A Fallen Woman: The Brides of Bath (Zebra Ballad Romance)

Rating:
Summary: silly
Review: I have to agree with a previous review that mentions that it made no sense for Carlotta Ennis to Marry James Moore, the Earl of Rutledge, an honorable man, and not sleep with him right away. She could have risked all by not having a legally, binding, marriage. She was more than a bit of a schemer for her to not realize that. During that time, a MOC was pretty standard and those wives consumated their vows. Marriage was more about security, standard of living than love. Carlotta needed safety, money adn in return, James would get her and a heir.

Rating:
Summary: Cheryl Bolen's Best Yet!
Review: James Moore, the Earl of Rutledge, is an honorable man. He comes to bath to make amends to the widow of the officer who died in James' place. He offers to become husband to the beautiful woman and father to her young son.
In desperation, Carlotta Ennis accepts his proposal, but she is plagued with doubts. Did James marry her out of duty or out of love? And will he still cherish her when he learns she was another man's mistress?
This is the poignant story of a woman's journey, and I can almost guarantee you a good cry!

Rating:
Summary: silly
Review: James Rutledge has had a crush on Carlotta Ennis, wife of his captain, for years. Her husband died with James feeling responsible, so when he inherited a title and money, he tracks down the widow and her son to make amends. Carlotta is still grieving it is true but not for her husband, but her lover, Gregory Blankenship, who married another. I gather there were two previous Brides of Bath books, which include the story of how Gregory marries Glee and leaves Carlotta. But not having read that book, one has to wonder why he did leave the beautiful Carlotta. It was not as if she would made a poor choice of a bride; she was respectable. So why make her his mistress and not wife? Again, maybe it is in the other book but it could have been alluded to in this story as it would help the reader. Anyhow...James turns up and befriends both she and her son (who she had sent to live with her grandmother from age one month to 6 years). Now all reunited, James asks her to marry him and she accepts as she is desperate for money. And what better source of money than a honorable man? My issues with this story are many, but major ones include James incredible love for her. Sure - she was gorgeous and sexy, but even he must have realized she was less than a stellar mother. Of course, she improves under his guidance. And while she certainly is valuable once they move to his family seat, in Bath before marriage what exactly did he love about her? And all the signs of her being cast from society were there to read he was too stupid to question all these things? He who everyone says is so intelligent? Also, Carlotta is marrying him for money and safety and wisks him from Bath before he can hear about her past. Yet, she won't sleep with him? How is that? If she was so concerned about money and having a place as his wife with her son taken care of, she would make darn sure it was a fully binding and lawful marriage. A marriage that goes unconsummated would not hold up in court so it was too illogical for someone as smart and as calculating as Carlotta to miss that. Why would she risk it? In the end, once James finds out, he runs into Greg who lies and says he did not sleep with. What was that all about? Greg comes across as an idiot. Made no sense. All in all, too flawed to not be disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: too flawed
Review: James Rutledge has had a crush on Carlotta Ennis, wife of his captain, for years. Her husband died with James feeling responsible, so when he inherited a title and money, he tracks down the widow and her son to make amends. Carlotta is still grieving it is true but not for her husband, but her lover, Gregory Blankenship, who married another. I gather there were two previous Brides of Bath books, which include the story of how Gregory marries Glee and leaves Carlotta. But not having read that book, one has to wonder why he did leave the beautiful Carlotta. It was not as if she would made a poor choice of a bride; she was respectable. So why make her his mistress and not wife? Again, maybe it is in the other book but it could have been alluded to in this story as it would help the reader. Anyhow...James turns up and befriends both she and her son (who she had sent to live with her grandmother from age one month to 6 years). Now all reunited, James asks her to marry him and she accepts as she is desperate for money. And what better source of money than a honorable man? My issues with this story are many, but major ones include James incredible love for her. Sure - she was gorgeous and sexy, but even he must have realized she was less than a stellar mother. Of course, she improves under his guidance. And while she certainly is valuable once they move to his family seat, in Bath before marriage what exactly did he love about her? And all the signs of her being cast from society were there to read he was too stupid to question all these things? He who everyone says is so intelligent? Also, Carlotta is marrying him for money and safety and wisks him from Bath before he can hear about her past. Yet, she won't sleep with him? How is that? If she was so concerned about money and having a place as his wife with her son taken care of, she would make darn sure it was a fully binding and lawful marriage. A marriage that goes unconsummated would not hold up in court so it was too illogical for someone as smart and as calculating as Carlotta to miss that. Why would she risk it? In the end, once James finds out, he runs into Greg who lies and says he did not sleep with. What was that all about? Greg comes across as an idiot. Made no sense. All in all, too flawed to not be disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: You'll fall for A FALLEN WOMAN
Review: There's much to appreciate in this emotional story of a woman's journey from despair to triumph. I particularly liked the characters who quoted evocative lines from popular poets of that day, in a manner as natural as a contemporary character singing bits of a romantic ballad to a
loved one.
Carlotta Ennis, widowed, penniless, and shunned by decent society, grabs your sympathy immediately. She does not make excuses for the bad decisions she's made in the past nor does
she cower in shame. Her decisions, at first glance, might make her appear vain and foolish. Yet, her pride that makes her hold her head high and her real heartbreak in having loved, and given
herself, to the wrong man creates a real woman readers can identify with. Who gets through life without some mistake in love? The reader soon discovers Carlotta wasn't selfish and vain as much as young, insecure and frightened. Bad decisions led to heartbreak and disgrace. Ms. Bolen peals the layers back and reveals the underlying causes for every mistake Carlotta made without resorting to modern-day labels such as no mother role model and post-partum depression to explain the psychological reasons for Carlotta's actions.
When James Rutledge, who survived the war because Carlotta's husband died in his place, enters her life, Carlotta decides to use his guilt to her advantage. And thereby hangs the
balance of this tale! Carlotta, more mature now, recognizes the honor and integrity in James. He shames her by example, never by words. When she brings her son to live with her, at James's
insistence, she's afraid and resistant. It doesn't take long for her frozen emotions to be melted by her son. When she grows to love the little boy, regret for the missed years that can never be regained seizes her. Instead of wallowing in self-pity though, she resolves to be a real mother to him.
As Carlotta grows and changes, her beauty, once her prized asset, becomes a minor thing in and of itself. Her son, and James of course, are the sun of her universe around which her world revolves. Just as she recognizes this fact, her world is destroyed by her scarlet past.
The old Carlotta would have lied and connived to keep her husband. The new Carlotta is a vastly different woman who, in her husband's arms, has learned the value of honor.
If you don't shed a tear or two, then your heart is as hard as Carlotta's was at the beginning of her story.
A FALLEN WOMAN has what we all want from a love story--an adorable child, a brave heroine, a hero who loves her just as she is and loves her even more as she grows and changes,
and a journey of the human heart.