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Married to the Viscount (Swanlea Spinsters, Book 5) |
Author: Sabrina Jeffries
Published: 2004-01-01 |
List price: $6.99
Our price: $6.99
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As of: January 06th, 2009 01:11:26 AM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Another winner from Jeffries
While not my favorite book by Jeffries, this is another winner, though I admit to having wanted to throttle the hero at times. Lord Ravenswood travels to the American colonies with his younger brother to check out a possible business investment. He falls in love with an unconventional American beauty. Abby is half Native American, which makes her unacceptable by American standards. Even though her look isn't fashionable by English standards, Ravenswood, thinks her the most beautiful creature he's ever seen and he's equally taken by her outspoken ways and joy for life.
Ravenswood is in love, but knows Abby deserves more than to be his mistress and, because of a horrible secret he keeps, he plans never to marry. But just before he leaves America to go back home to London, he gets foxed in an effort to forget all about Abby and confesses his feelings to his brother. The impulsive young man decides to intervene and months later Abby shows up on Ravenswood's doorstep, claiming they were married by proxy. To avert scandal, Ravenswood decides to pretend the marriage is real until he can locate his brother and set matters right. But when Abby demands a kiss as payment for her cooperation, Ravenswood knows he'll have his work cut out for him trying to keep his marriage from becoming a real one - for Abby's own good of course.
Abby is a thoroughly likable heroine and, for all his faults, it's easy to understand why she falls for Ravenswood, despite all he puts her through.
A thoroughly enjoyable book. You can't go wrong with Jeffries.
 It's ok
I have to say I was a tad disappointed in this book. It had its high points but I have to say it lacked a certain something. It seemed to lack any real finesse. Too bad the Swanlea Sisters books had to end on this bland note.
 Lovely and Spicey Romance
I am a big fan of Sabrina Jeffries. I absolutely love all of her books. Of course, we all have her favorites too and I do as well. This is certainly near the top of my list of favorites of hers and also in my top 10 list of all time favs. I had put off reading this book because of some of these not-so-glowing reviews. I have learned my lesson because the majority of the time I disagree with those reviews and this is definitely one of them. Let me just say right off...I LOVED THIS BOOK!! In fact out of all of her books she has written so far this is right up there with my top 2 favorites. There is no need to go into the premise and the plot because many others have already and as we all know...you can read! The nice thing to me about this story was it was a real romance with a bit of mystery, a bit of misunderstanding, a bit of the fun, and a bit of spicey stuff... all mixed in together to make one scrumptious story. But none of those things overshadowed the love story. As the story moves along you become more intrigued and more involved with these two wonderful characters. You really want them to work it out. I really appreciated the fact that the hero loved the heroine just the way she was and for who she was not what she thought he wanted her to be. But she didn't know that as her insecurities sometimes got the best of her. It took her changing for the hero to realize how much he loved her and wanted back the person she was before. She was spunky, beautiful, spoke her mind, a bit unconventional, and very playful (in more ways than one), and American...not quite fitting into the British society. I simply loved all the bantering and teasing they did with one another. It made it seem more real to me. It added some light humor to the story and also brought out the personalities of the characters and made it seem like these two belong together and you knew they did even before they knew or would admit. Let me say there are some pretty spicey and original love scenes but they were very tastefully done and happened at the right time in the story and just often enough too. These were also very playful scenes that I very much enjoyed...a lot. If you don't like original but saucy love scenes... don't read it. But they are very tasteful and worked with the storyline nicely. So I am giving this story 5 stars because I loved the book, loved the characters, grinned a lot while reading it, even hugged the book a little when it was over. It had everything I like in a good romance story. When you like a book this much it is hard to understand when someone else doesn't. But for me I loved it and it's on my keep shelf to read again. It's a wonderful story and if you like Sabrina's books then you should like this one.
What a nice story!
This was a pretty good book, the reason it has four stars instead of five is that it took me awhile to get into it, so for me, that does not rate five stars. All in all, it was a pretty good story, just a bit slow at the beginning. I loved how Spencer changed through the story, and how the author showed him falling in love with Abigail. It was worth the time!
A Good Story Just Not Original...3 1/2 stars Possible..
I found Sabrina Jefferies last year as a new author for me to read. I also picked up and read her books "Pirate Lord (very good), "One Night With A Prince" (very good), "A Dangerous Love" (not bad) and "After The Abduction" (so-so). I have found her novels to be either hit or miss - not in between (although none have ever been bad - some just better than others) . I enjoyed this novel "Married To The Viscount". It wasn't as good as the first two I mentioned but, not bad.
