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Belladonna
Book by Grey, Charlotte
Hardcover
First published August 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 14, 2023
From the back cover:
"When Lord Barnstaple discovered he must have a wife if he was to inherit his uncle's fortune, and when Kate Netley wanted a husband to show her erstwhile lover exactly what she thought of him, it seemed to Kate that a match between the two of them must be the most suitable thing in the world. However, as the idea had not occurred to Lord Barnstaple himself, there was nothing for it but to put the proposal to the earl. At first decidedly taken aback, his lordship refused. But when all the advantages were pointed out to him, he started to come around to the idea. All should have been plain sailing - if a fatal (?) from the Earl's past had not appeared to make claims on him he found difficult to reject..."
This is a strange little book. In some ways it is a typical Regency romance, in others, it surprised me. However, the sum of its part was too weak to be more than just okay.
Kate believe herself in love with someone (not a lover or even a man she was romantically involved with). When the man proposes to her sister, she decides to take revenge by marrying someone above their status so she could take precedent over her sister. So, she goes to the Earl's bachelor establishment and proposes marriage to him as a business arrangement. We also discover that Kate is about 18 years old to the Earl's mid-thirties. At that point, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to finish the book. The heroine's thoughts and actions were incredibly immature, the author circumvents a few Regency mores, and the age difference creeps me out. Something made me continue to read it, and it got better before it just became boring.
The Earl and Kate eventually become engaged but an evil woman from his past shows up to blackmail the Earl into marrying her. At that point, I thought the protagonists would go through a serious of misunderstandings because of the OW and that would be the bulk of the story, but Kate shows a lot of maturity by talking to the Earl about the woman and supporting him in fighting her off. So, the author put me back on her good graces only to not follow up on the promise of this mature relationship.
From there, we spend zero time with the protagonists. The author mentions that they have seen each other, but it's a lot of telling and no showing. In fact, the author focus more on the evil other woman than on the couple. And out of the blue, Kate declares herself in love with the Earl (she also completely forgot about her devotion to her sister's fiancé, although that's more believable based on her youth). Soon after she decides she loves the Earl, he goes away, and we're told that he writes her lots of letters. At this point, I skimmed through the rest of the story. I was not invested at all in their romance and figured I'd just finish the book since it was not very long (under 200 pages). Unfortunately, I cannot recommend the book at all.
"When Lord Barnstaple discovered he must have a wife if he was to inherit his uncle's fortune, and when Kate Netley wanted a husband to show her erstwhile lover exactly what she thought of him, it seemed to Kate that a match between the two of them must be the most suitable thing in the world. However, as the idea had not occurred to Lord Barnstaple himself, there was nothing for it but to put the proposal to the earl. At first decidedly taken aback, his lordship refused. But when all the advantages were pointed out to him, he started to come around to the idea. All should have been plain sailing - if a fatal (?) from the Earl's past had not appeared to make claims on him he found difficult to reject..."
This is a strange little book. In some ways it is a typical Regency romance, in others, it surprised me. However, the sum of its part was too weak to be more than just okay.
Kate believe herself in love with someone (not a lover or even a man she was romantically involved with). When the man proposes to her sister, she decides to take revenge by marrying someone above their status so she could take precedent over her sister. So, she goes to the Earl's bachelor establishment and proposes marriage to him as a business arrangement. We also discover that Kate is about 18 years old to the Earl's mid-thirties. At that point, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to finish the book. The heroine's thoughts and actions were incredibly immature, the author circumvents a few Regency mores, and the age difference creeps me out. Something made me continue to read it, and it got better before it just became boring.
The Earl and Kate eventually become engaged but an evil woman from his past shows up to blackmail the Earl into marrying her. At that point, I thought the protagonists would go through a serious of misunderstandings because of the OW and that would be the bulk of the story, but Kate shows a lot of maturity by talking to the Earl about the woman and supporting him in fighting her off. So, the author put me back on her good graces only to not follow up on the promise of this mature relationship.
From there, we spend zero time with the protagonists. The author mentions that they have seen each other, but it's a lot of telling and no showing. In fact, the author focus more on the evil other woman than on the couple. And out of the blue, Kate declares herself in love with the Earl (she also completely forgot about her devotion to her sister's fiancé, although that's more believable based on her youth). Soon after she decides she loves the Earl, he goes away, and we're told that he writes her lots of letters. At this point, I skimmed through the rest of the story. I was not invested at all in their romance and figured I'd just finish the book since it was not very long (under 200 pages). Unfortunately, I cannot recommend the book at all.
Displaying 1 of 1 review