the situation granted. Has they proceed to get to know each other better Clayborne keeps wishing she would confess her bad behaviour so he could forgive her and Rebecca keeps wishing he would believe her. It is obvious that despite their ill feelings towards each other they are still attracted to one another. But Clayborne's attitude eventually leads Rebecca to want to go away and I thought Matthews presented this part of the story in a very believable way.
My major problem with how she wraps up the story is that I would have preferred that Clayborne would finally believe Rebecca because he gets to know her a better and believes she wouldn't cheat on him instead of being because there's an alternative explanation... Rebecca does forgive him a bit too easily in the end.
Grade: B
This one presents a husband who believes his wife is not a virgin on her wedding night and thus insults her and behaves badly towards wanting her to confess to something that is not true. The wife is naturally very upset with how she is treated after her wedding night but since regency misses go to their weddings totally ignorant it takes her a while to see what the problem is.
He is very insulting towards her and I think she showed more serenity in dealing with him than what the situation granted. Has they proceed to get to know each other better Clayborne keeps wishing she would confess her bad behaviour so he could forgive her and Rebecca keeps wishing he would believe her. It is obvious that despite their ill feelings towards each other they are still attracted to one another. But Clayborne's attitude eventually leads Rebecca to want to go away and I thought Matthews presented this part of the story in a very believable way.
My major problem with how she wraps up the story is that I would have preferred that Clayborne would finally believe Rebecca because he gets to know her a better and believes she wouldn't cheat on him instead of being because there's an alternative explanation... Rebecca does forgive him a bit too easily in the end.
Grade: B
October 6, 2013
There was just too much sadness for my liking. Obviously this was well-written since I could feel the estrangement between Jason, Lord Clayborne, and his wife, Rebecca, Lady Clayborne, due to a misunderstanding on his part regarding the lack of evidence of his wife's "innocence" on their wedding night. Later in the story we find out why it seemed Rebecca was missing the proof of her virginity. The double standard on Jason's part was very annoying. Yes, everything was resolved by the novel's end but it was too quickly wrapped up for my satisfaction. The side story regarding a 14-year-old orphan, Elvira, was a delightful distraction and showed Jason at his best, especially when he confronts Elvira's unscrupulous uncle and guardian, Eustace Lawton. It was nice to finally have Jason and Rebecca declare their love for each other but this most definitely is not a feel-good romance.
April 25, 2019
I don't usually rate a book two stars unless I have strong feelings about it, but there you are. I didn't hate this book, it just . . . fell rather flat. The hero
December 18, 2024
First, I'm giving it 4 stars despite being only 75% through because despite the faults this is a well written and interesting story. But I do have to vent about the glaring fault:
MMC is a grade-A idiot a-hole jerkface. With dirt for brains.
Like, I get that he had certain conceptions about what would happen when bedding a virgin. I could get behind him being suspicous and wondering and maybe having growing suspicions, but for him to INSTANTLY jump from being at least moderately besotted, to "my bride cheated on me already and is probably pregnant with another man's baby" based on the sheets not being bloody is ludicrous even for that time imo.
Like, everything pointed to her being innocent- her behavior, her ignorance, the way he had to ease her into sex and take it slow bc she was so nervous and ignorant, her absolute lack of any sense of guilt- nothing at all except the oddity (to him) of not having blood pointed to there being an obvious anomaly, especially as time went on, but instead of getting LESS suspicious, he got MORE suspicious!
He absolutely deserved his wife to leave him forever and move on with her own life. He does NOT deserve her. She's freaking awesome and although she might have had more luck just pressing the issue immediately and then laughing her butt off at the idea he thought she had cheated rather than just wondering in silence and letting him play the noble long-suffering, silent martyr whose wife cheated on him, for like, months, she dealt with his idiocy very very well. She did try to talk it out but he refused to even speak about it, the mutton-headed numbskull.
But I have no sympathy for him, and I frankly wish this novel would end with him getting an annulment and moving on with his idiotic high-stickler stubborn-butt idiocy and her finding a good, gorgeous, young, middle class man who appreciates how awesome she is to marry and live happily ever after with.
Anyhow, I'm off to finish this one. I hear there's a whole subplot about to develop in the last 25% (which may drop my rating down to 3 Stars because you don't introduce an entirely new set of characters that far into a book).
EDIT, later same day: Last 25% was mostly great- the new characters and subplot made sense as a way for the two now separated MCs to come together and they didn't intrude on the main plot too much. Also, the MMC did a lot of groveling internally once his narrow-minded dumb brain finally realized it was a possibility that she was telling the truth all along. He didn't needlessly hate himself, but did try to tell her a few times (when it was the wrong time, or they were interrupted) before finally talking to her, confessing his wrongs, and asking forgiveness. One gripe with his apology was his weak-sauce excuse for having cheated on his wife with his former love- he was "punishing himself," he "guessed." WTF?! Even the author couldn't think of any excuse for his behavior which actually went against the rest of his shown character. I bet an editor made her make him cheat lol.
Anyway, the ending was abrupt-ISH, but not as much as I've read, and it felt like it wrapped things up nicely. And I was convinced by then that he had thoroughly and sincerely repented from his dumb idiocy and would not be repeating any similar mistakes going forward.
4.5 stars I think, with the -.5 star because of the awkwardness of the premise not being either in character for the MMC or reasonable by almost any measure of reasonableness.
MMC is a grade-A idiot a-hole jerkface. With dirt for brains.
