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abbythompson 's review for:
The Stranger I Married
by Sylvia Day
Isabel, Lady Pelham and Gerard, Lord Grayson make an unconventional marriage in more ways than one. The first is the age difference: Isabel is five years older than Gerard. While five years may seem negligible in the 21st century, it was a BIG FREAKING DEAL back in the 19th century.
The other aspect of their unconventional marriage is that while they are very friendly and companionable with each other in their marriage, they do not sleep together and instead find sex and passion outside their shell of marriage. It's all well and good until something happens that sends Gerard away from London and Isabel for many years.
When he returns, Gerard is a changed man and must convince Isabel that she can indeed find friendship and love within a marriage.
What I enjoyed most about THE STRANGER I MARRIED was that Isabel and Gerard talk to each other - like adults and human beings. They lie, dissemble and hide their feelings, but eventually it all comes to light as trust builds and their superficial friendship and marriage develops into something much deeper. There are some major emotional hurdles for each to overcome and they do so with very real struggles, setbacks and realizations.
There were a couple of BIG TIME narrative ticks though that really annoyed me. The word "egress" is used too much! Once, maybe twice is ok, but it's such an unusual word to use in place of exit that when it occurs every 10-15 pages, it's too much. Also, I have to admit, the words "creamed" in reference to lubrication and the "c-word" bother me. I know they're common references in bluer romances and erotica, but the "c-word" strikes me as too harsh and "creamed" makes me think the lady's got a problem that goes beyond too much lube and might require an anti-biotic.
I also felt like Grayson's mother got off too lightly. She was a BIG TIME BITCH and spread some nasty lies to get Isabel and her son to divorce. At the climax of the novel, she precipitates the BIG MISUNDERSTANDING with some awful truth-bending and yet there's no come-uppance. I'm not asking for a big shift in character and for her to come over to the side of Love & Romance, but at least have her bad behavior acknowledged by Isabel and Gerard. As it was, they solve their BIG MISUNDERSTANDING without realizing that it was his mother who brought the issue up, though it was something that needed to be dealt with so they could get their HEA. Just for the sake of justice, I wanted some kind of confrontation where they told the nasty old biddy to go to Hades.
If you like your romances extra-steamy and with some fascinating non-traditional characters, this is a great book! The e-format was solid too. No crazy typos or anything weird with the formatting.
The other aspect of their unconventional marriage is that while they are very friendly and companionable with each other in their marriage, they do not sleep together and instead find sex and passion outside their shell of marriage. It's all well and good until something happens that sends Gerard away from London and Isabel for many years.
When he returns, Gerard is a changed man and must convince Isabel that she can indeed find friendship and love within a marriage.
What I enjoyed most about THE STRANGER I MARRIED was that Isabel and Gerard talk to each other - like adults and human beings. They lie, dissemble and hide their feelings, but eventually it all comes to light as trust builds and their superficial friendship and marriage develops into something much deeper. There are some major emotional hurdles for each to overcome and they do so with very real struggles, setbacks and realizations.
There were a couple of BIG TIME narrative ticks though that really annoyed me. The word "egress" is used too much! Once, maybe twice is ok, but it's such an unusual word to use in place of exit that when it occurs every 10-15 pages, it's too much. Also, I have to admit, the words "creamed" in reference to lubrication and the "c-word" bother me. I know they're common references in bluer romances and erotica, but the "c-word" strikes me as too harsh and "creamed" makes me think the lady's got a problem that goes beyond too much lube and might require an anti-biotic.
I also felt like Grayson's mother got off too lightly. She was a BIG TIME BITCH and spread some nasty lies to get Isabel and her son to divorce. At the climax of the novel, she precipitates the BIG MISUNDERSTANDING with some awful truth-bending and yet there's no come-uppance. I'm not asking for a big shift in character and for her to come over to the side of Love & Romance, but at least have her bad behavior acknowledged by Isabel and Gerard. As it was, they solve their BIG MISUNDERSTANDING without realizing that it was his mother who brought the issue up, though it was something that needed to be dealt with so they could get their HEA. Just for the sake of justice, I wanted some kind of confrontation where they told the nasty old biddy to go to Hades.
If you like your romances extra-steamy and with some fascinating non-traditional characters, this is a great book! The e-format was solid too. No crazy typos or anything weird with the formatting.