Not quite a husband by Sherry Thomas

Leo Marsden and Bryony Asquith were childhood acquaintances, growing up on neighboring estates. Bryony was four years older and took little notice of Leo, while he worshipped her from afar.
Leo grew up to become a brilliant mathematician, a golden boy whom society worshipped, and the boy who could have his pick from soceity’s very best.
Bryony followed the difficult path of becoming a female doctor. A female doctor in an age where it was unacceptable for women to have a profession and much harder if she had something as difficult as a medical calling. Bryony, alone, almost ostracized by the society….
And now their paths cross again when Leo is society’s darling golden boy and Bryony is twenty nine and firmly on the shelf. Bryony impulsively asked Leo to marry her. Leo just as impulsively agreed.
And thus begins an impulsive marriage…which is not at all what the other expected and not happy at all…there are no quarrels or arguments or misunderstandings or fits of temper…just stony silences, wooden expressions, bland reactions or rather a total lack of reactions….voids that leave not only Leo but also the reader puzzled,  that what exactly is wrong….why are they so unhappy? Leo couldn’t break through Bryony’s cold-as-ice demeanor in bed, and when she finally asked him for an annulment, he numbly agreed.

Bryony left England to travel, Germany, America and eventually ending up in India.
Leo too has wandered but he always feared what Bryony would do in a strange foreign land. What if she was scared? What if she ran into trouble? What if she needed someone? How would anyone know with her friends and family so far away? So he wanders after her first Germany, then America and at last India, content in the fact that he is near her even if she doesn’t know it.
When in India Leo gets a wire from Bryony’s sister Callista to fetch her sister home….their father is dying….and thus Leo sets out on a groveling journey to the north west frontier of India.
Bryony is shocked to lay her eyes on Leo again, when she hears of the reason for his visit she is instantly suspicious of Callista’s motives, since Callista has fabricated numerous tales to throw Leo and her together and at first refuses to accompany Leo anywhere. At last she reluctantly relents and they set out to a journey to the Indian plains from where Byrony can return to England.
And thus begins a journey inside their minds as well, a journey when the surroundings are in chaos and turmoil as  Leo comes down with malaria, and Bryony  nurses him as they wind their way through the Indian countryside. A journey where and Leo are forced to examine their feelings for one another , to think about chances they have lost and to dream of second chances. A revolt against the British is brewing, and their path becomes treacherous. Caught up in midst of a minor war (the uprising of Swat) both of them come to terms with the fact that each cannot bear to lose the other and they would fall apart if anything happened to either of them.
. Both Bryony and Leo have apologies to make, and they must work to overcome their lack of trust in one another, no matter how hot their physical passion flares. They discover each other and ask themselves if only they can forgive each other and make a new start….if only….
Review – As you must have gathered by now this is not a regency romance, nor of the Napoleonic times….this is one from the period between Independence of America and the first world war. The change of scene is most refreshing. Leo is an easy to love, admire and empathize with hero. My heart went out to him right from the beginning of this book. Bryony though seems a little rude, aloof and unreasonable at the beginning, as the story unfolds, Bryony’s difficult past comes to light and her actions are easier to understand and accept and she makes her own special place in the reader’s heart. The story is not dramatic or full of emotions running high. It is a tale of understanding, acceptance, forgiveness and love that is long lasting, all embracing and enduring.

A 9/10

The Spymaster's lady by Joanna Bourne

Paris 1802,

In a private French prison, Annique Villiers, a French spy, is about to be tortured over "the Albion plans" - Napoleon's secret plans for the invasion of England. Annique's torturer, the sadistic and villainous Leblanc, fully intends to kill her, but not before he gets those papers - which he plans to use to his own advantage.

In the cell with her are Grey, a British Head of Section who has managed to keep his full identity from Leblanc, and his wounded compatriot, Adrian.

