Secondary characters - sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
http://www.saraportman.com/
The Reunion is Sara Portman's debut book and I'm always on the look-out for new authors.
There's always a hope that each one of them may become one of my auto-buys. So, I always have my fingers crossed dreaming of the day when I have found the new Mary Balogh or Lisa Kleypas. Well, while Ms. Portman's debut novel is a descent attempt, it doesn't quite make it up to the top rung of the ladder. The good stuff. The novel started off pretty well. The writing had a modern feel about it. There weren't the thought-provoking words of a Balogh or Kleypas, but I can adjust. After all, I'm a big fan of Julia Quinn books. As I said the story started off nicely. The plot is composed of a hero who at one time was quite insensitive to his fiancée. They were both very young, never met each other, and were being forced into the arrangement. So, why should our hero really care what he says to his seventeen year-old fiancée. Especially when he has an axe to grind with his domineering father. Well, anyway, John (hero) insults Emma (heroine) then takes off without any benefit of an explanation, goes to America and then comes back four years later in need of a wife. By the way, he has sort of forgotten all about Emma.
Well Emma hasn't forgotten about him. Unbeknownst to him, his leaving has made her a pariah in society. She has been scorned all those years he was missing. However, and here's one of the satisfying things in the book, Emma is no longer the boo-hoo seventeen girl. She's a strong woman. She speaks her mind and she speaks her mind in public. Woe to those who feel the bite of her sharp tongue. I really liked Emma a lot in the first part of the book. Eventually John and Emma run into each other at a party. He has no idea what he did to her, he doesn't actually even know who she is - but he is interested in her. She knows who he is, though, and she lets loose her tongue. Being a Romanceland hero, he is instantly attracted to her. So he sets out to court her, and she doesn't make it easy for him. That was a fun part of the book. Then they get married.
Now, the reason John wanted to marry so badly was because he had a sister back in America who everyone in the ton thought was dead. He wants to bring her back, but he knows that she will in all likelihood be made to feel unwelcome. So, he needs a strong wife, someone who isn't afraid to stand up to a few aristocratic snobs. Hence Emma. Well, what he has neglected to tell his new wife is that his sister (Charlotte) is a giant termagant - and that's being nice. Having read a few romance books in my time, I of course knew where the Charlotte storyline was going to go. You see, John has an unpleasant friend Hugh whose main purpose in the book seems to be to make snotty comments to Emma and be Charlotte's eventual luv-bub. Yes, there is a secondary love story in the book and it's odd.
The secondary love story was a bit of a distraction. It was almost as if it was a big secret, then there were a few eye-glare moments, then they were a couple. The secondary romance didn't work for me. But that wasn't really crucial to me liking the book or not - my issue was with the secondary character of Charlotte. Charlotte was really, really an obnoxious, unlikable, petulant character. I could find nothing to like about her; I could feel no sympathy. It was also with this character that I started to get irritated with John. Why he didn't do something about Charlotte's annoying behavior was beyond me. I guess I am really not all that fond of men who let other people take care of their problems.
Overall, I will be trying her next book in the series - I haven't given up and I'm still hopeful. I thought the first part of the book was very good, but when Charlotte was introduced in the story I just wanted to reach through the pages and strike a blow.
Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality:Hot
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