The Obedient Bride (Signet Regency Romance)

Rating:
Summary: The morally good will triumph in love!
Review: A young self-sacrificing type ends up married to her father's heir so her sensitive older sister can marry her true love. This is a very low key novel where love triumphs because the heroine insists on nothing less than full fidelity from the hero (who's a little thoughtless and a lot unfaithful, but reforms fully). A nice little romp in the park.

Rating:
Summary: The Obedient Bride
Review: Arabella marries Geoffrey to save her older sister from a marraige of convenience. She does it out of a sense of duty. Geoffrey marries Arabella out of a sense of duty as well. Several weeks into the marriage she finds out he has been keeping a mistress, Ginny Cox. Arabella is extremely hurt by this. Geoffrey does not want to, but he feels some guilt and is very sorry Arabella has been hurt. He doesn't not know why he should feel guilt since theirs is not a love match and it is common practice for husbands of the ton to keep mistresses.

I don't usually like any kind of adultery in my romance books. However, I'll make an exception for THE OBEDIENT BRIDE. Mary Balogh writes about it in a very satisfying way. By the end of the book, I was rooting for Geoffrey and Arabella. I was extremely happy by Geoffrey's actions after Arabella found out about his mistress. Did he become angry and arrogant? No. Did he become immediately contrite and admit he was wrong. No.

Read this book! It is wondurful.

Rating:
Summary: If It Were Longer, It Would Be Better
Review: I enjoyed this book, and would probably have loved it, if it hadn't been so underdeveloped. The outline or the bones of this book are great, but the story really needs to be fleshed out. I also think this would have been a bit more interesting if the heroine were older than 18. In short, this would have been absolutely wonderful if it had been a full-length book. Maybe this is one of those instances when an author ought to consider an update or rewrite, because this has the potential of being a best seller. (But, please, please don't do it, Miss Ballogh, unless you love the story and characters enough to do a better job than Catherine Coulter in her attempts at rewrites). With these provisos, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. If not entirely satisfying, it was nonetheless a quick and enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: An adulterous husband is never a good thing
Review: I have to admit, I never really got beyond the husband's adultery. I like Mary Balogh's novels, but for myself this isn't one of her best. The heroine is rather wishy-washy, and it's always difficult for the hero to overcome being unfaithful to the heroine. I preferred Balogh's "Lord Carew's Bride," "Dark Angel," "The Famous Heroine," "Dancing With Clara," etc. to this one.