Fortune's Child

by Rachelle Edwards

Louisa Farnham has settled down contentedly to being an old maid after a brief, unhappy betrothal in her youth. Several years have passed since she enjoyed a Social Season and it is with great misgivings that she accompanies her sister to London. Everyone assumed her to be in town to find a husband. It was enough to send her scuttling back to the country on the first coach, only her one-time fiance returned to London too and she was determined not to be seen as running away from him!

Genres: Historical Romance

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1981

About the author

Brenda Castle
aka
Georgina Ferrand and Rachelle Edwards

Reviews

[MaryD · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't quite pinpoint why I don't like this book, but I just don't. There's not much character development and even the plot is rather superficial. It makes no sense in the context of what we were given for Louisa to agree to marry Lord Rossington. I also hated that after he hit her, she started to succumb to his kiss. Yes, it was written in the early 80's when that was acceptable, but that definitely lost me!

[Claire S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Louisa ended her engagement with Lord Rossington after her father lost all his money since she knows Rossington needs to marry an heiress. Nine years later, she meets him again after being away from the ton, and he offers for her again because he needs someone to help out with his difficult son She accepts it, and the story is about their marriage of convenience.

I had no idea this was a marriage of convenience story and was very surprised when Louisa accepted Rossington's offer as I thought the story was going to be about a second courtship. As the other review mentions, there's no plausible reason given for Louisa's acceptance of a marriage of convenience. She was not in love with him the first time around, and she seems a sensible older lady (26) who is happy with her life. The only reason mentioned is that she thought people pitied her for what happened, thinking the Earl jilted her. Really?!

He seems completely detached from the marriage and they don't seem to have many meaningful interactions but, of course, she falls in love with him. This wouldn't have been so bad because it's easy to see that he has feelings for get, except for the part where he slaps her during an argument. He's actually immediately remorseful and apologetic but, as the other review mentions, that's the time the author chooses for their first kiss. The next day, he apologizes and tells her he'll never touch her again. Unfortunately, Louisa then apologizes herself for goading him as if it were her fault (come on, Ms. Edwards) and moments later he shakes a servant when she's a bit panicked about something that happens to the son, so I'm not sure he'll keep his promise to not be violent again.

There are a bunch of other threads left halfway resolved and, in the end, I just didn't care about anyone except the son who had trauma issues. This is a clean romance and, although I didn't hate it, I can't recommend it either.

[HistoricalHussy · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75