The Bridegroom [Mass Market Paperback]

I *am* picky about such things, and this review is for people who care about the use of history as more than wallpaper or a generic label. If you are a Joan Johnston fan (or the author herself), ignore this review. If you don't particularly care that the historical setting be somewhat close to real history, again, this review is not for you.

This book is related to AFTER THE KISS, although I suspect I am missing a book in between. Very briefly put, between AFTER THE KISS and this book THE BRIDEGROOM, the daughters - of a British duke have grown up. One of them, Rebecca, is unhappily married, and comes to love a man whom she cannot marry since he is so low in rank. [Her story and his forms the backdrop to the major story, that of her sister and a man out for revenge].

The hero Clay is a peer who has been disgraced by her father's actions (however well-intentioned). Since he lost his family, his title, his estates, and then his freedom, he bears a grudge against her entire family. Althouh the heroine, Regina (Lady Regina Blackthorne) knows this, she forms a friendship with him, believing his grudge to be a matter of the past. He has her kidnapped, thrown into a brothel from where he pretends to rescue her. He then persuades her to marry him, before springing the series of revelations - he hates her and her family, he wants to be revenged on her father, and so forth. He keeps his promises by preventing Regina from meeting her father, and vice versa. There is some mystery generated by the fact the hero has been wrongly accused, of course, and that the real villain is at large and in an unexpected position to strike again. There is however no reason given for the villain to want to hurt the hero in particular.

Part of my problems with this book was that I could not believe in the whole revenge scenario. I could believe that the hero would want to be revenged for his sufferings, and that he could present himself falsely to a gullible female. But could the heroine have been that gullible - to believe in the good faith of someone with cause for grievance, and to do some other stupid things? While a convicted felon lost his estates, removing a title even from a convicted peer was not easy. There is a complicated process of attainder. Furthermore, Rebecca's marriage could not be annulled so easily, and certainly not on the whim of her husband alone. All this rather detracted from the story. I won't even go into the problems with Mick's real identity.

I had problems with the characterization as well. Clay's desire to seek "compensation" for the loss of his title and estates (for several years) as well as the hardship he suffered is understandable. But he seemed too much like a stock character, the wronged hero out for revenge [think Edmond Dantes of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO]. He shows very little growth in the course of the story, although he recognizes - before the real villain is unmasked - that it is wrong to keep Regina and her father apart. Regina is amazingly quick to forgive Clay for putting her in danger and for tricking her into marriage, not to mention keeping her from her family.

On the other hand, Rebecca and Mick were well-drawn, and I wished the book had been about them, even though Mick's good fortune is almost unbelievable.

The minor characters tended to fade quickly and made little impression on me or even on the hero or heroine (since Regina forgot about the orphans so quickly, for example).

If you like a good tightly constructed plot, with a real sense of living in the Regency period, I really cannot recommend this book. If you want your Regency lite, this book might satisfy, but again it might not, depending on how credible you find the romance between Clay and Regina.