Continuing my reading journey through a grandmother's collection primarily of romance novels, I'm writing about the first book I picked out of this pile. Married at Midnight is another collection of stories, this time historical, all bearing the same title and about couples rushing to marry before a midnight deadline, most of them finding love only after they've become husband and wife.
I like this one a little more than the Christmas collection I reviewed last, maybe because I can handle old-fashioned values in an old-fashioned setting better than in a modern one. Also, while the heroines in this collection still might not be very active participants in their relationships, they're all fairly brave at some point in their story.
Jo Beverly's heroine searches out the father of her unborn child on a battlefield in Belgium so that she can marry him and ensure that the child won't be born a bastard. Samatha James tells of a heroine's attempt to end her father's meddling in her love life. In Tanya Anne Crosby's story the heroine works very hard to maintain the estate she's inherited, and attempts to fulfill the will's obligation that she marry while still keeping her independence in running the estate. And finally Kathleen Woodiwiss's heroine stays brave and defiant despite being kidnapped by a despicable smuggler and believing that her new husband is dead at the hands of one of his lackeys.
So even though they still expect their heroes to make the first move (and really all moves) in the relationship department, these heroines show quite a bit of initiative outside of the romance arena. For that reason this is a collection that's still fairly readable.
I like this one a little more than the Christmas collection I reviewed last, maybe because I can handle old-fashioned values in an old-fashioned setting better than in a modern one. Also, while the heroines in this collection still might not be very active participants in their relationships, they're all fairly brave at some point in their story.
Jo Beverly's heroine searches out the father of her unborn child on a battlefield in Belgium so that she can marry him and ensure that the child won't be born a bastard. Samatha James tells of a heroine's attempt to end her father's meddling in her love life. In Tanya Anne Crosby's story the heroine works very hard to maintain the estate she's inherited, and attempts to fulfill the will's obligation that she marry while still keeping her independence in running the estate. And finally Kathleen Woodiwiss's heroine stays brave and defiant despite being kidnapped by a despicable smuggler and believing that her new husband is dead at the hands of one of his lackeys.
So even though they still expect their heroes to make the first move (and really all moves) in the relationship department, these heroines show quite a bit of initiative outside of the romance arena. For that reason this is a collection that's still fairly readable.
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