The Wedding Escape

Rating:
Summary: Criminal that the ending left so many ends
Review: This book was great, and had (as in all her books) a large cast of interesting secondary characters. But the ending happened so fast, that I thought maybe my book was defective. There were so many loose ends left hanging, you could trip and kill yourself. I was hugely displeased with Ms. Monk over this one, ruining the fact that I liked it immensely until the end. The book should have been half again as long. The next book is a prequel, so no help there, either.

Rating:
Summary: Oh, if only everything had been wrapped up...
Review: Wow! That Publisher's Weekly review really had an ax to grind--and it bore little resemblance to the book. That reviewer seems to have forgotten the mores & laws of the day as well as the other factors involved.

Jack definitely has his problems, and there were times I was put off by them. Indeed, his character seemed so changeable--for example, his later anger problems seemed at odds with his more laid-back demeanor early in the book. But Jack has not completely overcome the horrors of his youth, and Amelia--or his surprising feelings for her--become the trigger for years of repression to fall away. Much like organizing your basement, it gets worse before it gets better. But Monk really makes you feel Jack's despair at the thought that Amelia might leave him and his inability to articulate what he feels for her. As for the charges of near rape, ah....no. Amelia was a full participant.

Speaking of Amelia, she's a pampered gal who gains a lot of wisdom after she meets Jack. Unfortunately, there also comes a time when she seems to lose her newfound backbone. The servants and Jack's family are terrific secondary characters--sometimes they nearly steal the show. Ha! And Jack as a doctor was excruciatingly funny.

On the charge of too many unanswered questions....that's a big Yes. It's the book's major downfall. So many threads are set up--very important ones--and they are never resolved. Very bad form that. Therefore, I'm rating it at 3 stars.