Annique and Grey work together to escape. They escape….each for his own reason, Annique must take the plans to her spymaster and teacher Vauban so that they can plan how to stop Napoleon’s madness without betraying France….Grey wants to escape so that he can take Adrian, Annique and the Albion plans to England and stop Napoleon’s madness. Thus Annique has unwittingly escaped from one prison to another. And thus begins Annique’s attempt to escape again, to escape from Grey, to escape from Le Blanc, to escape from Le Blanc’s cruel deputy Henri, to escape from the French patrols scouting the country for her, to escape from Fouche the head of secret police who would like nothing better than to pimp her. But first she has to escape Grey…..Grey who is as good a spy as she is and keeps outwitting her all the time. Grey who is strong but not cruel, who is kind but not foolish, who is going to make a traitor out of her if she can’t escape!

And thus begins this wonderful story of cat and mouse chase, to say more about the plot would be giving it away….So instead I would like to talk about the two characters and how the entire story looks from end to end.

Annique, a blind French spy, Annique is the daughter of spies, been raised from a child to be a spy, and has learned her job well. Though she is just 19, she has worked for France as a boy, and in battlefields and boarding houses for years, earning an impressive reputation and the respect of all members of the spying community - no matter their nationality. Though she’s become blind due to an accident she is as wonderful as two spies, that is four eyes put together. She also has another gift, a wonderful memory, which can file away a lot of information in a very short period in an alarmingly detailed manner. A gift which the French are exploiting. Or to put it better…..a gift which the French “think” that they are exploiting.

Annique does indeed hold the secret of the Albion plans and the knowledge tears her apart. She knows that the invasion cannot succeed and will only cause untold death and devastation, but can she bring herself to give the plans to the enemy English? The fate of all those lives rest solely upon her shoulders, and the weight of her decision is a burden no one should have to bear. Annique is a wholly unique character and a fascinating one. She is incredibly competent and skillful - a believable master spy - and has stunning resourcefulness and resolve.

Grey is a more straightforward English spy, though also frighteningly competent and pragmatic. He has met his match in Annique, however, and it is fun to watch him try and figure her out and stay one step ahead, failing to do so more than once. Grey's real beauty as a character, though, is his steadfastness. He and Annique engage in many battles of wit, lies and deceptions, but there is never any doubt that he loves her throughout. He never jumps to conclusions about Annique's own feelings about him - seeming to know them better than she does herself - but accepts that her lies are part of the spy game. They are each doing their jobs and that includes lying to each other at times, but they also accept that the love is not a lie and cannot be concealed from the other, though at times they wish it could.

Review – And finally some advice. What can make this book a 9/10 or a 5/10 is the expectations that you start reading it with. If you are expecting a romance with a lot of passion, emotional turmoil, heated arguments, unnecessary pride and pouting, the conventional plots of hero not-wanting-to-fall-in-love and-yet-falling, or a marriage of convenience, this book is not for you. Frankly, do not attempt reading it. To those who are still interested, here’s more…..

The strength of this book is the strength of its characters, primary as well as secondary and a well thought out or shall I say a well-plotted fast-paced plot. As funny as it may sound but the writer treats both the story as well as the readers with respect….she assumes both to be intelligent. Annique and Grey are interesting characters, there chase, battles, collaboration and relationship all keep the reader on the edge, with a what will happen next kind of feeling.

 As for the romance in this book Annique and Grey's love is a love of the intellect as well as the body. A meeting of minds as well as the bodies. It's a combination that cannot be beaten and makes this a smart and masterful book.

Rating – If I read it from point of view of a story 9/10….[That is to say that I really really liked this book] .but if you read it from a love story point of view 7.5/10 [That is to say that some may not like this book]

One night for love

Lauren Edgeworth, the perfect bride and countess-to-be, is set to marry her childhood friend, Neville Wyatt, the Earl of Kilbourne. It’s the day all her dreams are going to come true. Her happiness is such that she herself wonders if anyone has the right to be so deliriously happy. And at this very moment of happiness, a tired, disheveled women walks into the church, claiming to be Neville’s wife….Lily.



Lily…Lily, once an innocent little girl, a commoner, the daughter of a soldier in Neville’s company, is secretly in love with him. But knows that Major Lord Newbury (Neville) is far above her reach. So she travels with her father’s company and becomes Major Lord Newbury’s friend and confidante. When her father is injured in battle and dying, Neville promises him that he would look after her daughter, he would marry her. Thus she gets married to the man she has loved for so long and follows their one night of love…one night of love which is a transcendent experience for him as well as her but after she is shot before his eyes in the ambush that leaves him unconscious, he accepts that she is dead. Heartbroken by the loss, when he receives the news of his father’s death Neville returns home to do his duty as the Earl of Neville.



