I am about halfway into An Arranged Marriage and it is such an utter delight. I think it's going to be my favorite Beverley book by far. But then I often find that the author's earliest books are the best, before they get vastly popular and thus pressured to be cookie-cutter.
I ship Eleanor/Nicholas like mad, and I do give huge points to their relationship being very usual for a romance novel (neither constant bickering nor some mad making out, but a sort of an irresistible attraction hindered by secrets and hurt and closeness that is only growing by teeny millimeters). Plus, you have no idea how refreshing it is to have a romance novel where things are hinted at and not spelled out and you have to interpret little things - the fact that the hero is so controlled and tries his best to hide his emotions certainly helps, but there is a general 'less is more' attitude in this book which really works. And aaaaaah, the angst, the delicious angst, because he's fallen in love for the first time ever and she's his wife but he has to push her away to protect her and seduce the woman he hates...
I really like Eleanor, who has a lot of grace in an untenable situation, but I confess the book is made for me by Nicholas - smart, control freak who is terrified about being emotionally out of control about his wife, angtttttttty spy, intense, screwed-up, manipulative, good, occasionally funny is pretty much a deadly combo.
Out of various secondaries who wander through the books, Lucien is my favorite. I think I am going to get to his book next :)
Oh, this is the book set in 1814 where hero marries the woman raped by his brother as a matter of honor, and they fall for each other, but hero has to keep sleeping with French spy to get info causing massive angst for heroine and himself...It's oddly not particularly melodramatic.
ETA: finished it and it was good to the last page. Mmmmm. Except now it's super-late and I am going to be brain-dead tomorrow.
I ship Eleanor/Nicholas like mad, and I do give huge points to their relationship being very usual for a romance novel (neither constant bickering nor some mad making out, but a sort of an irresistible attraction hindered by secrets and hurt and closeness that is only growing by teeny millimeters). Plus, you have no idea how refreshing it is to have a romance novel where things are hinted at and not spelled out and you have to interpret little things - the fact that the hero is so controlled and tries his best to hide his emotions certainly helps, but there is a general 'less is more' attitude in this book which really works. And aaaaaah, the angst, the delicious angst, because he's fallen in love for the first time ever and she's his wife but he has to push her away to protect her and seduce the woman he hates...
I really like Eleanor, who has a lot of grace in an untenable situation, but I confess the book is made for me by Nicholas - smart, control freak who is terrified about being emotionally out of control about his wife, angtttttttty spy, intense, screwed-up, manipulative, good, occasionally funny is pretty much a deadly combo.
Out of various secondaries who wander through the books, Lucien is my favorite. I think I am going to get to his book next :)
Oh, this is the book set in 1814 where hero marries the woman raped by his brother as a matter of honor, and they fall for each other, but hero has to keep sleeping with French spy to get info causing massive angst for heroine and himself...It's oddly not particularly melodramatic.
ETA: finished it and it was good to the last page. Mmmmm. Except now it's super-late and I am going to be brain-dead tomorrow.