An Arranged Marriage

Rating:
Summary: Very Pleasing Story
Review: It's not your average love story but it IS intriging and interesting. I do think Nicholas could have been in it more with Eleanor, but I liked the way their love developed. Eleanor deserved happiness as did Nicholas.

Rating:
Summary: The Best of the Rogues
Review: I loved Nicholas, he was a subtle hero, handsome and gifted and tortured by his affair with his enemy. I didn't like it when he had to go to her, but I understood why he did it. This is the best of the lot, with An Unwilling Bride a close second.

Rating:
Summary: My first by Jo Beverley... this is a top notch author
Review: The minute I opened this book, I knew I was in for a good read. There is no question that Jo Beverley writes about *real* people, *real* men, *real* everything. Her hero especially is as real as they come - she doesn't temper his personality to fit the way we women would like him to act. I find *real* people much more enjoyable to read about than cardboard cut-outs, so I knew that I would enjoy this book.

This was my first book by Jo Beverley, and I really enjoyed it. But then, this is exactly the kind of book I love most - take two real, complex people, put them in a difficult situation, and watch - how will they react? I also liked the style of this book - simply written (you don't need a dictionary to understand the words), yet very emotionally intense and complex - which makes this kind of book my favorite for a very satisfying read. I especially liked Ms. Beverley's talent for characterization - these are people whose personalities simply leap off the page - as I was reading, I felt that I *knew* the main characters - that they were right there in the room with me.

I had just finished a Mary Balogh previous to this book, and I found the contrast interesting. Ms. Beverley is not the master craftsman that Ms. Balogh is, this book is not as well crafted and there are some minor inconsistencies, yet "The Arranged Marriage" fills a niche of its own. While Ms. Balogh tends to bring out the best of her characters, so that they will act in the proper, correct manner almost all the time, Ms. Beverly shows us more of a realistic portrait of real people - the good, the bad, the think-they-are-doing-good turned to bad.

The heroine of this book, Eleanor, was raped at the start of this book. She is then rescued from her until-then very bad situation, to marry Nicholas, the hero of this book. I think that Ms. Beverley does a good job of placing the blame for the rape squarely on the shoulder of Eleanor's brother - and not on the rapist's. She makes it very clear that the perpertrator was both drugged and blackmailed, limiting his culpability somewhat, and making him into a more sympathetic figure than he would have been otherwise.

Once Eleanor is rescued, the rest of the book is then focused on Nicholas's and Eleanor's "Arranged Marriage". I, along with Eleanor, found Nicholas to be a fascinating character - in some ways he is the *rake* of every Regency book printed, but in other ways he is uniquely himself. Nicholas seems to have been born from infancy with more than a spoonful of the proverbial charm, which he uses even as a young child to manipulate the people around him, but in a good way - as a natural leader, he helps the people who are drawn to him. I think that it is his charm, rather than any actual physical prowess, which earned him the title of a *rake*, and that comes across very realistically in this story. (Nicholas purposefully seduces Eleanor, yet his medium of choice seems to be words as opposed to action - he spends a lot of time talking her into it).

And yet it is Nicholas's charm that becomes his undoing, because he is so used to being able to manipulate people, and circumstances, and until now his life has so completely gone the way he designed it - or charmed it - that he ends up over-estimating what he could do, and ends up for the first time in his life, realizing that there are limits even for someone as gifted as he knows he is . . . .

I found Eleanor to be realistically portrayed as well - even if she is not as forceful, or magnetic a personality as her husband. I think she reacts extremely realistically throughout - and I don't think there can be said to be a *right* way to react - every person would react differently when presented with the same situation, and Ms. Beverley spends a lot of time showing us *exactly* how Eleanor reacted. Of course she was upset by the rape! She had terrible nightmares, she was about to kill herself. But we do see that she is somewhat of a practical person - when presented with choice A and choice B - and choice A is to kill herself - she is practical enough to make the best of choice B - while choice B may not be exactly how she envisioned her life, it was a lot better than choice A, and better even than her life before this whole thing started, anyhow. And besides, the fact that her husband is such a charming fellow does smooth things over with her somewhat, at least initially. Also, if you read the book carefully, you will see how she is constantly feeling hurt, and upset, or whatever, and she keeps trying to "keep a stiff upper lip" as they say. Yes, she is upset, but she is trying her hardest not to dwell on it, and to go on and make the best of her life, such as it is. In other words, she is trying to be brave.

I also found the relationship between Nicholas and his brother, Lord to be extremely well-done. I loved the constant interaction between the two of them - this is a very, very complex relationship, Jo Beverley has packed a full punch of emotional complexity all around. . .

