TEST
Sometimes you have all the right ingredients and you make a fantastic meal, one where everyone exclaims “how could you have made this with that!” Sometimes you have all the right ingredients and the meal tastes like last night’s frozen dinner reheated in a too cold oven. That’s how it is with Rules of Marriage, Wilma Counts’ first “full-length” historical (she previously published traditional Regency Romance).
It’s not that it is badly written; on the contrary, the writing is more than adequate, although never gripping. It’s not that the story is hum-drum; in fact, the book contains a well-done scene of a bride sale. No, the problem is that it’s impossible to care much about either the hero or heroine, despite the author’s attempts to infuse a bit of humanity into the story. The book also gets ridiculously bogged down in Counts’ extensive research – do you really need page after page of meticulous description of battles and strategy? I thought not.
Rachel Brady is a wife of five years to Edwin Brady, a Sergeant serving during the Napoleonic Wars. She is an orphan, and was married somewhat hastily to Edwin when she was just 17, mostly because her shrewish aunt felt that Rachel’s beauty and comely figure cast her own dumpy daughter into the shade.
Five years later, the two are on the Continent, Edwin serving with the army and Rachel as a camp follower. She has made herself useful working in the army hospital where the doctors and patients are constantly in awe of the fact that she is a woman and can do so much. Our hero, Major Lord Jacob Forrester, comes into the hospital severely wounded, and the gruff, Scottish doctor decides it is not worthwhile to try to save him. For some reason that she cannot explain, Rachel feels that she must try and she brings him to her small cottage where she begins to nurse him back to health.
While he is unconscious with his various wounds, she tells him of her life, and her happy childhood, including sharing memories of her doctor father. As he recovers, she develops feelings towards Jacob that she knows are inappropriate for a married woman, feelings that, of course, she does not act on because she is honor-bound to her husband. By this time Edwin returns, now a bourish lout unable to love or appreciate his wife.
Five years after we first meet him (on their wedding day), Edwin has altered from a charming seducer to a drunken, avaricious, womanizing pig. Anyone who is at all familiar with the formula (and this book is so formulaic it is practically like following a recipe) would have known that he would have changed for the worse – he had to be painted black so that Rachel’s pristine purity would shine even brighter.
Rachel is so perfect, in fact, that there are hardly any distinguishing characteristics to her: we know she is beautiful, modest, intelligent, kind and considerate, but that is because the author beats us over the head with her perfection. It’s hard to care about someone so unreal.
Edwin has a connection to Jacob Forrester’s family, which makes him resent Forrester even more than he would normally. Edwin does a variety of nasty things to Rachel, including hitting her and pushing her down the stairs. When Edwin and Rachel eventually part, Jacob arrives on the scene to save his savior. By this time, of course, Jacob has realized he loves Rachel, although the two do not act on their desires. After some mysterious shenanigans, Jacob sends Rachel back to England for her own safety. Jacob returns as well, and is finally able to woo her properly. And even though the two of them can’t keep their hands off each other, she refuses to accept his offer of marriage because her own was so horrible. Huh? For a woman we are told is so self-assured and confident, she is a complete ninny.
And that is the crux of the problem with Rules of Marriage: although the heroine and hero are purportedly people of honor with intelligence and understanding, their actions do not indicate that at all. They don’t indicate much, in fact; it’s the classic “show, don’t tell” problem” and in this case it tastes like romantic pabulum.
Grade: C
Book Type: European Historical Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 03/08/02
Publication Date: 2002
Related Reviews
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.