An Arranged Marriage

Rating:
Summary: An Authentic Feeling Story
Review: Synopsis: Eleanor Chivenham has a lowlife of a brother. He manages to ruin her reputation in the worst possible way. Nicholas Delaney comes to the aid of this innocent woman but is not capable of being the husband she deserves because of his service to his country. What of his mistress? Does Nicholas love her or is there more to this affair than he wants others to believe?

Dislikes: I didn't enjoy the fact that the hero and heroine are hardly ever together. Eleanor was a little too understanding of her husbands neglect.

Likes: Even though the hero was neglectful, I liked how Jo Beverley was able to get across the heroes pain of his betrayal of his wife. I flew through this story and thought it felt very authentic for the time period.

Overall: "An Arranged Marriage" is a mature story that is better than the average cookie cutter romance. I just would have liked a little more feistiness from Eleanor and more one on one interaction for the hero and heroine.

Rating:
Summary: When duty turns to love
Review: When the Earl of Stainbridge calls him for help, Nicholas Delaney is far from imagining that this time, his brother is in deeper trouble than he'd ever expected. Kit has been misled by a rather unrespectable friend, Lionel Chivenham, and ravished Lionel's sister, whom he thought willing whereas she was drugged and unable to defend herself.

To save the honour of the family, Nicholas agrees to marry Eleanor, since his brother won't. But Kit makes things worse by claiming to Eleanor that it was Nicholas who raped her on that night, and Eleanor only learns the truth on her wedding night. Indeed, even if the marriage doesn't involve any feeling from either Eleanor or Nicholas, Nicky insists that it needs to be consummated: if Eleanor is with child, Nicky wants to think that it is his and not that of his brother's. Follows a beautiful scene where Nicholas treats Eleanor with extreme care and tenderness. When I got to this early scene, I wasn't convinced that the book would keep me interested the way it did. I was afraid that their story would be a bed of roses.

However, I had forgotten the thorns.

Marriage doesn't stop Nicholas from entertaining a relationship with Therese, his French mistress; his affair with this woman makes him appear as a dissolute rogue, but couldn't thee be more to him than what Eleanor expects?

At first, Eleanor thinks she can accept the situation. Her union to Nicky is nothing more than a marriage of convenience, so she can't expect more from him than the protection he offers. But can she deny that her husband's charm affects her in ways she would rather deny?

My main regret was that we didn't get more of an epilogue. I would have wished for a better denouement, particularly where Therese and Lord Stainbridge are concerned. Therese, after all, kept Nicholas to herself for most of the first months of his marriage. And of course I still have doubts about Lord Stainbridge's honesty. I couldn't bring myself to like him.

I was a bit frustrated with parts of the book that were kept silent, even though those nitpicks weren't enough to spoil my enjoyment. But I would have liked to see more of Nicholas, see more proof of his blooming love for Eleanor, and how and when he started to be aware that he felt more than a simple affection for his wife. I didn't see him be transformed by the experience of love; his feelings for Eleanor seemed like a completely natural thing that had existed from the start, and yet it's not possible under the circumstances. He wanted to protect her, yes, but he didn't love her at first. And then quickly enough he comes to feel a deep love for her, which is half driven by his guilt and fear to hurt her. What saves his feelings from looking completely out of the blue is that they seem indeed to develop naturally, but I wish we'd *seen* them develop through more introspection parts from his point of view, about Eleanor.

On the other hand, there were scenes in the book that were so beautiful that they made up for that, though. For example, the poignant conversation where Nicholas tells his friend about the feelings that his wife arouse in him. It was a beautiful confession, and I wish there had been more of that.

All in all, it was a delightful book, where the characters' reactions were unpredictable and kept me interested throughout.

Rating:
Summary: I wish it were better
Review: Beverly is a good writer (within the romance level of prosaic expectation). She has issues she seems to work through in her novels involving violence, and that's important. This book isn't as disturbing as _An Unwilling Bride_; for one thing, the hero is far more likeable. But if it wants to deal with homophobia, then it should do so directly to help us address the horrid rape that opens the novel...and, most egregiously, closes the novel as well. The hero and heroine casually chatting about her rape as he has his hand inside her gown? What kind of demons are you exorcising, Ms. Beverley?

If you want to read Beverley's novels, leap to _Hazard_ or _My Lady Notorious_. I wish I could now read her novels without having this mess and, even worse, _An Unwilling Bride_ forever in my mind.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best!
Review: Rape is a difficult subject for any author to tackle, but it's the story JB gave us, so one can either go with it or lay the book aside if this is an unacceptable premise. All women would understand.
That being said...
I absolutely loved Nicholas. Yes, he had to sleep with 'that woman', which in a romance surprised me, for the hero is usually loyal. I certainly wouldn't want my husband involved in such a thing, but we do learn that Nicholas was too deeply involved in his work to stop the charade when he married the wonderful Eleanor. He WAS sickened by it, which made it easier to forgive him, I guess. That, and his obviously growing love for Eleanor. I think he was tortured enough. Nicholas was very masculine, intelligent and slightly roguish. And of course, handsome. One of my favorite scenes was when he introduced Eleanor to his friends, his fellow Rogues. I count this novel among my top 10 favorites of all time.

