Once a Gentleman

I love this so much. I have read it twice already. This is the first book that I have read that I can really relate to the character Pru. I am so like her. If I was back in that day an age I would so be Pru. I am very shy (a wallflower), clumsy, easily blush, easily emberrassed, and everything else like Pru. Except I can't play the piano if my life depended on it. And Nicholas is great, I love his charater so much. Except his stubborness about her money is nice (especially in that time when women were nothing but a property), but i think that it kind well got annoying. But in the end he sees his mistakes in it and fixes it. I love this it is a book I can never get tired of reading.

Prudence has been in love with Nicholas for so long...but the last thing she wants is to marry this man when he does not love her, and to potentially see him come to resent her.I had tears in my eyes so many times reading this book. Prudence's situation was heart-rending at times. This is a very emotional story; right up there with the best of Mary Balogh in that regard.Pru is a sweet, shy gal who has managed to survive her boisterous, aristocratic family who take her for granted. It was so fun to watch her try to be flirtatious and seductive--she just couldn't. over the course of the story she grows confident adn strong. Nicholas is a realistic hero with some serious, though not insurmountable, character flaws, including his selfishness and his hypocritical views of the aristocracy versus himself and Pru.This is a sweet love story about a woman who dreams of an impossible love, only to discover that her dream man isn't perfect but only human, and a man who grows to love the wife forced upon him by discovering who she really is and by learning some unpleasant truths about himself. These two do not love because, but despite...despite their flaws and the difficulties in a relationship. It's a very mature, realistic, and warm story that touches the heart. Perfectly lovely.

Okay, I admit it, I'm a sucker for a true blue romance novel. And this book fits the bill. Nothing is forced; all the emotions, and the way they develop, are very real. This is the sort of novel that leaves you believing the characters will go on to live their lives, raise their children, and grow old together. (Forget that it's the Regency, and we're on their great-great-great grandkids now!) It's a wonderful warm tale that I, for one, loved.

Not very many authours can write a quiet and elegant romance novel that revolves around a couple forced to marry and not fill it with swirling and overpowering emotion (be it anger, hate or passion) so that you rather loose sight of the original plot premise, the forced marriage. But Candice Hern succeeded admirably here, I thought. A word of warning however, if you're more in the mood for a romance novel that fairly reeks of sexual tension and passion, you might want to give "Once a Gentleman" a miss. If on the other hand you're in the mood for a book about a couple that are compelled to marry, where the heroine is in love with the hero, but where it takes the man a while to fully appreciate and fall in love with his admirable wife, that is written in a more restrained vein, then you definitely will enjoy "Once a Gentleman."Nicholas Parrish as always seen Prudence Armitage as a mousy but intelligent friend -- the good sort, but definitely not the type he would ever consider marrying. And yet, because he unintentionally ends up compromising her, that is exactly what happens. Now newly married man Nicholas Parrish has to consider the best way to go about making his marriage to shy and demure Prudence work. To start with, he'll be the very picture of a patient husband and not press her for marital intimacies until she's ready. What Nicholas didn't know, however, was that Prudence has been in love with him for quite a while now, and that she is more than willing to be "true" wife to him. But Prudence also realizes that she's not the type of wife Nicholas would have chosen for himself if he had had the choice. Will Nicholas and Prudence be able to make their marriage work? Or will continue to blunder about in misconception and misapprehension forever?I think what I liked most about "Once a Gentleman" was that both the hero and heroine are nice, likable people -- it's nice to read a romance novel where you like both the main characters and where you don't spend a lot of time wanting to brain either. Another thing I really liked was that the authour didn't take the path of turning her heroine into a sudden supermodel with a few snips of the hair and a new wardrobe. Yes, Prudence does get a new hairstyle and more attractive clothes, but she suddenly doesn't become the Season's latest sensation with hordes of Regency bucks panting after her, thus making the novel another one of those where the hero learns to appreciate his wife via jealousy. Prudence remains the shy, reserved young lady that charmed me from the very beginning. And this allowed for the authour to add a little humour to the bits where Prudence tries to flirt with Nicholas only to have things go terribly wrong. It also made things seem terribly realistic. If you know nothing about flirting, and are not used to it, to suddenly acquire the prowess of a siren seems rather unrealistic, and yet you always see this in most books! Also nicely done was the gradual manner in which Nicholas grows to

Marriage of convenience stories are fairly common in Romance. What sets this one apart is the depth of characterization. Prudence is crazy about Nick. Nick thinks of Pru as a friend, barely notices her as a woman. A compromising situation forces them to marry, and what unfolds is a lovely story in which each of them learns there is more, and less, to the other than they had thought. Nick's slow realization that Pru is a remarkable, and surprisingly attractive, woman rang very true. He is basically a good guy, but somewhat self-absorbed. His growth as a character is more profound than hers. He has further to go to reach a committed, loving relationship. He has to learn to compromise, to give as well as take. Pru's character growth is especially poignant, as she has to come to terms with the knowledge that the man she secretly worships is no idol, but perfectly (or imperfectly) human. She is very shy and reserved, and her behavior, as well as her internal musings, seemed extrememly realistic for a shy person. She can't always speak what she feels, but we hear what she is thinking, and we share her pain and joy and frustration. Sometimes her shyness makes for particularly comic moments, especially when it comes to physical intimacy. When she reaches a crisis that compels her to stand up for herself, to speak her mind, this reader cheered.This is one of those books that focuses on the romance above everything else. There is no complicated plot. No suspense or mystery. No villain. Just two people learning to love each other. This is Romance at its most pure. And this reader loved it.