The Marriage Lesson

Rating:
Summary: Cute But Not As Good As The Husband List
Review: If you read the Husband List, you will remember Thomas Effington who is Gillian's(heroine of The Husband List) brother and Richard's(hero of The Husband List) best friend, and Marianne who is Richard's younger sister. Well in the Marriage Lesson, Richard and Gillian are married and inspecting land in America they inherited from their marriage. They have left Richard's three younger sisters in the care of Thomas while they are gone. Thomas wants them married and off his hands as soon as possible, but the oldest sister, Marianne, will not make it easy for him. She has no desire to get married, but wants to be independent and have adventures. Unfortunately for Thomas, part of her planned adventures involves experiencing intimacy and Thomas is the one she wants to experience it with.

One problem I had with this story was the repetition of ideas. Okay Marianne, we get that you want to be independent and have adventures!

Another problem I had was with Marianne herself. She is described as this intelligent woman, but she doesn't show it a lot. She wants to experience intimacy, and doesn't care about her reputation because she has no plans to marry. Didn't anyone explain to her that if she and Thomas were found out, no one would want to have anything to do with her? That not only would she be completely ostracised, but that she would hurt her sisters' marriage prospects, turn Thomas into a known seducer of innocents, and embarass her brother and sister-in-law? I guess not because it never occurs to her.

Not to say that I didn't like The Marriage Lesson, but The Husband List was much better. I have heard Alexander called the next Julia Quinn, but I like Quinn's style of writing much better. But despite some flaws, The Marriage Lesson is a cute story and you should give it a chance and see what you think.

Rating:
Summary: A humerous romantic romp
Review: In 1819 England, Marquess Thomas Effington is upset with the notion of playing nursemaid to his own sister's three sister-in-laws. He feels it is not fair that he must keep his mother's promise just because she and his father are out of country as the Shelton sisters arrive in town. However, honor and his family name requires he must serve as host to the Shelton siblings.

Lady Marianne Shelton does not want a husband. Instead she writes scandalous stories involving "The Adventures of a Country Lady in London." The Ton wonders who the author is and who her guardian must be. Marianne wants to live and Thomas begins providing her lessons with his sensational kisses. As they fall in love, she reassesses her thoughts about marriage if Thomas is her husband caressing her.

THE MARRIAGE LESSON is a humorous Regency romance that is fun to read on two levels. The story line is an entertaining historical tale that sub-genre fans will enjoy. However, the plot satirizes the conventions of the era that is often hyperbolized by authors through the writings of Marianne. Though the romantic side of the relationship between the lead protagonists is not quite as strong as their overall bond, Victoria Alexander provides her audience an enchanting lesson on how to write an enjoyable, amusing tale of love.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: 5-Stars for Ms. Alexander
Review: Lord Helmsley finds himself in a position no self-respecting rake should ever be placed in: acting guardian to three lovely sisters who are related to him through their brother's marriage to his sister. Helmsley must house these three ladies and launch their debut into society while his parents and sister are out of the country. At the same time, Helmsley has been charged with finding a wife for himself; he believes watching over the sisters will interfere with his own search for a quiet/biddable bride who will believe he hung the moon and stars. (These three are definitely not quiet and biddable!)

Finding husbands for the girls would get them out of his house and out of his hair. But, as a TV character used to say, "Surprise, surprise!" These ladies don't want to be married off! After living quietly in the country, they want excitement. In particular, the eldest wants to "experience life" and decides that Helmsley will be the one to instruct her.

Despite his being a rake, Helmsley has been raised correctly and knows that he can't seduce his brother-in-law's innocent sister. ("Why not? My brother seduced your sister.")

The verbal skirmishes begin and the reader is enchanted. The two verbally fence, dancing back and forth, each winning a skirmish here and there. Each believes they are winning the battle. Marianne wants more lessons from Helmsley who wants to continue as her instructor even while he knows that he shouldn't.

THE MARRIAGE LESSON is a genuine 5-star read and an enchanting follow-up to Ms. Alexander's other two novels: THE MARRIAGE BARGAIN and THE MARRIAGE LIST. Ms. Alexander has definitely joined my "must read" list of authors.

Rating:
Summary: Romance & humor - a delightful combination!
Review: Marianne and Thomas are so obviously in love with each other, but neither will admit it. I loved the way Thomas persisted in trying to do romantic things to win her...even if his acts turned out more silly than heroic! How she could keep rejecting his marriage proposals in such circumstances is beyond my understanding!

The characters in this story are endearing; I look forward to seeing them again in future stories. The romantic and sexual tension kept me turning the pages well past my bedtime. Victoria Alexander will hereon in be ranked with Julia Quinn, Christina Dodd, and Jill Barnett as favorite authors of romantic humor.

However, the lady did protest a bit too much, in my opinion. Surely even a dimwit could have divined that Thomas was in love with Marianne, even if he didn't think to say the actual words. And the sexual encounters between the two were too numerous to be consistent with this period. One would have been enough to make any unmarried couple fearful of pregnancy, but as many times as these two go at it...well, it's an accident waiting to happen! And, from the start, I was doubtful that society of the period would cast an approving eye on a situation where three young girls came to live in a home with an eligible bachelor, even sporting a dragon of a chaperone.

Still, this is a captivating story that will have you in tears of joy and laughter clear to the end. Let's have more like this one, Ms. Alexander!

