REVIEW: Wedded Bliss by Barbara Metzger
Robert Rothmore, Earl of Rockford, thinks Alissa Henning is simply delightful-exactly the kind of woman who’d make the perfect mother for his sons. But Alissa swore she’d spend the rest of her life scraping pennies together rather than wed the insufferable earl and become a glorified governess. Still, she couldn’t very well let her own children starve-and there was no doubt that Rockford would give them all a good life. So she reluctantly accepts his offer…but there’s more to a good life than what’s in one’s pockets. And Alissa intends to find out what’s in her new husband’s heart.
Dear Ms. Metzger,
I see that this book was first published in 2004. Some books age well while other books don’t. For me, this one tends more towards “I think I would have enjoyed it more back in the day.” I enjoyed a lot of it, there is humor, there are dogs, there is madcap zany but after a while even all that didn’t completely cover over the hero who needed a smack upside the head and a heroine who – intelligent and determined as she was – needed to stop racing into danger. Plus a vile villain.
Alissa Henning is a poor widow with two growing boys. Robert Rothmore is a wealthy earl who also has two boys. So far this makes the book sound like a pared down Regency “Brady Bunch.” After a meet-ugly in which Alissa definitely has the upper hand, Things Happen and the Earl proposes. Alissa has known love but she also has known penury after her husband died as well as attempted assault from a vile neighbor. When rich Lord Rockford offers a marriage of convenience Alissa is smart enough to weigh her options and accept.
Rockford lays down his rules, marries Alissa and then heads back to London the same night. He’s had two bad marriages and his headstrong sister has run off with a thieving bailiff so his view of women is not stellar. Alissa wasn’t exactly sure what type of marriage she’d be getting but being abandoned never crossed her mind. When the vile neighbor shows his hand, Alissa sees nothing for it but to decamp to London with the four boys, their four puppies (not housebroken), four ponies, one sister, one sister-in-law, multiple carriages, a butler, and grooms galore. London and one neglectful Earl have no idea what is about to hit them.
In my notes I wrote “typical Metzger mayhem — haughty hero + capable heroine + 4 boys, 4 dogs, frazzled staff and a villain.” The standard Regency backdrop of London, Almacks, the ton, blah, blah, blah is there yet some of it is turned on its head a bit. Alissa is a widow who misses the marriage bed and who finds a way to let Rockford realize that. Lady Eleanore doesn’t suffer fools and played a part in her betrothed failing to show up at the church on time but her subsequent actions have made her an on-dit, Rockford has always wondered about the true paternity of his two sons although he’s claimed them both, Alissa’s sister isn’t thrilled at being dressed up and paraded through London society, a missing auntie (who could have been called Auntie Mame for the way she acts) appears on the scene, Rockford and Auntie show how to schmooze and play the rules of the ton to their advantage, and a stiff rumped Duke hovers in the background along with the villain.
The madcap is all over the place. Money gets tossed anywhere and everywhere it’s needed to smooth things over. Alissa impresses me with her practicality before caving to the pleas of four boys about the ponies and puppies. Rockford has moments when his high handed attitudes make me want to “snap out of it” slap him. I knew as soon as the Duke entered the picture how his story would end but for me the cold haughtiness of his initial actions is never erased by what good he subsequently does. And the villain truly is crudely vile. The ending is very much of an over the top farce and leaves believability choking in the dust. I might have chuckled at it all almost twenty years ago but there’s just enough that now I can’t overlook even for my beloved Metzger mayhem. C+
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Your review of a Metzger novel led me to many happy hours of reading Barbara Metzger’s books. Thank you!
Miss Lockharte’s Letters remains my favorite. I found its premise – penning letters that express what you really think since you expect to die shortly – delicious.
@LML: I began reading her books 20-some years ago and fell in love with them. Sadly, some haven’t held up as well on rereads but “Miss Lockharte” is a favorite.