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Title: A Comfortable Wife by Stephanie Laurens ISBN: 0-373-83498-5 Publisher: Harlequin Pub. Date: January, 2002 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.61 (28 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Regency vs. Regency-era historical
Comment: This is a good book in the way of regencies. Antonia is a mature, beautiful woman and I'm thankful that this is not a regency in which the main female character is an indecisive brat. I've read the other reviews in which the people were disappointed with the book, but this is because the type of book they were reading was different from what they expected.
A "regency" is a romance with rules. There's rarely any blatant sensuality and if you read regencies published in the '70s or '80s (now out of print, they can be found in your local library or purchased used), you oft won't even see a kiss between the heroine and hero until the end. A "regency-era historical" is the classification for Cynster books. They are romances set in a time period of the author's choice.
Rating: 2
Summary: Insufficient romantic tension - book too long for the story
Comment: This is another of Laurens' earlier - and thus much better-written - novels. A Comfortable Wife pre-dates the Cynster series by some years, and thus carries much more in the way of an authentic 'feel' about it. It is also far less formulaic than her later work. In that case, it should be much, much better as a novel - and yet it is not.
Antonia Mannering has been shut away in the country taking care of her sick mother for many years; thus, she is in her mid-twenties and still not presented and has not been in Society much at all. Now orphaned, she is visiting her godmother, the Dowager Countess Ruthven - who is stepmother to Antonia's childhood friend Philip, Lord Ruthven (*not* Lord Philip Ruthven, as the cover claims). Years ago, Philip and Antonia used to play together, but will he still remember her when they meet again? Antonia has decided that she would like to marry her old friend, and that she would make him the sort of comfortable wife he needs. In his early 30s now, he is a rake, but he needs to settle down and have an heir for his estate.
Philip, on first seeing Antonia again, is struck by her beauty and remembers how much he enjoyed her company. Reluctantly - for he suspects a plot - he is drawn to spend more and more time with her, and realises that he wants to marry her. (He's fallen in love with her, but - as with many of her other books - Laurens fails to *show* him falling in love, realising he's in love and deciding what to do about it). The proposal comes less than halfway through the book. Result: romantic tension at an end.
Antonia agrees to marry Philip, but only if he will keep their engagement a secret until she's been to London for the Little Season. As she explains, she's been out of Society for so long that she has no idea how to behave. She's worried that she'll be a bad wife to him, that she will somehow disgrace him by not knowing how to behave. Thus we have half a book-full of misunderstandings, mishaps and pointless silliness while Antonia finds her way through the traps of the Polite World. And just as we think the torture is over, yet another pointless misunderstanding occurs.
Laurens would have been better off making this book a novella, lengthening the courtship in the first few chapters and eliminating just about everything after the couple arrives in London - it would have been a far better story that way.
wmr-uk
Rating: 3
Summary: Beware
Comment: This is an older Stephanie Laurens book and different than her current books. Short, simple, and little to no senuality throughout. I did like the characters and subplot, but found myself skimming and not reading (which I don't like to do). I finished it, and was happy to do so.
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Title: Four in Hand by Stephanie Laurens ISBN: 0373835396 Publisher: Harlequin Pub. Date: July, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Season For Scandal by Stephanie Laurens ISBN: 0373834799 Publisher: Harlequin Pub. Date: April, 2001 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Impetuous Innocent by Stephanie Laurens ISBN: 1551666618 Publisher: Harlequin Pub. Date: 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Perfect Lover by Stephanie Laurens ISBN: 0060505710 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 04 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: The Lady Chosen by Stephanie Laurens ISBN: 0060002069 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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