Rating:
Summary: Great characterization makes this a winner.
Review: Marianne Shelton and her sisters are about to be launched into Society. Their brother has moved to America; so his wife's brother Thomas Effington, Marquess of Helmsley, is hosting them. He is a most reluctant host and avoids them as much as possible... until Marianne overhears his most unflattering opinion of them. Marianne has no interest in marriage and wishes only to have adventures. She wants to live life like that in the books she reads and writes a newspaper serial to fund her future adventures. The serial is in the form of letters and is loosely based on her own life. Soon all the ton is trying to guess who Lord W. is... and all the while Marianne is having her adventures... with Thomas! He decides he wants to marry Marianne but never says the three words that would make her wish to marry him because now the adventure she wishes for is his love. The pace never falters in this funny, charming, and sweet tale.

Rating:
Summary: better than the last one
Review: Marianne Shelton has deceided that she is not going to marry at all. Why would she tie herself a stuffy, boring man who would control all of the finances and never let her have any kind of adventure? There is no way she's going to let that happen when all she wants is to live her life full of adventure.
However when her sisters and her go to London for the season, instead of staying with their brother and his new wife (The Husband List), who are in America, they are stuck with Thomas Effington, future Duke of Roxborough, and rake. Thomas does not like this role that has been given to him of gardian. In fact, he will do just about anything to get all three sisters married and off of his list of things to do so he can find a wife for himself. A nice, biddible, NOT outspoken girl, who won't argue with his every decision; in other words someone not like the woman who haunts his dreams with memories of passionate kisses shared with one of his charges, Marianne.
Victoria Alexander has done a wonderful job with this book. Much better that her last one (Husband List). I could actually feel what the characters were feeling at the time, the excitment that had been absent from the last book had returned full blast in this one, and I was totally into the book almost throughout the entire thing. The humor throughout this book was uneven though. It was far more apparent in the end of the book and even had this reader laughing out loud at time. I would've liked to have seen more done with Marianne's sisters though. Another book perhaps?
Overall 4 stars because it was a good book, but not as good as the first in the series, which I gave 5 stars!

Rating:
Summary: funny- but not romantic
Review: Ms. Alexander...is rather amusing. She has a good sense of theridiculous, and her characters are somewhat witty. However, a romancenovel should deal primarily with romance, as it is a romance novel,and not something you pick up in the humor category.

Lady Mariannefits the mold of nearly every other heroine in romance novel history,which is fine. She does have some unique characteristics, and theauthor takes them farther than many other authors do. She is not trulythe problem of the book.

Lord Helmsleyis... very... interesting... and somewhat unique, which is what Ithink the author was going for. He is not like all the other heros,which is supposed to be refreshing. There were some "cute"moments, when it was nice he was not like every other hero you've everread, like when he knows he writes awful poetry, but he continues todo so, because he enjoys it. However, and perhaps it is just me, but Ilike the hero who is dashing, and humor is appreciated, but not whenit undermines his... manliness and the fact that he is supposed to bea hero.

There were more than a couple scenes, towards the end ofthe book, that made me cring and feel embarassed for Lord Helmsley,not like him more. He could not get any of the heroics right, which Isuppose is supposed to be endearing, but made me wonder why I wasreading the book.

One of the very last scenes, when he isdesperately trying to convince Lady Marianne him, would be sweet, andsort of sad, if it weren't for the fact the author left in many othercharacters who remark upon the goings on. It is rather funny, butthere is not the tension you need to resolve the conflict in theend.

This is the first novel I have read by [this author], and itappears to be her latest effort, and overall, I thought it was okay. Ihope she works now more towards adding humor to romance, instead ofromance to humor.

Rating:
Summary: I am unsure how to rate this book
Review: Never had this problem before. This is my first Victoria Alexander book, so I am not sure how she normally writes.

I gave it four stars because it was very entertaining and so funny. The stars are all for the laughs in this book. I do not think I have laughed so much in a romance before.

I love the story and the characters were very suited, I also loved the sisters, and Thomas's friends.

The part I did not like, was how dumb Marianne was at times. For a woman who was suppose to be such a bookworm and intelligent...she seemed to much a dreamer and silly at times. I wanted to smack her. I understand independence, but she just did not seem very independent to me.

It was fun to read, and I really laughed hard at how hard poor Thomas tried to win her heart....my four stars are all for you Thomas Effington.

Rating:
Summary: The Marriage Lesson
Review: One of the BEST books I have. I love this book.
I will have to read this one again....
and again.... and again..........

Rating:
Summary: Good Humor
Review: The end of the book really had me laughing. The main character Marianne was witty and delightful throughout the book, although it took some time before the supporting characters were developed. I have to admit though, by the time they were finally developed, I had such a good laugh I couldn't give this book any less than 4 stars. It was worth it. The book did flow well and I didn't find myself skipping 20 to 30 pages as I do in many. The wit and humor throughout the book was entertaining enough to read it without skipping pages. This was very typical of many romances where the hero and heroine love each other but play their little games and argue a lot. Marianne, however, did a great job of seeing through all of Thomas' plans to manipulate her and used her intelligence to thwart them.

This book had a lot of the same humor found in Victoria's Believe, although the characters in Believe developed much earlier in the book. If you like Victoria Alexander's books, you will definitely like this one.