Marry in Secret by Anne Gracie

September 14, 2014
First you say you will and then you won’t
 
https://www.annegracie.com/
Marry in Secret is the third book in the Marriage of Convenience series. I wanted to like this book, I really did. Anne Gracie has written some of my favorite witty books, but I had some issues with this one. I will be honest, I have a problem with young heroes and heroines. Yes, I know in the “old” days people married younger. Supposedly, they were more mature. To which I say: hog-wash. Just what is that assumption based on? A sixteen year old girl and a twenty-three year old boy/man are still young. I suspect even in the “olden” days their brains were not anymore developed than modern teens. I’m just happy we didn’t have flashbacks scenes between an underage girl and a young man who should have waited.  I wouldn’t have any problems with them being a little older when they entered into their clandestine marriage.

When the story begins, Lady Rose Rutheford is marrying the Duke of Everingham. Knock, knock. Who’s there? It’s me, your dead husband, Thomas. Yes, Thomas Beresford shows up to disrupt his wife’s wedding. It’s been four years, and Rose doesn’t recognize him. Well, Thomas is a little miffed that the love of his life doesn’t remember what he looks like. I guess that is what you get for marrying a sixteen year old. See, their brains are not fully developed. Anyway, he’s changed, he’s not the young man she fell in love with. After she is given a few moments, she realizes he is still the love of her life, and wants to remain married. Guess what! Thomas now changes his mind and starts the I’m-not-good-enough routine and tries to talk her into an annulment. This begins the up and down, back and forth woe-is-me routine that Thomas goes through. I eventually became irritated with his love-me-or-don’t-love-me-I-can’t-love-you routine.

There was an interesting back-story of Thomas’ capture by Barbary pirates, and his determination to free his fellow crew-members. There is a distracting mystery as to why his ransom was not paid while he was imprisoned by the pirates. But the mystery really was not mysterious, and if you have ever read any kind of mystery book, you should be able to spot the villain from far, far away. Why Thomas didn’t know right away who did the bad deed was beyond me, the villain did a number of things that any hero with a brain would have spotted. 

Scene stealer. The Duke of Everingham is a scene stealer. He is just the type of male character I love. He is a cold-fish, a block of ice. He has tons of rules and regulations he expects his wife to do. I’m rubbing my hands together with glee in anticipation of his downfall. We all know he isn’t going to get the kind of wife he wants, but the one he deserves. I hope his upcoming book is in the same caliber as Ms. Gracie’s The Perfect Rake. 

I didn’t find this story to be one of my favorite Ms. Gracie books. Neither the hero nor heroine were fully developed. There was too much time spent on a mystery that wasn’t a mystery. And, there was waaaaay toooo much hero angst, back-n-forth, annul me, don’t annul me. I wanted to reach into the book and smack him. He whined on and on about not being good enough. He also couldn’t spot the right-in-front-of his face villain. I was disappointed in the hero, and I was disappointed in this story.

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Warm