Rating:
Summary: Cheating is NOT romantic
Review: Hmmm...This is a book based on rape an adultery. How romantic! Geeze, this is what makes me feel warm inside! Did I forget the part about the abandonment...Golly how sweet.

Rating:
Summary: I'm hooked!!!!!
Review: Jo Beverley, for some insane reason, is not published in the UK. I first read about her here at amazon and a few of the other romantic review sites. I was intrigued and, having read a couple of her short novellas, plunged in. I am the type who has to have the WHOLE series first and so with some effort, managed to get all of the Rogue (and three Georges) books before settling down to read them all in order.

Wow! What a delight this author is. The best word I can think of to describe her work is "integrity". She is true to her craft, careful, literate and polished. She creates great angst, tension and the development of her characters is well complemented by her well thought through plots.

This first of the Rogue books was wonderful. I enjoyed ever minute of it and have already read the next one and started the third Rogue story.

Nicholas Delaney and his wife Eleanor will, I have no doubt, serve well as the fulcrum of the Rogue series. They are delightful and deeply interesting people. You feel you know them personally.

I am also impressed by the fact that Jo Beverley makes herself available to her readers, her website is excellent and her notes at the end of her books delightful.

I am so glad I have found her!

Rating:
Summary: an arranged marriage
Review: I loved this when I read it several years ago. I wish publishers and sellers would be up-front when newly released books are actually reprints.

Rating:
Summary: A very interesting book
Review: This is the first book I read from Jo Beverly and certainly will not be the last. It is very well written, the plot is good and not very unrealistic and combines the mystery well with the romance. Eleanor is a nice heroine with much more brains than the usual romance heroine. I like the fact that they both accept from the beggining that what's done is done and married willingly or not, they should try to make the best out of it. Also there is deep respect and caring for each other, which doesn't take long to turn into love. The fact that Nicholas was actually sleeping with another woman during their marriage though, wasn't very much to my liking and I would prefer Jo Beverly had found a way to avoid it.
All in all it was a nice book, not one with great passion and heartbreaking scenes, but a good read with sensible heroes, and interesting plot. I recommend this to fans of historical romance but not to someone new on the field: there are much better books to start from (try Judith McNaught for example). I will certainly read more books of the same author myself.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Romance, Exciting Plot
Review: Jo Beverley has done it again with this stellar Regency-set historical. Her research is, as always, impeccable. (Contrary to what a previous reviewer has said, her hero's name should not be Lord Nicholas. Daughters of an earl are "Lady Firstname," and sons of an earl are "The Honourable Firstname Lastname.") The historical detail, however, only serves as a delicious garnish for an impeccably drawn, complicated romantic entanglement between an unwilling bride trapped by circumstances not of her own creation, and a brave gentleman willing to (temporarily) sacrifice his own happiness for the sake of his country.

This is a grown-up tale of two people who, thrown together in the most uncomfortable of circumstances, learn first to live with each other, then to love each other. Jo Beverley more than earns her reputation as the thinking person's romance author in this touching novel.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent beginning, great characters
Review: I loved this book from beginning to end, and I thought Beverley did a great job of handling the complex story. Eleanor, our heroine, is raped at the start of the book by the Earl of Stainbridge - a rape organised by her own brother, who wishes to blackmail the Earl. Eleanor does not shrug it off - did that reviewer read the book, as opposed to just skimming it? - she was actually contemplating throwing herself into the lake to drown when she met Stainbridge again. Consumed by guilt, Stainbridge - who was already on his way to Eleanor's brother's house at the time - takes Eleanor under his wing, but lies and claims it was his brother who'd raped her.

Nicholas Delaney (who, as the son of an Earl, should actually be Lord Nicholas) is engaged on crucial espionage work, and under orders to conduct an affair with Therese Bellaire, suspected to be involved in a Napoleonic plot. However, he agrees to bail his brother out, hoping that he can tie up his investigation quickly and end his affair. Nicholas is like no other man Eleanor has met: he is kind, considerate, values her opinions and treats her in many ways as his equal, unlike most men of the time and unlike her own experience with men. On their wedding night, she learns the truth about her rape, and he makes love to her gently and considerately - yet another hangover from the rape is that she's, naturally, afraid of sex.

Of course, the affair in the background means that Nicholas's behaviour is erratic; some of the time he is loving to Eleanor and willingly seeks her company, but as Therese becomes more and more unco-operative and Nicholas comes to care more for Eleanor, he has to distance himself from her and act as if their marriage had never seemed likely to become more than one of convenience. Eleanor, who had guessed that Nicholas has a mistress, accepts it because it was the norm for men at the time, and because their marriage *was* arranged, and the understanding was that she and Nicholas would lead separate lives. Neither of them, after all, she thinks, had anticipated that she'd fall in love with Nicholas.

And who wouldn't fall in love with Nicholas?! He is a wonderful creation: charming, amusing, considerate, very capable, intelligent, a great lover, and - best of all - he has a vulnerable side.

He also has some fascinating friends. I wish I'd read this book before reading An Unwilling Bride (publishers, *please* make it more clear when books are part of a series, and what their place in the series is!); I would have understood Lucien a lot better if I'd read this first, much as I loved Luce's own story. Francis also appealed enormously, and I hope he gets his own story at some point.

Nicholas and Eleanor make a wonderful couple, and I hope to have many glimpses of them in future Company of Rogues books.