In this story, I liked that our heroine - Abby - was from the colonies in America. She was spunky, intelligent and warm. She wasn't intimidated by the royal or ranking system in England and was simply a hearty American lass. I liked that our hero - Spencer - was a Viscount in England. He was serious, intense and very worldly and very focused on running his estate, family and business relationships with a stern hand. He had a good sense of humor and heart - they were just buried beneath years of seriousness.
They meet up in America when Spencer and his brother Nat are traveling to the US for business. They discuss business with Abby's father and during their short stay - Spencer and Abby sense an attraction for one another but, never act on anything. Spencer returns to England to continue life as usual even though he has not forgotten her memory or impact. Nat, much more light hearted and positive than Spencer takes things into his own hands. He finds a way to talk Abby into marrying Spencer by proxy with Nat as a stand in and witness, gets his hands on her dowry money for use in a business scheme her father had started earlier and she agrees to be sent to England to begin a life with Spencer. Nat had her believing that Spencer was very fond of her as she was of him and they could have a life together in England after Abby's father passed away.
Of course, once Abby gets to England, nothing Nat has put in motion is right. Spencer did not want a wife, did not want to be married, although he had feelings for Abby he did not plan on acting on them and Abby's dowry comes up missing along with Nat!
From there...the story takes lots of twists and turns with the relationship between Spencer and Abby progressing whether they want it to or not, they keep up appears in public so, gossip won't ruin anyone's family, Abby's father's medicinal business takes off in England as perfume instead and everyone is trying to track Nat down to end the mystery of why he sent Abby to England, where her dowry went and what he has been up to while missing.
I liked that Abby was always honest, caring and upfront with everyone. She was herself through most of the book and that warmed everyone to liking her - such as Spencer's closet friends, the town busybody and even the king himself! It was only when she tried to be a straight laced, proper English Viscountess that she got boring. I liked that through her open ways she got Spencer to not be so serious, lighten up and enjoy life more. It took awhile for Spencer to completely open up, be honest and declare himself to Abby but, the author gave a lot of historical background to his growing up that explained why he had the reservations that he did. Plus...the reality in relationships is that some progress can be made, as well as some stepping back. It's a little forward, a little backward, and so on until things come together in full. So, some of their wavering was understanding.
I agree with some reviewers that Abby was a smart girl and quite independent so, it was a stretch to get us to buy that she would marry Spencer without a relationship being between them. Plus..she gave away all her money to Nat and agreed to give 1/2 her fathers business to her husband - a man she barely knew. These parts were stretches to believe but...necessary to make the story work. So...roll your eyes and buy into the author's ideas for now.
There were times I wished Abby would have left England, went back to America and showed Spencer a thing or two. She certainly threatened him often enough when he got ornery and acted out but, no...she stuck it out and worked through it. I think had she called his bluff after the third or fourth time he got out of line...he might have gotten a reality check earlier and not dragged things out at the end. I'm sure sometimes readers got tired of Spencer giving, then taking back, giving, then taking back and so on. Same when Abby was smart and determined in some passages then others she pulled back. It did get a little tiring now and then but, not enough to not like the book or story.
The side characters of Abby's lady in waiting, Spencer's butler and brother, family, friends and some of the charity children were appealing seconds in the book. They added to the over-all story line so, it was multi-dimensional.
The love scenes were tasteful. I thought their intimacy happened about the right time in the story. Spencer seemed to often get intimate only when temptation got the best of him and he just couldn't stay strong any longer or...if he was showing Abby a lesson or two. The two of them peeking into Spencer's peek-a-boo boxes was charming parts to some of the love scenes. I guess that was naughty for the times. Fortunately, Abby was not some simpering miss and met Spencer challenge for challenge. I liked that she never had regrets after intimacy as so many women do after the fact. Instead, it was Spencer that had reservations sometimes but, he got over it. Although none of the scenes got hot and steamy, they were fine.
I'm not sure why they picked the cover they did for this story. I don't recall Spencer washing Abby in a tub or even being in a bathroom scene with him. A more appealing picture would probably drawn in more readers. The title worked fine. Some reviewers were a bit hard on this author and story because it was not fully originally and scintillating. I would say that's too harsh a review. It was still fairly well done just not fascinating and exciting. If you haven't chosen this author yet...the first two books I mentioned earlier would be good starting points. I have bought some other books by her and look forward to further reading. Enjoy!
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