To Marry an Heiress (Zebra Regency Romance)

Rating:
Summary: an enjoyable light read
Review: "To Marry an Heiress" is the first in a trilogy of books (I'm guessing) featuring the Darby brothers and their quest to find rich wives. And while "To Marry an Heiress" proved to be a rather readable and enjoyable, it did suffer from one defect -- the 'too-much-happens-in-one-book' flaw -- so that character development, the gradual and smooth unfolding of the novel and the progress of the 'real' romance sometimes suffered.

When the Viscount Tavistoke looses more money than he can afford at the gambling table, he comes up with the notion of getting his sons to marry heiresses as a way to alleviate all their cash flow problems. To that end he's decided that all his sons -- Montgomery (the heir), Max (Montgomery's twin) and Tristram -- should go to London for the Season. The viscount has even managed to persuade an old gambling friend, the Marquess of Cravenwell, to fund their stay and to help them navigate London's treacherous social waters. All that's needed now is for the Darby boys to agree to go to London and to snare three rich and amiable wives. And after an initial show of anger and hesitation, the brothers agree to go along with their father's latest scheme.

And almost as soon as the brothers arrive in London, Montgomery falls for the Season's reigning beauty, the rich Miss Adele Landis. But how to get close enough to her and to engage her interest? And that's where Adele's sensible cousin Clarissa Starnes steps in. Clarissa herself has fallen in love (at first sight) with Montgomery, and she finds herself volunteering to help bring Montgomery to Adele's notice. Operating partly on the desire to help the gentleman she's so smitten with achieve what he wants, Clarissa is also secretly hoping that if Montgomery is exposed to Adele's selfish and spoilt ways, he may turn away from Adele and perhaps notice her. Will Clarissa's hopes come to pass? What then of Montgomery's goal to marry an amiable heiress? For while beautiful and spoilt Adele is very rich, sensible and likable Clarissa is definitely a poor relation...

I liked "To Marry an Heiress" because the characters were all very engaging and likable. The trouble was that Julia Parks had so much material to cover -- like setting up the premise and setting up things for the next two books in the series; making the romance that unfolded between Montgomery and Clarissa seem probable and romantic and yet keeping in mind the fact that Montgomery was not only courting Adele but that he had actually fallen for her in the beginning; and then there was the mysterious Marquess of Cravenwell (also known in Society as the 'Dirty Marquess' -- what was his game and why had he really agreed to sponsor the brothers to a London Season?) -- that sometimes things got rushed along so that she could tie things up nicely enough for the happily-ever-after ending. And while Julia Parks does a rather good job of juggling all these subplots but I couldn't help feeling that by including so much material this novel suffered from not having enough depth -- for example, I felt that the story of how the romance develops and grows between Clarissa and Montgomery suffers because too much time was spent on other characters (like Max and Tristram who will have their own stories anyway).

On the whole though, in spite of these few nitpickings on my part, I did think that "To Marry an Heiress" was a nice enough read, well worth the time spent reading it, and that based on how much I enjoyed this installment, I would definitely be reading the other two installments in the Darby Brothers series.

Rating:
Summary: That terrible heiress!
Review: When their father demands that they all marry heiresses, the three Darby brothers venture to London in search of prospective brides. Montgomery Darby doesn't have to look hard, for he falls for the first girl he lays eyes on: Adele Landis, diamond of the first water.

But wooing Adele won't be easy, for she already has a horde of suitors. To assure that he comes out on top, Monty enlists the help of Clarissa Starnes, Adele's cousin. Clarissa thinks she's falling in love with Mr. Montgomery Darby--but she still wants to help him. Her terribly bratty cousin would be able to save Monty's father from debtor's prison.

The book was light, witty, fun and enjoyable. However, I think the secondary characters were the stars of the book. The other Darby brothers & Adele were just as well-developed as the hero and heroine. Adele was deliciously awful. And Tristram was the brother I fell in love with. At the beginning, I thought Tristram was bizarre and immature. However, he proved himself to be the most sensitive, most caring brother--and he was the only one with a lick of sense. I would have enjoyed the novel a great deal more if it was a little less predictable. I would have liked to think, "Hmm... I wonder which brother she'll end up with."

At any rate, I hope Tristram gets his own novel.

To Marry an Heiress is a fun, thoroughly enjoyable book. Definitely recommended.