Author – Debra Mullins
ISBN-13 – 9780060799243
This book was the first book that I have read by Debra Mullins. I was intrigued by the plot line – a man must complete his duty to his country but in doing so may lose the woman he loves – his wife. The main premise of the book interested me because although this was a Regency Romance, it seemed to me that this topic was still relevant today. I wanted to see how the author handled a man’s servitude to his country and the hard choices he must make in doing so. While nowadays a man may not be called upon to seduce another woman for the sake of country, the idea that he can become so caught up in serving his country that the love of his wife comes second is still completely relevant. Intriguing plot, I thought and I read on.
Overall, this book moved quickly. The author portrayed some entertaining scenes, some steamy scenes, and some heart-felt scenes. I especially enjoyed a scene in which where after they bed each other passionately he can not reconcile their style of love making with the face that she is his wife – a gently bred lady – and a vixen in the sack! All men I know would certainly have issues with such a woman…(please note sarcasm)…
What the author failed to deliver on though was an answer to this question of duty and order of precedence of the heart. ****Spoiler Alert**** While the male character does not sleep with the other woman, he doesn’t completely abandon his duty either. He admits to loving his wife and tells her he will never lie to her, ever again. Apparently the reader is to accept that this character’s willingness to tell the truth in all things absolves him of his vows of fidelity! This plot resolution was a complete cop out on the author's part. I would have preferred him giving up the seduction line and choosing his wife, or finding someway to save the country and have his wife, too! However, he never gets to the bedroom with the other lady and so our hero never has to make that difficult choice. Fate intervened - lucky him – or lucky wife?
I still can’t decide if the author was making a case for ‘such was a woman’s lot in life back then…suck it up’. If that is the case, why do I read romance!?!
So maybe that is the crux of it – my issue with this story, that is – I didn’t like the male character. He was multi-faceted to be sure, but way too sympathetic in some scenes and then too cold and remote in others – sometimes in the same scene! All that duty muddled his head apparently. It seemed like the author was trying to write an alpha male character, but instead got a schizophrenic one. And, we are supposed to believe he would be able to seduce this other woman, but how are we supposed to believe in his abilities of seduction when he doesn’t have experience at it? I mean, he had to ask his friend for advice! Certainly, I like my male characters to be humanistic, brooding, ill-tempered, having a dark past, but never, NEVER, needing to seek advice (willingly) on how to seduce a woman. The very premise of seduction should be ingrained into his very soul! This is romance novel after all!
Overall this book was an entertaining, quick read. Certainly not one of the better novels I have read, but it will get the job done if you can get past some (major) character flaws…
Happy Reading
-FindingAlpha