Neville is about to marry his step-cousin Lauren, Lauren whose sweet countenance commands love and affection of any man. Its his wedding today. He is embarking on a future that was planned long ago for him, by his father. Becoming the earl of Kilbourne and marrying his step cousin Lauren, a fate he should not have tried to avoid by running off to join the army. A fate to which life had given him a second chance…A second chance he was not about to let go of….and that’s when Lily walks into the church. Lily, his wife. Lily, his countess. Lily, whose love and innocence was so precious to him and Lily….Lily who was dead. His heart soars with joy on seeing Lily, his Lily, alive. Lily tells him her story, of her journey from the dream-like innocence of their wedding to the ugly, brutality and captivity by the Spanish who kidnapped her when he thought she was dead in the ambush. The Spanish who raped her repeatedly till she had escaped their clutches. But none of this deters Neville from hoping that he and Lily can have a life together.



Unfortunately, building that life will not be easy. Lily, a commoner, is hopelessly out of place at Newbury Abbey. Not only is she a social misfit, but her unfettered love of nature and the intensity of her experiences leave her with little patience for the vapid society that is her husband's birthright. She feels that she can never be worthy of being his countess. In her mind, she is always Lily Doyle….and he is always Major Lord Newbury, and they are happy in their little life together. The Earl of Kilbourne is a stranger to her, a stranger who belongs with someone beautiful, charming, sophisticated and competent as Lauren, not someone illiterate, ignorant and wild as her. As time passes it becomes a question of whether she wants to be another Lauren just to fit in? The question changes from if she will fit in to if she wants to fit in? And that’s when she decides to leave Neville again…..



Neville loves Lily. He loves her as she is. A little wild, ignorant, innocent, untouched by the pretenses the world puts on. And a little because of his selfishness to keep her that way and a lot out of love for her, he doesn’t want her to struggle to keep up with the expectations people have from her….to become the perfect countess…But the expectations, the feeling of failure does get to Lily. Feeling caged, confined and depressed, Lily decides to leave him to make an emotional journey towards her wholeness…alone. Leaving him alone.



The best part about this story is that no character is perfect. There’s Lauren who is so sympathetic to both Neville and Lily, and yet so sad and lonely that it at times makes the reader begrudge Lily her happiness. Lily, whose emotional turmoil brings tears to the eyes and whose emotional triumph makes your insides smile. Neville who sympathizes with Lauren, understands her pain but is in love with Lily. So much in love that he is prepared to go through a life without her….a lifetime of waiting for her to come back to him. And though all these characters have their own imperfections its so difficult not to fall in love with them.



Rich with emotional and historical detail, it is a story of compassion and gravity told with simplicity. Neither is the emotional aftermath or turmoil sensationalized and trivialized. It is simply narrated and it is left to the readers to feel the anguish, the happiness and the triumph of the characters. A romantic tale with the perfect touch of a classic. A perfect 10/10 book.

An unwilling bride by Jo Beverley

The Duke of Belcraven and his beloved wife have been estranged for years, since the birth of her son as a result of a one-night affair. Due to tragic circumstances, the boy, Lucien, is now the heir to the Belcraven title and fortune. While the duke has accepted Lucien as his son, a painful bitterness lingers between him and his still-beloved wife, creating a wall that neither knows how to breach.

One day a messenger arrives. It seems that the duke’s own brief love affair, embarked upon after his wife’s betrayal, resulted in a daughter. The girl is now grown and teaching at a school for young ladies. And the duke, wishing to preserve his bloodline, devises a plan. Lucien will marry Elizabeth, or be disinherited.

The news that he is not only illegitimate but is about to be forced into marriage comes as no small shock to Lucien. His reputation as a reprobate notwithstanding, he had been considering marriage to a society miss. After all, he has Blanche, his actress mistress and friend. Ah well, one woman will do as well as another for a wife. Lucien and the duke embark, separately, to meet Elizabeth.

