The Rebellious Bride

Rating:
Summary: He would marry her because of honor, but she wanted his love
Review: Sophia Haydon fell in love with Lord Hal Wyatt the moment she saw him, but she knew that nothing could ever come of it. She had been ruined in the eyes of her family four years ago, and she was kept away from most Society events by her overbearing brother and waspish sister-in-law. But when Lord Wyatt's sister runs away to elope with a most unsuitable man, Sophia finds herself traveling along with Hal in search of his sister. Along the way, Sophia's feelings for Hal only grow, but she knows that since she is already ruined, he'll never look at her with any more intent than making her his mistress.

Lord Hal Wyatt has found himself in an incredible jam. Not only is his sister running off to Gretna Green with a disgraceful man, but he knows that he'll be duty-bound to marry Sophia, since she wasn't really ruined at all. His sense of honor demands that he do the right thing by her, but as he gets to know the enigmatic woman along the trip, he realizes that it will be no hardship at all to marry this charming young lady. Still, Sophia won't settle for anything less than love, and she'll rebel every step of the way until she has it.

This book was pretty good. It started off very well. I was instantly drawn into the story, and caught myself laughing out loud several times as I was reading the first few chapters. Hal seemed like a very likable hero - at first. After he decides that he must marry Sophia, he had a complete change of personality and became more possessive, more angry, and more disagreeable. He eventually reverts to the normal Hal, but while he was acting unlike himself my heart hurt for Sophia, who loved him but didn't want to marry him out of duty or honor. Still, all's well that ends well, I suppose.

One peeve of mine that I noticed several times in this book - the author introduced a plot element but never finished it, so the reader is left with questions at the end of the book. For example, Hal continually referred to himself as a "reformed rake," but there was some doubt to his claim; however, it was never explained if he was just trying to charm Sophia or he was telling the truth. Another time, Hal may or may not have slept with a prostitute while he was traveling with Sophia. Sophia is understandably upset, but the reader is never told whether he actually did, or if Sophia was wrong in thinking that he had. Not finishing up things like that bothers me.

There was nothing exceptionally extraordinary about this book, but it was an engaging read and I enjoyed it.