An Undomesticated Wife (A Zebra Regency Romance)

Rating:
Summary: Not A Fun Read
Review: When I read a romance, it is for fun escapism. This book is not fun and it is not escapism. Although the plot is interesting (woman, daughter of foreign diplomat, married to peer by proxy and sent to England and pursued by evil henchman from foreign country), the characters simply make this piece fall apart.

Neither the "hero" nor "heroine" are at all likeable. The hero is a jerk. He bullies his wife around, refuses to stop sleeping with his mistress, and generally acts like a cad while he tries to seduce his wife. The heroine, we are told, is a spunky, independent thinker, but we have no evidence of this. In fact, the heroine is supposed to be enamoured with politics, but isn't, and fights to change the role of women, but doesn't. She wrings her hands and blames herself when her new in-laws are incredibly rude to her. She claims to dislike her role as a female, but she has absolutely no talents at all, wifely or not (no wonder her husband gets exasperated with her). And, she is fighting her attraction to her bore of a husband, but immediately capitulates when ever he touches her and she feels that "spark." To add to this mess, the secondary characters are inconsistent and stupid.

And the end of this book, I was relieved it was over. The promising plot set-up gets the 2 stars in this review. The writing, the characters, and the action make this book worth only one star. I recommend that you leave this book on the shelf and try some of Ferguson's other efforts, which are at least amusing.