Miss Beth Armitage is in for a similar shock. The news that the nobleman sitting in the parlor is not only her father but has every intention of forcing her to marry his wife’s son is almost too much to bear. Beth reluctantly agrees to meet Lucien, with a plan to scare him off. Alas, that backfires, and they come to an understanding. They will marry, and do their best to be civil to each other.

And thus starts a courtship and marriage, where Beth tries her best to hate Lucien, and Lucien has all his efforts to be kind and considerate thrown back in his face by his unwilling bride. It is best not to reveal the further plot of this book, as it does not really have much of a plot. Instead I would like to talk about what I liked about the book and what I did not.

It was nice to see a heroine who stood up for equality of women and valued education and independence but at the same time it was heart breaking to see her scared and showing maidenly modesty and being skittish and scared at time. It was nice to see her stand up to her husband but she took the notion of 'standing up' a bit too far. It was nice to see a hero who was a perfect intellectual match for her, but even their verbal sparrings got repetitive and bland after a while. It was nice to see a hero who was initially so kind and considerate despite the circumstances he was forced into, but who later gets violent with the heroine. The worst part was where he strikes her because he suspects her of being with another man! It is easy to understand anguish and temper, frustration and desperation but violence? That too specially against a person you love! How can one ever justify that. That one incident overturned the tone of the story for me. But again it was nice to see that the hero and heroine established a mental companionship before a physical relationship.

The secondary characters were well sketched but a bit too much for the story line. They somehow weighed it down instead of  embelleshing it.

As for a rating I am as confused as the hero and heroine of this book...but may be a 6.5/10

My Darling Caroline by Adele Ashworth

Caroline Grayson, a third of five beautiful daughters of Baron Sytheford, who is noticeably plain, short and dark as compared to her tall, blonde and beautiful sisters. There is also another problem she is intelligent! And not just intelligent in the feminine, scheming, manipulating way but she possesses real scientific intelligence, the kind which can do complex mathematical equations in her head, and has a profound love for botany. She sends her findings to Oxford university in hopes of getting recognition and a chance to further her quest for knowledge but she receives a reply, which asks her to get married and grow plants to please her husband, and now it seems that is what she must do!

Brent Ravenscroft, the Earl of Weymerth, wants his prized Arabian horses back. The horses that his cousin sold to Baron Sytheford, and the price he must pay for them is outrageous! He must marry the baron’s plain and saucy daughter Caroline. Brent is furious to have to marry a plain spinster in her mid twenties, but all he wants to do after the horrors of war is to start a new life again. A life in which he wants to breed horses, have a home, a wife and a heir and on contemplation he finds that this bargain suits him just fine!

After the rejection from Oxford, Caroline has applied to the University of Columbia, America and this time as a man. She has all her plans in place, when she learns of the deal her father has struck with Lord Weymerth. Initially she is enraged but later she realizes that she could marry the earl and later asks for an annulment and thus she could be free to pursue her dreams.

Thus begins a relationship between Brent and Caroline. Or let us say thus begins a conflict, a brilliant scientist unable to achieve her goals because of her gender wanting to avoid marriage, proud aristocrat furious at the circumstances that have saddled him with an unwanted wife. Are they attracted to each other? They long, they burn, they abstain and thus they create one of the best stories I have read in a long time.

Caroline, is baffled by her husband. The man who on one hand adores her so and entrusts her with his finances of all things. A man who admires her skills with the garden and yet has never told her about his green house. Oh and incidentally the man has also forgotten to tell her that he has a sister and also an illegitimate daughter! A man who is full of surprises and yet who is also full of gentle consideration and may be love. A man whom she could fall in love with, or rather a man for whose love she might give up her love for botany.

Brent, has married Caroline just to get a wife and a heir. But as he comes to know her better he realizes he has also found a companion, a friend, a partner, who meets him on all planes physical, mental and emotional. A woman he could begin to love. If only she didn’t love botany more than him.


The strength of the book is the strength of character of Brent and Caroline, their gradual understanding of each other and their acceptance of each other. Even their arguments, conflicts and misunderstandings are so passionate that it makes a wonderful read. It is the kind of book where you sympathize with every one’s point of view, you cannot squarely lay the blame on any one of them and you as a reader long for them to make up and live happily ever after. A wonderful wonderful book with a wonderful little secret bundled up in the epilogue which come as a surprise.

A definite 9.5/10