This book is somewhat unique in the romance genre in that the hero spends most of his time with his mistress, rather than with Eleanor, his wife. In order to make this palatable to romance readers, Jo Beverley makes it clear that his mistress was actually distasteful to him, again and again she has him complaining, to all and sundry, how very difficult it is to make love to a woman he loathes; but I think in this, she has overplayed her hand, because truthfully I don't think it's possible to practice this grand deception on the level he does, if he truly does loathe Theresa. Ms. Beverley is trying to make the infidelity *okay* because he really hates his mistress, and at the same time have Theresa believe that he is totally devoted to her. I don't think it is truly possible to have it both ways, but she tried. (On the other hand, we always seem to be able to believe it when women do it - for instance, prostitutes, so maybe it's not so far-fetched after all?)

I would really have liked to have seen a little more in the way of a reconciliation of the h/h at the end, for so much of the book they are apart, and the ending is so quick - just two pages. You have so much emotionally invested in these characters that the one-two-three wrap-up came as a bit of a let-down for me.

I was so impressed with this book that I am ordering a few more at one shot, I know that this is a writer that I will be happy with.


Rating:
Summary: A Subtle Masterpiece
Review: If the rogues don't click right away you will never like any of them. But if they do, and they WILL, you will love Nichalas Delaney's story. He was just great and he found a jewel in Eleanor. Loved Lucien here also. It's important to read about Lucien here before reading his own story, though. Otherwise, you might not like him!

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I want sensuality and lots of sex in romances, but prefer to read about it between the hero and the heroine, not the hero and his mistress. This book might as well be about them! I realize most men did have mistresses back then, but find it hard to believe that a wife who loved her husband that much would swallow it so easily. Still, I like this writer very much and look forward to future books from her.

Rating:
Summary: Now, THIS WAS A GREAT BOOK!!
Review: I am so glad that I do not select my books based on the reviews!!
If that were the case I might have missed one of the best stories I have read recently, An Arranged Marriage. Somehow I feel that those people that rated this book only one or two stars must have been reading a different book than I just read - all in one sitting I might add, because I could not put it down. Nicholas was one of the best male characters I have found in a book recently. He absolutely was the hero! He was a hero to his country, this had been his life prior to his brother getting him involved with Eleanor. He married Eleanor out of love for his brother. He owed nothing to her!! The fact of the matter, he instantly did feel a great deal for her!! I thought he muddled through it the best that he could - using his own words that he muddled through!! Did he keep up a pretense with his mistress for many many months, yes! Was this an affair of the heart no - the author carefully does not even have us share any scenes of this affair. We do not get emotionally involved in it because Nicholas was in no way involved!! He kept it up because he had committed to reveiling Theresa as a spy - he was in fact doing it for his country. The only way he could keep up this pretense was by not going to his wife's bed. This hurt Eleanor - but he felt it would have hurt her more to go back and forth. I loved the way he brought her into the group of his friends - the company of Rouges. What great friends, they actually honorably tried to keep Eleanor busy and sidetracked through this time of Nicholas's affair. I just could go on and on about this book. I absolutely would give it 5 stars plus and encourage one and all to read this wonderful, heartfelt story!! I am so lucky, this is the first Jo Beverly novel I have read and I cannot wait to read the rest, most especially about the other rouges. But it will be a long time before I fall in love with another quite as wonderful as Nicholas!!

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic book, a great start to the series.
Review: Having read "Christmas angel" (bk. 3) I couldn't wait to get my hands on the rest of the "Company of rogues" series. I found out about them by other reviews. I have read a few Regency romances & in the most part didn't enjoy them. But this one is totally different.

Elenore was drugged & raped by the Earl of Stainbridge. It is Lionel, Elenore's brother who arranges it so he can blackmail the Earl. Feeling guilty about what happened he goes back to the house. He finds Elenore escaping & about to commit suicide. She recognises him as her attacker but he lies & tells her is was his twin who has left the country in the night. He then writes to Nick telling him he has found him a wife, Elenore & that he must marry her or he would be cut-off. Nick comes home & does as Kit tells him. He marries Elenore.

In the mean time Nick is embroiled in a Napoleonic plot or so he thinks. It is a plan by his mistress to get her revenge on him for leaving her 2 years before. Therese's behaviour is totally ruthless. She kidnaps his wife. She watches Nick as he destroys any love Elenore felt for him by telling her he is leaving with Therese, knowing Therese is watching & listening, but he says something strange to her & Elenore wonders. Then disapears for months.

A fantastic story. The other rogues are brilliant especially Lucien. I have just started his story & it is expolosive. There are going to be plenty of fireworks in that one.