Wedding of the Season by Laura Lee Guhrke

January 26, 2011

"Now, when I die,
now don't think I'm a nut,
don't want no fancy funeral.
Just one like ole king Tut."

http://www.lauraleeguhrke.com/index.htm
We are about to reflect upon a pet peeve moment. Sometimes when one reads historical novels, one stumbles across history that authors tamper with for one reason or another. Usually, unless you are Virginia Henley, the author includes a page or two saying something like, yes, I changed this or that because I wanted to blah blah blah. And, when the author does that, I can live with it and not worry about it. However, in the case of Wedding of the Season, one of my favorite authors failed in her duty to me. I'm not sure why the dates of Tutankhamun's discoveries were changed. Maybe it was to keep it in the Edwardian era, not sure. However, since I happen to love history and have always been fascinated by Tutankhamun, this tampering threw me out of the story. So, I am including a brief history of the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb.

Howard Carter (credited with finding the tomb) was obsessed for years in his search for the relatively unknown pharaoh, especially after some cups and a piece of stone bearing Tutankhamun's name were pronounced as unimportant by Theodore Davis (private sponsor). This moment of stupidity on Davis' part happened around 1907. After years of looking, a war, and an ultimatum from the guy with the big bucks backing the dig, Lord Carnarvon, Carter's water carrier stumbled across the stairs leading down to the tomb on November 4, 1922. The mostly intact tomb was not opened until February 16, 1923, and Egyptology hasn't been the same since. (By intact I mean that although the tomb had been broken into, all the good stuff was still there.) And, I wonder what ever happened to the water carrier? That is the brief history. And if you want to learn more watch for that wacky Dr. Zahi Hawass (one of my favorite talkers). In Wedding of the Season, our hero goes to Egypt in 1896, and the stairs are discovered in 1901. Plus, Beatrix keeps referring to the pharaoh as King Tut... got on my nerves...

Maestro, music please:

"You've got to give a little, take a little, and let your poor heart break a little. That's the story of, that's the glory of love."

Now, let's explore Wedding of the Season, the first in the Abandoned at the Altar series. I will say up front that this story was painful to read. Not because of writing or because of the history malfunction, but because these two people, Beatrix and Will, were really hard to like. Their story is one of two people who love each other, but neither one of them is willing to give in or change for the other. They expect the other person to do all the giving and changing, so, because Beatrix refuses to go with Will to Egypt, they break their engagement. After six years, Beatrix is engaged to Aiden (our next hero). However, just weeks before the wedding, who should show up like a bad penny? You guessed it - Will.

Now, you might think that after six years these two people might have had a change of heart; maybe they realized they were wrong all those years ago. Nope. Not these two, they still want the other to do the giving up. So, it is a constant, constant, constant struggle... you change, no you change, no you give everything up, no you give everything up, you don't trust me, you're irresponsible. I have to admit that I found both arguments (Beatrix and Will) to be strong and realistic. I also admit that I agreed with Beatrix in her desire for security and being grounded. And, I also admit that while I was reading some really strong writing, I just couldn't see any resolution to their dilemma. Oh, there is a solution and it's touching, but it doesn't quite solve the problems that these two people raise throughout the book. I doubt their future happiness.

This is not a light read, and if you are like me you will become involved with the torturous love story contained within these pages. Some great writing, just very painful and for some readers, this pain may go on way too long before it's resolved.

I am looking forward to Aiden's story. He was written as a stuffed shirt in this book and we all know I love my stuff shirts.

Time/Place Edwardian England
Rating:
Sensuality Rating: Hot