Like, I get that he had certain conceptions about what would happen when bedding a virgin. I could get behind him being suspicous and wondering and maybe having growing suspicions, but for him to INSTANTLY jump from being at least moderately besotted, to "my bride cheated on me already and is probably pregnant with another man's baby" based on the sheets not being bloody is ludicrous even for that time imo.
Like, everything pointed to her being innocent- her behavior, her ignorance, the way he had to ease her into sex and take it slow bc she was so nervous and ignorant, her absolute lack of any sense of guilt- nothing at all except the oddity (to him) of not having blood pointed to there being an obvious anomaly, especially as time went on, but instead of getting LESS suspicious, he got MORE suspicious!
He absolutely deserved his wife to leave him forever and move on with her own life. He does NOT deserve her. She's freaking awesome and although she might have had more luck just pressing the issue immediately and then laughing her butt off at the idea he thought she had cheated rather than just wondering in silence and letting him play the noble long-suffering, silent martyr whose wife cheated on him, for like, months, she dealt with his idiocy very very well. She did try to talk it out but he refused to even speak about it, the mutton-headed numbskull.
But I have no sympathy for him, and I frankly wish this novel would end with him getting an annulment and moving on with his idiotic high-stickler stubborn-butt idiocy and her finding a good, gorgeous, young, middle class man who appreciates how awesome she is to marry and live happily ever after with.
Anyhow, I'm off to finish this one. I hear there's a whole subplot about to develop in the last 25% (which may drop my rating down to 3 Stars because you don't introduce an entirely new set of characters that far into a book).
EDIT, later same day: Last 25% was mostly great- the new characters and subplot made sense as a way for the two now separated MCs to come together and they didn't intrude on the main plot too much. Also, the MMC did a lot of groveling internally once his narrow-minded dumb brain finally realized it was a possibility that she was telling the truth all along. He didn't needlessly hate himself, but did try to tell her a few times (when it was the wrong time, or they were interrupted) before finally talking to her, confessing his wrongs, and asking forgiveness. One gripe with his apology was his weak-sauce excuse for having cheated on his wife with his former love- he was "punishing himself," he "guessed." WTF?! Even the author couldn't think of any excuse for his behavior which actually went against the rest of his shown character. I bet an editor made her make him cheat lol.
Anyway, the ending was abrupt-ISH, but not as much as I've read, and it felt like it wrapped things up nicely. And I was convinced by then that he had thoroughly and sincerely repented from his dumb idiocy and would not be repeating any similar mistakes going forward.
4.5 stars I think, with the -.5 star because of the awkwardness of the premise not being either in character for the MMC or reasonable by almost any measure of reasonableness.
January 5, 2020
Really enjoyed this one.
Clayborne was such a judgmental jerk!! For someone supposedly intelligent, reading a lot his reaction surprised me. But I guess his pride prevented him from doing proper investigations that would have cleared that silly misunderstanding.
I didn't really like him as an hero, he was too proper, stubbornly proud and unforgiving to Rebecca. Seeing how adorable and kind he would be to other people he met, I had to question his love for her.
And he was also a coward: if the kids had not pulled that prank at the very end, he probably never would have confessed his love lool, always postponing it ughh Jason
Rebecca on the other was a great heroine: I loved how she handled that situation: first not ''confessing'' a lie just to apaise Jason, then when she spied on him without hysterics and finally when she left him! Good on her for standing for herself.
I would have loved the story to have some extra chapters to see Jason properly grovel to Rebecca and not being rushed by the accident, but a proper grovel. And also an epilogue would have been perfect, for the ending was quite abrupt after all they're being through. It would have been nice to see them finally living a happy and stress-free life.
Clayborne was such a judgmental jerk!! For someone supposedly intelligent, reading a lot his reaction surprised me. But I guess his pride prevented him from doing proper investigations that would have cleared that silly misunderstanding.
I didn't really like him as an hero, he was too proper, stubbornly proud and unforgiving to Rebecca. Seeing how adorable and kind he would be to other people he met, I had to question his love for her.
And he was also a coward: if the kids had not pulled that prank at the very end, he probably never would have confessed his love lool, always postponing it ughh Jason
Rebecca on the other was a great heroine: I loved how she handled that situation: first not ''confessing'' a lie just to apaise Jason, then when she spied on him without hysterics and finally when she left him! Good on her for standing for herself.
I would have loved the story to have some extra chapters to see Jason properly grovel to Rebecca and not being rushed by the accident, but a proper grovel. And also an epilogue would have been perfect, for the ending was quite abrupt after all they're being through. It would have been nice to see them finally living a happy and stress-free life.
November 6, 2022
Wonderful
I have loved this book since I first read it as teen. I love the way it is written. I love that it has HEA. I love that it's a sweet, light, beautiful read. It is a really wonderful book.
I have loved this book since I first read it as teen. I love the way it is written. I love that it has HEA. I love that it's a sweet, light, beautiful read. It is a really wonderful book.
April 10, 2018
High school writing.
No angst, the conflict is presented in a supercifial way. Boring.
No angst, the conflict is presented in a supercifial way. Boring.
November 22, 2023
The back story was stupid and thus I didn't enjoy this book as much.
September 30, 2025
I first read this book many years ago. Inthought it was marvelous - so angsty. Now many years later it is boring as all get out.
September 25, 2009
Regency
Read
January 9, 2010Fictionwise multiformat ebook
April 4, 2015
I would like it better if there were grovelling. And if Clayborne got over his thing even without the good explanation.
August 12, 2016
first read 11/26/15; re-read early August 2016
December 21, 2015
Not a bad Regency romance, better than many modern historical romance set at that that time but nothing special.
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