To Glom or not to Glom, that is the Question.
http://www.juliajustiss.com/
So, after reading Julia Justiss’ wonderful book A Most Unconventional Match I thought it
would be a great idea to read the rest of the books in Wellingford family series. Well, at the time it seemed like a good idea. The first one in the series is The Wedding Gamble, written in 1999. The Wedding Gamble happens to be a marriage of convenience story and generally I like those. But this one also has a theme I’m not too fond of: the I-can’t-get-over-my-first-luv theme. Ever since I was traumatized when I read Velvet Promise by Jude Devereux, first book in the Montgomery brother series, I have tried to stay away from this plot. Who can forget one of the biggest bone-head, jerk-face heroes of alllll time, Gavin Montgomery. He could just not get over his first luv. I’ve never really been fond of the constant moaning, groaning, and comparing which is done by either the male or female lead in books with this plot device thrown in. In this instance, it is the female lead Sarah Wellingford who cannot get over her true luv; the one who abandoned her to go off to India to find his fortune. Poor Sarah is in desperate straits. She has no money, and she’s sort of a companion to a tempest by the name of Clarissa. Clarissa, by the way is a future heroine, but in this book, she is engaged to a gentle man by the name of Nicholas Englemere. Englemere is our hero. Of course he will not remain engaged to Clarissa, especially after his eyes alight on Sarah. Both Nicholas and Sarah come with a whole bunch of baggage and some old school Romanceland themes. There’s the old fiancé/true luv of Sarah’s - Sinjin; there’s a slimy villain, an evil mistress, a temperamental fiancée/future heroine, and just for laughs, an oblivious parent. Anyway, Nicholas wants a gentle wife but for some reason he has chosen to marry a spoiled, temperamental, shrew by the name of Clarissa. Once he realizes his mistake he does some maneuvering to break that engagement or better yet, trick Clarissa into breaking it. He then proposes a marriage of convenience to Sarah and she accepts. The story had a great beginning and the author really tried to fully develop her main characters. She moved the story along at a pretty slow pace and we were allowed to watch the couple as they develop a friendship. But I had some issues with this story which prevented me from liking it as much as I wanted to.
First of all, Sarah and Nicholas didn’t communicate with each other. I know, I know, there should be mystery. Don't you know if they talk to each other, it gives everything away? To which I say, poppy-cock! Sometimes, leaving communication out doesn't build tension, it's just plain annoying. Especially, when that non-communication doesn’t make sense. For instance, the evil mistress shows up at the wedding party. Why? Well, we know that the slimy villain invited her, but Sarah doesn’t know that. She thinks Nicholas invited her. Does Nicholas explain? No. Nicholas is represented as being intelligent, so shouldn’t he know that his mistress showing up, uninvited, might cause some doubt in his new wife’s brain cells. Why didn’t he just walk over and say – hey, I didn’t invite her, I haven’t had anything to do with her for a long time. Just that little bit of talk would have opened all kinds of plots/themes/paths to go down. But, it didn’t happen. Sarah was left in the dark and because of that, her self-doubts grew. The story was littered with all kinds of non-communication which weakened the story. But the biggest problem I had was with Sarah’s not being able to get over Sinjin.
Sinjin. Sinjin, as you can tell by the name is a future hero. He and Sarah grew up together; they fell in love and sort of promised themselves to each other. But because he couldn’t stand up to his mother, he turned from Sarah and went off to India to make his fortune. By the time Sarah is married to Nicholas, Sinjin has raced back to England in the hopes of winning her from Nicholas. Even after she is married. Supposedly, he loves Sarah, but he makes a very dishonorable proposition to Nicholas along the lines of – “hey, after you have had your first child why don’t we share Sarah.” Now, that is true luv. What a guy. Anyway, Sarah eventually realizes she loves her husband, but she cannot communicate that to anyone. She cannot tell Sinjin that she doesn’t love him anymore and she cannot tell Nicholas that she’s fallen in love with him. The book would have been so much better if only she would have said something. If only she would have told Nicholas she loved him or told Sinjin to take a flying leap. She continued her Sinjin-moaning far longer than she should have.
Pattern. Sometimes when you glom an author you notice a pattern. And, I did with Ms. Justiss. She is mostly a gentle writer, in the manner of Mary Balogh – just not as fully developed. Because of the gentleness of the writing, and the slow build of romance; when sex was introduced it was jarring. The whankey-woo-hoo moments didn’t blend with the rest of the story. I’m not saying there shouldn’t have been any, it can be done and once again I point to Mary Balogh as an example. She writes tons of sensual scenes which blend with the rest of the tale. The sex scenes in this book just didn’t fit the rest of the narrative.
Overall, I liked the beginning of this story. The plot of a marriage of convenience may be one which has been around forever, and can often show just what an author is capable of doing. I thought the story had possibilities, but I was disappointed that it took so long for Sarah to make up her mind. For me it also took too long for Nicholas and Sarah to communicate with each other. This was a pleasant read, but not what I was expecting and not of the same caliber as A Most Unconventional Match.
Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Hot
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