Reviews
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My sister is a Mary Balogh lover of the first order and has almost her entire collection. Lucky me! She has been lending me all of MB's short regencies for *my* reading pleasure! "The Temporary Wife" is one of her favorites, and with good reason. It is a wonderful little book--very well written and with a great heroine and touching story.
Anthony Earheart, the Marquess of Staunton, has been estranged from his family for eight years when he receives a message from his father, the Duke of Withingsby, summoning him home in order to formalize his betrothal to a very young, well-born girl of his father's choice. In order to spite and embarass his father, the marquess decides to marry beneath himself to someone totally unsuitable. As he describes the woman he is looking for to his friend, Lord Rowling:
"She must be a gentlewoman--I'll not go lower than that, you see. She must also be impoverished, plain, demure, very ordinary, perhaps even prim. She must have all the personality of a--a a quiet mouse."
He places an advertisement in the paper for a governess, intending to select from the applicants the drabbest, mousiest one as his bride. When he interviews the shabbily genteel, seemingly meek Miss Charity Duncan, the arrogant marquess thinks that he has found the perfect pawn for his scheme of revenge against his father. He offers Charity a fortune to marry him and be his "temporary wife"--traveling to his family home to meet his family in order to prove that he is beyond his father's power and influence. After a few weeks, Charity would be allowed to go her own way--a wealthy woman although still married to the marquess in name only. Charity, the oldest of six children left deeply in debt following their father's death, finds Anthony's offer too good to refuse.
But Charity is not exactly the "little brown mouse" that she seems to be at the interview. She is a wonderfully charming, warm-hearted woman who is *appalled* when she meets Anthony's unhappy, cold family and cannot help meddling to try to heal old family rifts. She has a marvelous ability to *forgive* others, and her quiet dignity and grace put the top-lofty, grudge-bearing Earhearts to shame.
Anthony starts out as a pretty obnoxious, arrogant hero--but Mary Balogh gives him a wonderful heart and the later scenes with his estranged family members are truly touching. Even the cold, seemingly heartless Duke of Withingsby is a fully-drawn character by the end of the story--imperfect but human.
In summary, this is a wonderful short regency by Mary Balogh--one of my favorites!
Highly recommended!
Anthony Earheart, the Marquess of Staunton, has been estranged from his family for eight years when he receives a message from his father, the Duke of Withingsby, summoning him home in order to formalize his betrothal to a very young, well-born girl of his father's choice. In order to spite and embarass his father, the marquess decides to marry beneath himself to someone totally unsuitable. As he describes the woman he is looking for to his friend, Lord Rowling:
"She must be a gentlewoman--I'll not go lower than that, you see. She must also be impoverished, plain, demure, very ordinary, perhaps even prim. She must have all the personality of a--a a quiet mouse."
He places an advertisement in the paper for a governess, intending to select from the applicants the drabbest, mousiest one as his bride. When he interviews the shabbily genteel, seemingly meek Miss Charity Duncan, the arrogant marquess thinks that he has found the perfect pawn for his scheme of revenge against his father. He offers Charity a fortune to marry him and be his "temporary wife"--traveling to his family home to meet his family in order to prove that he is beyond his father's power and influence. After a few weeks, Charity would be allowed to go her own way--a wealthy woman although still married to the marquess in name only. Charity, the oldest of six children left deeply in debt following their father's death, finds Anthony's offer too good to refuse.
But Charity is not exactly the "little brown mouse" that she seems to be at the interview. She is a wonderfully charming, warm-hearted woman who is *appalled* when she meets Anthony's unhappy, cold family and cannot help meddling to try to heal old family rifts. She has a marvelous ability to *forgive* others, and her quiet dignity and grace put the top-lofty, grudge-bearing Earhearts to shame.
Anthony starts out as a pretty obnoxious, arrogant hero--but Mary Balogh gives him a wonderful heart and the later scenes with his estranged family members are truly touching. Even the cold, seemingly heartless Duke of Withingsby is a fully-drawn character by the end of the story--imperfect but human.
In summary, this is a wonderful short regency by Mary Balogh--one of my favorites!
Highly recommended!
reviewed by trailrider on November 21, 2006 4:48 PM
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This book has been so well reviewed previously, that it seems almost superfluous to add my own thoughts, but I will say it anyway: Read "The Temporary Wife" (if you can get it) to see why Mary Balogh has become the best in this genre. This book is simply one of the best that she has written, simply one of the best books that there is.
This is a great book on every level; her writing style is beautiful and flows easily, *pulling* you in to the story. From the minute I picked up this book, I simply couldn't put it down until I had finished the entire book. Her characters are very likeable and very complex (unusual for a Regency novel), and she introduces so many *heavy* topics that you can almost get dizzy trying to keep track of them all. Being Mary Balogh, she tackles these topics with exceptional understanding and sensitivity, and I was left with a lot of food for thought. In The Temporary Wife, Mary Balogh explores the complex relationship of father and son (why do parents treat their children badly if they really do love them so?), the complexities of an arranged marriage (is it the parties responsibility to *make* their own happiness, or not?), and the dangers of confiding too much to your children (as we see the pitfalls in this story). She shows us an unhappy family, and as we get to understand the complexities of the relationship of any family, especially this family, she also shows us that their is more than two sides to every issue, more than two sides to a coin. I have never seen any of these issues *ever* explored in any other Regency novel, and particularly not in this way, where each side is presented in its entirety. She shows us why everyone does act the way they do, until at the end, you find yourself without a villian to blame for this very messy tangle of an unhappy family.
