A Wedding Story

TEST

Writing a trilogy can be a tricky proposition. Some authors seem to start very strongly and then lose steam – and, unfortunately, that seems to be the case with A Wedding Story, the conclusion to Susan Kay Law’s Marrying Miss Bright trilogy. While I enjoyed the thoroughly charming The Bad Man’s Bride very much, this final book in the trilogy simply doesn’t deliver on the promise of that earlier work.

Kathryn Bright Goodale, the eldest of the Bright sisters, has lived a life of sacrifice raising her two younger sisters, even to the point of making a loveless marriage to provide a secure home. Now a penniless young widow facing an uncertain future, Kate embarks on an adventure born of desperation by deciding to use her late husband’s invitation to enter a $50,000 around-the-world scavenger hunt.

In order to increase her chances of winning, Kate turns to explorer Lord James Bennett (called Jim throughout the book) to help her win the race. During her marriage to her late husband, also an adventurer and world traveler, Kate exchanged a passionate kiss with Jim on their first meeting, a moment that is one of the fondest memories of her married life. After the kiss, however, Jim learns of her true identity as a married woman and becomes convinced that Kate is a faithless seductress, while for her part, Kate has been haunted by the kiss ever since.

Despite his mistrust of her, Jim obligingly enters the contest, claiming to all that Kate is his assistant. While the two begin their somewhat combative trip around the world in search of the clues that will lead them to the ultimate prize, they examine their history along the way and start to develop a fondness for one another, despite their original intentions to the contrary.

Though it is the premise for this tale, Ms. Law spends surprisingly little time on the race itself. One gets the feeling that these characters pass through entire countries, but in most cases, their travels are not described in depth unless there is a romantic interlude or a fight between the protagonists occurring there. Neither are the secondary characters and fellow competitors fleshed out; many are mentioned, together with some of their foibles, but, with the exception of one intrepid lady, they play little role in the story.

This lack of backstory takes a toll on the main characters as well. Most of the book consists of the hero and heroine’s interactions and it felt odd to know only this aspect of the story, without seeing the wider world that lay around them. It seemed as though these two spent much of their time in a vacuum, diminishing real excitement that may have surrounded the race. And even though reference is made to Kathryn’s dire financial situation, it’s also not made real in any sense as she wanders about dressed in the finest and most impractical of outfits. Unfortunately, due to all these problems, the outcome of the great race almost starts to feel anticlimactic, when, in fact, there should have been a sense of urgency and excitement.

That said, this book did have its touching moments. A scene early in the race where Kate, always treated as a mindless ornament by the men in her life, displays her talent for drawing and wins Jim’s trust was very well-written. If more of this novel had that power, I would be able to recommend it without qualification. However, the flatness of the characters and the lack of background plot development make this only an average read. If you really need to know how the Marrying Miss Bright trilogy ends, you may want to pick it up. Otherwise, I would stick to this author’s backlist.

Reviewed by Lynn Spencer

Grade: C

Sensuality: Hot

Review Date: 08/10/03

Publication Date: 2003

Recent Comments …

  1. excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.

I enjoy spending as much time as I can between the covers of a book, traveling through time and around the world. When I'm not having adventures with fictional characters, I'm an attorney in Virginia and I love just hanging out with my husband, little man, and the cat who rules our house.

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