This book has been in my TBR pile since the mid-90’s, and I think there was a reason I never read it…
The Marriage Wager by Jane Ashford
(1996, Regency Historical) 7/29/12
Grade: 3
Lady Emma Tarrant is back in England after the death of her gambler husband, and quickly finds herself entangled with Lord Colin Wareham, who has just returned from the war. They end up in a marriage of convenience, but when problems arise, can they work together and trust each other to make their marriage a real one?
This started off well, with a nice Regency feeling and interesting characters. I always enjoy a good marriage of convenience story. But the story fell apart in the last half of the book, with one misunderstanding after another. Interesting aspects of the story were dropped (such as the hero’s war experiences) and instead we get a lot of threats from external parties – a silly debutante who thinks she’s in love with the hero, and a slimy Italian who threatens the heroine with gossip. It could all have been solved with one conversation, but instead we just get misunderstandings. Frustrating and tedious.
This should teach me not to trust reviews from people who have different tastes than I have.
Karen Wheless
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