Since this a shorter Regency novel, these topics are only very lightly skimmed, however, as she quickly steers us towards the ending for the happily-ever-after. While in many Regency novels, I get the feeling that the author is scrounging around for something to fill up the pages, in this novel, the feeling I get is just the opposite - Mary Balogh has so much to say, and so many topics to explore, that in order to cram them all in there is a somewhat superficial discussion of these issues (not to say that in this book she is superficial, rather, compared to what I have seen Mary Balogh do in some of her other books, I know that she has more to say). Wouldn't I like to see this book reprinted and expanded!!! (Publishers, are you listening????)
Mary Balogh does not need my praise. This book speaks for itself as one of the very best of its kind. An enjoyable and thought-provoking read - if you can get hold of it.
This is a great book on every level; her writing style is beautiful and flows easily, *pulling* you in to the story. From the minute I picked up this book, I simply couldn't put it down until I had finished the entire book. Her characters are very likeable and very complex (unusual for a Regency novel), and she introduces so many *heavy* topics that you can almost get dizzy trying to keep track of them all. Being Mary Balogh, she tackles these topics with exceptional understanding and sensitivity, and I was left with a lot of food for thought. In The Temporary Wife, Mary Balogh explores the complex relationship of father and son (why do parents treat their children badly if they really do love them so?), the complexities of an arranged marriage (is it the parties responsibility to *make* their own happiness, or not?), and the dangers of confiding too much to your children (as we see the pitfalls in this story). She shows us an unhappy family, and as we get to understand the complexities of the relationship of any family, especially this family, she also shows us that their is more than two sides to every issue, more than two sides to a coin. I have never seen any of these issues *ever* explored in any other Regency novel, and particularly not in this way, where each side is presented in its entirety. She shows us why everyone does act the way they do, until at the end, you find yourself without a villian to blame for this very messy tangle of an unhappy family.
Since this a shorter Regency novel, these topics are only very lightly skimmed, however, as she quickly steers us towards the ending for the happily-ever-after. While in many Regency novels, I get the feeling that the author is scrounging around for something to fill up the pages, in this novel, the feeling I get is just the opposite - Mary Balogh has so much to say, and so many topics to explore, that in order to cram them all in there is a somewhat superficial discussion of these issues (not to say that in this book she is superficial, rather, compared to what I have seen Mary Balogh do in some of her other books, I know that she has more to say). Wouldn't I like to see this book reprinted and expanded!!! (Publishers, are you listening????)
Mary Balogh does not need my praise. This book speaks for itself as one of the very best of its kind. An enjoyable and thought-provoking read - if you can get hold of it.
reviewed by john316 on November 22, 2006 11:30 PM
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This novel was, I believe, one of Balogh's last Signet Regencies. It's just a gem. A bit darker in theme than her usual work of this period, the novel contains a familiar Regency plot device (warm country lass marries into cold, repressed aristocratic dynasty) but is rewoven by Balogh to make an intriguing, thoughtful, and impossible-to-put-down read.
What I liked most about this book was how Balogh believably makes her heroine an amateur psychologist. That might sound off putting but Balogh makes it work. The heroine takes on more than she knows when she agrees, for money, to marry a nobleman for the sole purpose of shocking and hurting the nobleman's haughty father. As the heroine comes to understand the history and unhealed wounds of her husband's dysfunctional family, she can't help trying to "open up the windows" in the hearts and minds of those she's living with. How she does so, and how her efforts are received by her husband and his family, is the core of the drama.
In the course of the story some disturbing family issues come to the surface: the devastating effects to children who are made their parents confidants, the corrosive nature of unrequited love, and the terrible price of misplaced pride. The novel even skirts around children's awareness of their parents sexuality, a rather unusual topic in a romance novel.
Once again, Balogh, has created a complex and thought provoking story and tells it with style and grace. When Mary Balogh is at the top of her game, no one--and I mean no one--writes better Regencies. This is an example of her best and not to be missed by anyone who is looking for an intelligent, moving and extremely well written Regency romance.
What I liked most about this book was how Balogh believably makes her heroine an amateur psychologist. That might sound off putting but Balogh makes it work. The heroine takes on more than she knows when she agrees, for money, to marry a nobleman for the sole purpose of shocking and hurting the nobleman's haughty father. As the heroine comes to understand the history and unhealed wounds of her husband's dysfunctional family, she can't help trying to "open up the windows" in the hearts and minds of those she's living with. How she does so, and how her efforts are received by her husband and his family, is the core of the drama.
In the course of the story some disturbing family issues come to the surface: the devastating effects to children who are made their parents confidants, the corrosive nature of unrequited love, and the terrible price of misplaced pride. The novel even skirts around children's awareness of their parents sexuality, a rather unusual topic in a romance novel.
Once again, Balogh, has created a complex and thought provoking story and tells it with style and grace. When Mary Balogh is at the top of her game, no one--and I mean no one--writes better Regencies. This is an example of her best and not to be missed by anyone who is looking for an intelligent, moving and extremely well written Regency romance.
reviewed by localhost on November 24, 2006 3:50 AM