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The Accidental Countess (Once Upon An Accident) |
Author: Melissa Schroeder
Published: 2007-11-01 |
List price: $13.50
Our price: $10.80
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As of: January 08th, 2009 02:09:14 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Found it lacking
Lack of character development hampers the Accidental Countess, and the plot was never well defined either. It at first seemed to have some potential but ran out of steam quickly.
Colleen Macgregor is a spinster who finds Sebastian Ware in a ditch in what looks like a drunken stupor. It is near blizzard conditions so she takes him back to her house to recuperate. Unfortunately the local vicar discovers them and now the two are in a definite dilemma.
Sebastian is attracted to Colleen, a women he muses to be uptight and prudish, but he is honorable and cannot allow her reputation to be in ruins so he proposes marriage to her. She is hesitant to accept as she has seen her mother's second horrible marriage to a wastrel. Her parent's had a loving marriage but I guess Colleen figures it was an anomaly. They agree to marry but Colleen insists that Sebastian is to go back to London without her and then she will pretend to be a widow.
Her plans are disrupted when it turns out that Sebastian is now the Earl, his uncle and cousin have both died. He cannot set aside the marriage and furthermore does not want to. Colleen does something totally unladylike and for me hard to get past. She gives in to her anger and actually punches her husband in the nose when she is frustrated. I don't like physical violence between characters and what's worse Colleen never seemed overly upset about breaking her husband's nose just because she was angry. This is childish behavior and it was hard for me to see her as a mature woman after this incident.
The two go on to London where Colleen is determined to be her starchy self. The only side she reveals is her prickliness although she does enjoy some bed sport with her husband, Sebastian is a mystery but he was more likeable than his wife. Sebastian must also solve the mystery of the suspicious deaths of his family members. I thought the secondary characters to be more interesting than the leads especially the ladies in Sebastian's family. I understand there is a sequel with one of these characters and might just read it since that character was more intriguing than either Sebastian or Colleen.
 The Accidental Plot
I read other reviews of this book that were unfavorable but I bought the book anyway. I should have believed the reviews I read. This book was pricier than most romance books I buy and definitely not a good read. Poorly developed plot and characters. The book went from ugly duckling to swan with nothing to support the story.
Painful!
I was very disappointed in this book, especially after reading some of the great reviews. There is no depth or development either in plot or character.
Don't "Accidentally" Read This Book!
"The Accidental Countess" seems like a first effort manuscript written for a community college class titled "How To Write A Romance Novel." First, the plot is completely worn out. A plain spinster with red hair and glasses (but a hot body, of course) finds a handsome nobleman passed out in the snow during a blizzard. She takes him to her cottage to care for him. When the vicar comes to visit and sees her just as she has - literally - tumbled into bed with him, her reputation is compromised and they have to marry. It turns out that someone is trying to kill the nobleman so that they can inherit the title and all the money that goes with it. You get the idea.
Second, the writing tries to be appropriate to the Regency period but more often than not fails completely. The heroine "donns" her spectacles about a hundred times but the characters also say things like "okay." At one point, when having tea, the ladies "doctor their beverages."
Third, the characters are just like cardboard cut-outs that the author is incapable of investing with any personality or emotion. Really, this book is just painfully bad.
Totally cliched and blah
This book was not worth what they are charging. It was predictable, story lines were not in depth, and the whole book was just flat. It sounded like it would be a good read but then just fell far short of my expectations. I read the other reviews praising the book and calling it charming - I guess it's charming, but not much more than that. There's no sizzle and no suspense. Sebastian is supposed to be a reformed rake, but he's so solicitous and considerate that he appears blah and boring. This is the first in a series, and I'll have to give the next books a pass.
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