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Not Quite a Marriage is all about the longing. Two estranged spouses try to work their way back to one another under a rain of misunderstandings and Bennet’s plumy prose ably guides the way, moving this reader utterly in the process.
Philadelphia – Delphie – Burnett has one sanctuary to her name – Beechcombe Park, her absentee husband’s family seat. Within it she plans to house her eccentric and scandalous cadre of female British cousins and continue living her life. Delphie has lost much since she abandoned her family nest for a marriage that did not work, and Beechcombe Park is her last hope of stability. Then her long-since disappeared husband decides to reassert himself in her life, and she immediately decides to go to war for what matters to her.
Spencer Burnett, Viscount Stiles, has made many a mistake in his young life. Chief among them was marrying Delphie at his controlling father’s demand and then storming off to West Africa to give the man the metaphorical bird, abandoning the marriage and disappointing his beloved grandmother with his cavalier behavior. But Spencer’s done a lot of growing up in the five years that have passed, and he decides to return to Beechcombe Park and try to make things right with both Delphie and his family. His bride, toughened by life without him, is no longer the sweet, docile girl he remembers – she will not accept him back into her life or bed, and refuses to believe his excuses. Can they have a real marriage after so much water has passed under their mutual bridge?
Good Lord, is this a fine romance. Not Quite a Marriage is romantic, funny, touching, and extremely well-researched, Spencer and Delphie have a lot of mountains of mistrust to climb.
Bliss Bennet has a wonderfully period-accurate prose style; there’s something almost Austenian about it, and it’s very mature and measured. The research steams up off of every page. Her characters are growing, reasoned adults who are trying to make up for their lousy mistakes and be better people.
Yearning is the name of the game, at least until we get midway through the book. Delphie understandably does not trust Spencer and is furious that he wishes to occupy the home she’s promised her cousins, but cannot ignore the electric chemistry between them. Spencer, meanwhile, has to Grovel Big Time after fucking off to Africa because he was mad about his father trying to control his life. He’s learned a lot, grown a lot, and now he’s going to have to prove it. Eventually the UST is resolved and they figure out how to love each other, but it’s an absorbing trip getting there.
The supporting characters are fun. I loved the set of Audley cousins we meet in the book – all clearly future heroines. And I can’t give higher marks for Bennet’s research. It’s towering, nigh on astoundingly done.
Not Quite a Marriage is a perfect romance, and comes with a high recommendation.
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Grade: A
Book Type: Historical Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 12/11/21
Publication Date: 11/2021
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
Lisa Fernandes is a writer, reviewer and recapper who lives somewhere on the East Coast. Formerly employed by Firefox.org and Next Projection, she also currently contributes to Women Write About Comics. Read her blog at http://thatbouviergirl.blogspot.com/, follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thatbouviergirl or contribute to her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/MissyvsEvilDead or her Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/missmelbouvier
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Finished it this afternoon and the book is everything Lisa indicates in her review. My only quibble is that I wanted someone (other than Spencer) to realize how small Delphie’s life has become and to call her out on it a little sooner. I wanted a little more time with these two people as a real couple. But overall I really enjoyed this book, and am looking forward to reading more by this author. Well done!
Hooray!
I completely second that.
Lovely till the end,
In a slight variation on nblibgirl, for me, Delphie’s growth had only just started, a little, and I would have liked to see her grow a little more, helped by her cousins, who did so little to make her see her life. The meeting of cousins was such a lovely moment, I would have liked it to offer a little more push or at least some clearer orientation to Delphie. Was her whole dream of saving her cousins just a fantasy she had escaped into? How would she grow now, with Spencer? She was still very unfinished at the end of the book, and very dependent on Spencer.
I am finding this a little slow but will push on. The whole cousins thing is really a lot.
the slow works for me.
I did not read this in one sitting, but liked to come back to it over a week, because it is lovely in its willingness to engage with detail, bringing the African colony to life, or the fair, or some discussion with male friends to show us how impatient Spencer is ( show, not tell, done well).
Agree wholeheartedly with you Lieselotte; you expressed it better than I did. I kept wondering how the women in Delphie’s life – particularly the cousins to whom Delphie had been writing regularly (each one gets a letter from her every week for years; and then suddenly nothing) – not know how far out there Delphie was in her thinking? Granted the FIL had complete control over her life and clearly felt entitled to read her mail – but at some point you’d think it would have occurred to someone to realize something was more than a little off with Delphie.
Yes, if something was off – if she was truly supporting them, same – someone ought to have said, or reacted.
That was the storyline that stayed a bit murky to me, I still do not know if Delphie was only dreaming or if she was truly a rock for her cousins, but needed to let go, now.
Still, lovely lovely book anyway.
All fair observations!
And Amazon already has Lisa’s “perfect romance” recommendation at the top of the page for this one!
I do love seeing that!
Whoot!
