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dirtymartini 's review for:
An Infamous Marriage
by Susanna Fraser
I knew this would be a super angsty read and it is.
Does he redeem himself? I think so... But he will never be on my top list of romantic heroes.
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but only 3 stars upon revisiting this one.
There is one part near the end that tarnishes what would have been a lovely grovel.
"Of course she had been faithful to her vows, living in a small village where everyone knew everything there was to know about each other's affairs, and where none of the gentlemen who might stray from their wives under the right circumstances had been remotely tempting to her. How easy it had been not having known temptation, to puff herself up with pride for avoiding sin."
Well this long run-on sentence flies in the face of Jack's admission to the first floozy he broke his vows with "He wished himself single again, declares his intent to act as if he were..." as said floozy wrote in her diary.
She is suggesting that her not cheating because she wasn't tempted is in no way sjmilar to his actively looking to cheat!
There was no attempt at discretion. No thought about his wife's honour...
Anyways, like happens so often in a good grovel, the author ruined it by trying to make the wife apologetic too.
#########original review##################
When Jack's bff dies, he makes a deathbed promise to take care of his wife. So he marries Elizabeth and then promptly takes off for Canada for 5 long years. He resents marrying her and his last memory of her is of a dowdy sickly woman... well duh! She was grieving. She doesn't expect him to be faithful but he is so flagrant with his lovers that the news of it gets back to Jolly old England even from as far away as Canada.
So when he gets back, expecting her to if not jump for joy, at least welcome him home, he's needs to think again!
The sickly woman he left behind years ago, is now a woman of confidence and inner strength and has been single-handedly running his estate in his absence. He is intrigued but has to tread lightly. But he's kind of too much of a charmer to tread lightly. Still they hash it out and she demands to know the extent of his infidelity.
If only he had been entirely honest...
So it's a good read. Good characters, and nice prose. I thought Jack was a bit of an idiot, and too much the (boyish) charmer, but I did think he came to love Elizabeth deeply in his own fallible way. I can't honestly say I totally forgave him, but almost. I do think he will stay faithful.
My biggest pet peeve was the usual way author's try to balance the scale in these stories where the H is unfaithful. There's always some contrived reason for the h to have to apologize as well. It was unnecessary to the story and put a crimp in an otherwise lovely grovel.
But it wasn't that big a deal when all was said and done.
There's one place where she smacks him down well by pointing out that she wasn't that thrilled with the marriage at first either. Jack wasn't as tall or good looking as her first husband!
I liked how she would give as good as she got... and Jack's chickens had surely come home to roost!
Does he redeem himself? I think so... But he will never be on my top list of romantic heroes.
################
but only 3 stars upon revisiting this one.
There is one part near the end that tarnishes what would have been a lovely grovel.
Spoiler
where Elizabeth tries to put some of the blame on herself."Of course she had been faithful to her vows, living in a small village where everyone knew everything there was to know about each other's affairs, and where none of the gentlemen who might stray from their wives under the right circumstances had been remotely tempting to her. How easy it had been not having known temptation, to puff herself up with pride for avoiding sin."
Well this long run-on sentence flies in the face of Jack's admission to the first floozy he broke his vows with "He wished himself single again, declares his intent to act as if he were..." as said floozy wrote in her diary.
She is suggesting that her not cheating because she wasn't tempted is in no way sjmilar to his actively looking to cheat!
There was no attempt at discretion. No thought about his wife's honour...
Anyways, like happens so often in a good grovel, the author ruined it by trying to make the wife apologetic too.
#########original review##################
When Jack's bff dies, he makes a deathbed promise to take care of his wife. So he marries Elizabeth and then promptly takes off for Canada for 5 long years. He resents marrying her and his last memory of her is of a dowdy sickly woman... well duh! She was grieving. She doesn't expect him to be faithful but he is so flagrant with his lovers that the news of it gets back to Jolly old England even from as far away as Canada.
So when he gets back, expecting her to if not jump for joy, at least welcome him home, he's needs to think again!
The sickly woman he left behind years ago, is now a woman of confidence and inner strength and has been single-handedly running his estate in his absence. He is intrigued but has to tread lightly. But he's kind of too much of a charmer to tread lightly. Still they hash it out and she demands to know the extent of his infidelity.
If only he had been entirely honest...
So it's a good read. Good characters, and nice prose. I thought Jack was a bit of an idiot, and too much the (boyish) charmer, but I did think he came to love Elizabeth deeply in his own fallible way. I can't honestly say I totally forgave him, but almost. I do think he will stay faithful.
My biggest pet peeve was the usual way author's try to balance the scale in these stories where the H is unfaithful. There's always some contrived reason for the h to have to apologize as well. It was unnecessary to the story and put a crimp in an otherwise lovely grovel.
But it wasn't that big a deal when all was said and done.
There's one place where she smacks him down well by pointing out that she wasn't that thrilled with the marriage at first either. Jack wasn't as tall or good looking as her first husband!
I liked how she would give as good as she got... and Jack's chickens had surely come home to roost!