REVIEW: The Accidental Abduction by Darcie Wilde
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Elaina started reading romances in high school, but only started telling people she read romances within the last few years. Historicals will always remain her favorite, although she finds herself reading other genres depending on her mood. Favorite authors include Elizabeth Hoyt, Lisa Kleypas, Tessa Dare and Meredith Duran. She’s always on the hunt for innovative historical romances—especially non-Regency historicals—so drop her a line if you have a recommendation.
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Dear Ms. Wilde:
I must admit I wasn’t sure what to expect with your novel An Accidental Abduction. All I knew was that it was a historical by an unknown-to-me author. When I realized that this historical contains both a working class hero and heroine, I was so excited. How often do you get to read about merchant heroes? Rarely, if ever. I’m so tired of rakish dukes that anything slightly different will pique my interest.
The story begins with, well, an abduction of sorts: when Leannah Wakefield (I have a difficult time imagining Leannah a common name in the 19th century, I must admit) discovers her younger sister has eloped, she drives off in a mad dash to catch her. When Harry Rayburn sees a carriage hurtling down the street, he thinks the driver has lost control of her team and attempts to stop the carriage. What results is Harry being dragged along on Leannah’s errand, an accidental abduction of sorts.
Leannah and Harry experience instant attraction to one another as their road-trip continues. Leannah, a widow of one year, never experienced a satisfying sexual relationship with her much older husband, and she finds herself attracted to Harry from the outset. I really appreciated this frank look at the heroine’s sexual desires that often are overlooked or coated with confusion as to what those feelings entail, when there is rarely such confusion in a hero’s sexual attraction to the heroine. Leannah knows she’s attracted to Harry and imagines having sex with him—a rather subversive touch to this romance that I really liked.
Harry, for his part, has recently been turned down by the woman he thought he would marry, and when he meets Leannah, he is similarly smitten and quickly forgets his almost-fiancée’s rejection. Harry comes from merchant stock, with gobs of money but not much in the way of blue blood. He is handsome—called an Adonis more than once—but also rendered human, too, with his overlong sideburns that he doesn’t realize aren’t particularly flattering.
It is this sexual attraction coupled with Leannah’s desire to avoid another unwanted marriage on the behest of her ill father that results in Harry and Leannah marrying only days after meeting. Their first sexual encounter is electric and yet both are full of doubts as to their hasty marriage. Combined with Leannah’s secrets regarding her family history and Harry’s family’s disapproval over his union, the two struggle to find their footing in a marriage that seems to be falling apart from the outset.
The first half of this book worked well for me, and I loved how Harry and Leannah fell for each other so quickly. Once the two are married, however, the book falls into frustrating Big Misunderstanding territory, that’s mostly caused by the lack of communication between Harry and Leannah. So many of their issues could have been solved by simply asking the other about the question or issue at hand. Instead, Harry—in particular—allows himself to believe what others tell him about Leannah without confronting her.
I also couldn’t figure out what, precisely, was the Big Secret of Leannah’s that causes Harry such alarm. Although it is revealed that Leannah’s father has had some shady dealings, there is nothing that Leannah herself has done. We also have a secret of Harry’s that is mentioned a few times in the first half but never discussed again in the second, which seemed a major oversight in the development of both his character and his relationship with Leannah.
The clunky-ness of the second half didn’t stop once we reached the very random ending that seemed thrown in there because you weren’t sure how to solve the problems of the characters. Instead, Leannah suffers a brutal accident that forces Harry to stop being angry with her, and this is coupled with the offstage defeat of the villains. Once we reach the very last chapter, I was not the least bit convinced that Harry and Leannah had solved their difficulties: instead, a near-death experience just put it on hold.
Overall, I really did enjoy your writing style and I’ll be on the lookout for more of your work. I wanted to like The Accidental Abduction more than I did, but it had some lovely moments to it despite the disintegrating second half.
Grade: C+
Elaina
Bummer. I enjoy middle class historic romances too even if looking for one is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Though what bothered you about this one would definitely irk me too, thanks for bringing Wilde’s name to my attention.