For the life of me I, as an European, don’t understand how american authors choose the names for their heroines/heros. Philadelphia is a town in the US. I read that that this has something to do with greek and towns. No saint, nothing else. So, why should a british girl born around 1800 be named Philadelphia? Can anybody please explain that to me? The americans dont seem to get that Europeans, especially in older times, don’t name their kids after towns, cars, familynames……For me that is a sign, that the author knows nothing about Europe so why does she wants to write a story located there? Or why dosn’t she make an effort, reads Austen, Dickens…..
You know – when the author first offered the book to me for review, that put me off BIG TIME. (I couldn’t squeeze it in so Lisa kindly stepped up, but I admit, the name was a massive stumbling block for me.)
Hi, This is Bliss Bennet. I actually got the name Philadelphia from my 1831 copy of Debretts! Four women of this name are listed in the first volume of Debretts from this year. Philadelphia wasn’t a common name for English girls at the time, but it wasn’t entirely uncommon, either; those Brits loved their Greek…
I love to comb through Debretts fo interesting character names…
Thank you for explaining this. My family has crazy names many of which were not the norm in England and Scotland at the time but none the less are truly ours!
This is so cool to learn!
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c065176987&view=1up&seq=535&q1=philadelphia
I feel so honoured that you took the time to clarify that, thank you!!! I’m sorry for my harsh words, but it is a long bleeding wound, this ignorence of some american authors. Not only the names, although it seems that I have to be be more open, as you showed me, but a lot of other things. The great Andrea Pickens, whose book I like, for instance. Those reviewers from GB sum it up:
“It’s an excellent story, as others have said, but I would just like to add a rant about American authors. Why do they not check if the plants and animals and phrases they describe are appropriate for England? We don’t have live oaks or poison ivy or corn snakes. And wherever one is in England, if it is the university one refers to, one goes UP to Oxford, never DOWN.”
“Enjoy Ms. Pickens style of writing, particularly her humour, but being an obviously intelligent woman having attended Yale, could she please research her facts about the United Kingdom better. Corn snakes and garter snakes are not native to the UK.”
I couln’t say it better.
I think there are actually two kinds of oaks endemic to Britain! But they are not the live oaks that are famous in the American South for building the hulls of boats.
But then doesn’t one get sent down from Oxford if expelled or suspended?
Yes – although if the author was talking about going there, as opposed to being sent down, then going “up” is correct. It’s hard to tell without knowing the context in which the expression is used.
You’re very welcome, Maria Theresa. I definitely understand (and sympathize with) the impetus for your comment!
You’d be surprised at the names that existed at the time in the British Isles. I’ve done a lot of family history research and am routinely surprised by the names I’ve found.
Side note: One of Cleopatra’s children was named Philadelphia (well, Ptolemy Philadelphus).
I remember reading years ago in a biography that Jane Austen’s aunt (her father’s sister) was named Philadelphia. I’ve always remembered that as I had never heard of it used as a name before. It’s interesting to learn that there were others with the same name in Debretts.
Head’s up – I just added the first book in the author’s Penningtons series – A Rebel Without a Rogue – to our Steals and Deals page. It’s 3.95 in the US (and FREE in the UK!).
Just FYI, chirpbook.com has the audiobooks for the Rebel Without A Rough and A Man Without a Mistress on sale for $8.99. They are narrated by Alex Wyndham.
I started the book based on your review.
You are completely right, the writing is excellent, it sounds periodical and the thought processes and limitations the characters feel are very true to the period – showing us how a lady would be uncomfortable if she were to go to a public rally to listen to a speaker, for example.
(there was only one moment where an expression really jarred)
Both characters are very interesting and quite themselves, no generic reactions anywhere, they fly off the page in their well drawn personalities.
I am in the middle, hoping hard it will be as good though to the end as it is up to now.
Thank you!
Do you know whether her other books are as good?
She is completely new to me but there are a few books on amazon by Bliss Bennet.
I’ve reviewed some of her earlier books here – I’ve given her B+/B grades, so yes, I think she’s worth reading.
A Lady Without a Lord
Sinner Without a Saint (which is m/m)
Those are books 3 and 4 in her Penningtons series. I listened to book one in audio and I think ( gave it a B- (I felt the romance was pushed aside in favour of the plot).
Thank you, if the book is as good until the end, I will definitely look those up, too. (And read your reviews, of course)
I just read your review of Sinner Without a Saint, and then went to Amazon to take a look. It always makes me smile to see a line from the AAR review right up at the top of the page! I’m putting that book on my TBR list. I may add this one as well.
Hah – I hadn’t seen that!
Hooray! Glad it’s meeting your expectations!
Oh my! This sounds great. Now on my “Must Read” list.
Hope you enjoy!
Wow! This review really makes me want to read this. Thank you Lisa!
Aww, glad the review worked for!