Now...I have to blog my 19th Book Blog. I just have to...just like I had to turn off the television and read until I finished it last night.
It's
A ROYAL MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE by Marion Lennox.
Every now and then you read a book that succeeds in making you feel completely and utterly inadequate as a writer. This is one of those books. I adored it. I adored just about everything about it. I had so many "I wish I could write like this" moments I lost count.
It takes the shop-worn hook of a royal marriage of convenience and just completely turns it upside down. The pacing and action are fast, the characters have lots of depth and are wonderful, and the dialogue is sharp and laugh out loud funny. And yet...there is a tenderness about it that had me blinking my eyes in several spots as we got towards the end.
At one point there is an attempt on their lives and the heroine, a spunky Yorkshire vet. Rose is such a strong, practical woman. She says...."Someone tried to shoot me, so I'm supposed to take a sleeping tablet and go calmly to sleep without getting it sorted? You must be out of your collective minds."
Yet I LOVED how just pages later we see her feminine side...and how it knocks the hero, Nick, for a loop:
"You realise discipline in this castle is shot to pieces?"
"Yes," said Rose, chuckling more than the girl had chuckled, and hugging Hoppy as she rolled back out from behind the settee. "I believe they're my knickers you're standing on, sir."
He bent and picked them up. They were pink and white and lacy, with butterflies embroidered on them.
"My God," he said with reverence. "And I stood on them. Why didn't I notice these last night? Were these special for your wedding?"
"Of course," she said, and then she giggled again. "Nope. I tell a lie. I wear knickers like this all the time."
"You're kidding me." He held them to the light as one might hold up a piece of priceless art. "You wear these? As a country vet?"
"I wear brown, grungy overalls and mud, and I smell like cattle," she said. "I have to be a girl sometime."
"It's a tragedy," he said, awed.
Marion, thank you for the best book I've read this spring.
THE RANCHER'S RUNAWAY PRINCESS, Romance, January 09
HIRED: THE ITALIAN'S BRIDE, Romance, June 09
http://www.donnaalward.com
http://www.donnaalward.blogspot.com
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I have to read this one
I always love Marion's books, but from your review this one sounds like something special.
Thanks,
Claire
Pregnant: Father Wanted, Harlequin Romance, Dec 08
http://www.clairebaxter.com
I loved this one! I read
I loved this one! I read this one straight through too.
It's a bit stange to have read this one and the books by the person blogging.
One of the things that I like right now about HR is that there is such a wide variety of tone...a book like this and a book like yours...and I love them both!
Merri
Hildie's blog: http://blog.hildie.net
This is one of the earliest
This is one of the earliest books I reviewed and it was when I was trying to blog some 25 books all at once. In other words, it was a minimalist review. But it was one very enjoyable book! I am totally loving the HR line.
Nancy