Bed Him Before the BSR Comes-a-Knocking!

Novel – Wed Him Before You Bed Him
Author – Sabrina Jeffries
ISBN-13: 9781416560821

As a reader of the Sabrina Jeffries 'School of Heiresses' series, I followed the blossoming relationship between Michael and Charlotte from the outset. And while I usually try not to over-anticipate a series' final novel, I heartily anticipated this story…

You don’t have to read much farther to see where this is going...

Of course, I was utterly disappointed!

Ms. Jefferies captured me from the start of the book, and through much of the first half, with interesting characters, palpable tension, and parrying dialogue. But as soon as the Bow Street Runner (BSR) shows up at Michael's door accusing him of murder (just after he has bedded the lovely Charlotte), I wanted to drown the book in the tub along with Michael's long dead wife...Ugh.

These characters had enough intrigue and mixed emotions driving them, and their story (unrequited love, poor and hasty judgment, revenge, etc.), without incorporating an external (and convoluted) plot line! There were so many peripheral characters - many of which we met in previous novels. I could have cared less about them. Their addition only meandered and added very little (if anything) to the plot.

Surely, Ms. Jeffries could have found another, less external, plot device to expose Cousin Michael's dastardly plan to humiliate Charlotte? Instead we get a Bow Street Runner with a grudge against the ton, a scheming brother-in-law with gambling debts, a ne'er do well footman, a profligate but-not-so profligate brother, a nasty real estate developer, and last, but not least, a loan shark from Spittalfields. YIKES. Yet, the only person to be accused of murder is our hero - now that's believable.

I had hoped that 'Bed Him' would be the worth the build-up from all the previous books. But, the lesson I learned (again), apart from being reminded that I hate unnecessary, external plot-lines, is that I should not hold my breath in expectation of the final series' book being anything greater than mediocre.

Happy Reading,
FindingAlpha