LynneC’s review of Wedding Of The Season by Laura Lee Guhrke
Historical Romance published by Avon 28 Dec 10

I hadn’t read Guhrke for a while, so I thought I’d give the first book in a new series a try. Unfortanatly, it didn’t work for me. But it might well work for you. I kept being held up by small, not-quite-right details. I wouldn’t call them inaccuracies, per se, just things that didn’t work.

This book is set in the late Victorian era, the 1890’s. The heroine, Beatrix, was jilted by her fiancé, the Duke of Sunderland, in favour of his hunt for the tomb of Tutankhamen in Egypt. On his return to England, after six years, the duke finds that Beatrix is engaged to another duke, Aiden (cue sequel bait). He wants her back.

My first disappointment was the era the book is set in. I can’t get past the fact that by 1918, a whole generation of young men were wiped out in the trenches, and then the population was further depleted by the subsequent flu epidemic. So any heroes or heroines stand to either lose their lives or watch their children die. That prospect casts a pall over any stories set in that era. It’s like ignoring the elephant in the room – it can’t be done. The generic “prom dress” cover doesn’t really give any clues to the era, and I got this book in galley form, so the blurb was a little sparse. It’s easy to say that there are always disasters in the future for romance heroes and heroines, but there was nothing like the 1914-18 war before, and thank God, nothing like it ever again.

The little details kept stopping me, so eventually I had to give up. It seemed that every page held something, a niggle or an “eh?” moment, which crashed into my getting into the story really deeply, so I couldn’t go on. I don’t know a great deal about the late Victorian era, only what the average Englishwoman would know, but some of the niggles didn’t sound right, didn’t work properly in the context of British society.

The book starts with a series of letters. One of them is addressed “My Lord Duke” and is from the duke’s man of business. A letter from a social inferior would always start “Dear Duke” or “Your grace” (ref – Debrett’s or Burke’s). The late Victorian/Edwardian era was bound about with formalities, and to transgress was to reveal gaucherie or unacceptable behaviour. That was one thing the First World War swept away. Hard to keep formal when you’re knee-deep in mud and filth.

When the hero arrives home, he passes fields full of Devonshire ponies. Erm, no. Devonshire (Exmoor) ponies run free, and it’s a special privilege. You just don’t see fields full of them.

The letter refers to a “ceremony in the House of Lords conferring ducal title.” Parliament has no say in conferring noble titles (though these days the Prime Minister recommends life peerages to the Queen), and the ceremony referred to is when the new peer is received in the House to take his seat in Parliament. It might seem like a subtle difference, but it actually conveys profound misunderstanding in the understanding of how the English social and political system works.

Beatrix’s new fiancé is said to be “tenth in line to the throne.” If he were, he’d be a Royal Duke. They are different to the regular run of dukes, and are not nobility, but royalty. The proper address to a royal duke is “your highness,” and a royal duke ranks higher than a prince. Aiden is not referred to as “your highness” but rather, “your grace” in this book. “Regular” dukes are not related to the royal family, except sometimes by marriage. (Many of her fellow aristocrats considered that Princess Diana had married beneath her, since aristocratic families often have a longer history than the royals!)

The bit about looking for King Tutankhamen’s tomb was something like meeting a man in the street and saying, “Oh hello, Mr. Baird. Invented the television yet?” While Carter and Carnarvon knew they were looking for the tomb by the late 1910’s, they didn’t know that it would prove such an important find. Until a month or two before the discovery they had no idea that the tomb would be untouched, full of treasure. It was more in a spirit of completing the exploration of the Valley of the Kings, and recording all the tombs there. So the hero of this book is almost psychic in his precognition. The clay pots and seals referred to by Beatrix were actually archaeological treasures. I couldn’t get past this. And as for the hero staying in Egypt for six years and not coming home, that sounds like an abandonment of his responsibilities, and while many aristocrats did that, I can’t see anyone who would do it as a hero. The Earl of Carnavon, who financed Carter in his discovery of the tomb, didn’t expect financial reward, and actually only went to Egypt in the season allowed by the authorities for digging. This came as a disjoint, especially considering the end of the book (yes, I did skip to the end!)

The end was what made me give up on the book. I can’t see it as a happy ending, for a woman previously described as strong to kowtow to her future husband’s desires in the way that Beatrix did. I didn’t really understand Beatrix. She wouldn’t go to Egypt with Will, but she sought excitement and adventure in her life. The first time we meet her, she’s driving a Daimler and wearing “Turkish trousers” in defiance of the dictates of her peers. She agrees to marry a man who loves her, knowing that she doesn’t and won’t love him back.

This book just didn’t do the job of taking me back in time and making me believe that the characters were part of that time and not this. And that’s what I look for in a historical romance. I’m desperately looking for an author who can do this for me, so if you have any suggestions, please recommend something.

Guhrke has a light, easy-to-read style that guides you effortlessly through the story. If a light read is what you’re after, and you can suspend your disbelief better than I did, then you can do far worse than Wedding Of The Season. There aren’t any obvious Americanisms in the prose, at least not as far as I read in detail, and it does provide a pleasant hour of two for the reader who isn’t as concerned as I am about historical accuracy and credibility.

Grade: DNF

Summary:

Abandoned at the altar…

Lady Beatrix Danbury has always known she would marry William Mallory. She’d loved him forever, and she’d never doubted he loved her, too. But when she made him choose between their life together and his lifelong dream, Will chose the latter, and left two weeks before their wedding.

Return of the duke…

Will has no illusions that Beatrix will welcome him back with open arms, but six years has not diminished his love or his desire for her. The only problem is that she’s about to marry someone else. Someone safe and predictable… the complete opposite of Will. But can he stop
the wedding of the season and win Beatrix back, or is it just too late?

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series: