"Not one of Victoria Alexander's best stories"
Prim and proper Cassandra Effington does not like rakes.
Their carefree ways and desire to do no more than flirt
with the ladies is the complete opposite of everything she
looks for in a man. She is a driven woman, more interested
in her career of decorating manors than in finding a
husband. However when she takes her latest position,
things begin to change. Lord Berkley loves his life as it is, but his mother is
bound to marry him off. When she calls him to her bedside
claiming to be near death, she extracts a promise from him
to have his town house redone, by none other than Cassie.
Sparks fly at their first meeting, but she wants nothing
to do with him. He needs to prove himself to her. They
make a pact to find each other's perfect mate, but neither
expects that the perfect couple will be Cassie and Berkley
themselves. This story did absolutely nothing for this reviewer. The
plot line was thin and not engaging enough to keep her
interest through the final pages. The idea of the marriage
wager between the two adversaries, Cassie and Berkley is
an appealing one, or it should be. However, it failed to
keep the initial appeal of the premise. This reader
finally hung it up a little more than halfway through the
book, unable to stand to read even one more page due to
sheer boredom. The characters are not as well developed as is expected
from a Victoria Alexander novel. Cassie's biggest issue is
the fact she is convinced that getting involved with a
rake will do nothing but cause a huge scandal. Yet readers
never really get a full understanding of why she is
convinced this is the case. Chemistry between the players
is lacking as well. All of the witty repartee shared
between the two, and the interest in each other falls
flat. There is no real emotion in their interactions and
the byplay feels forced and stilted. The Pursuit of Marriage by Victoria Alexander is by no
means one of her better efforts, but die hard fans will
enjoy it nonetheless. © Kelley A. Hartsell, January 2006. All rights reserved.
Reviewed by Kelley Hartsell
Courtesy Love Romances
Posted April 25, 2006
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