The Marriage Bed

Okay, so this book is about an unfaithful husband and a broken marriage. If either of these topics are off limits to you..pass this book up. If you're like me, the premise was a bit intriguing. I love books that are about second chances. The idea that no matter how "messed up" a person or a situation is...there can be healing and restoration. This book taps into that premise. John Hammond and his wife Viola have been estranged for many years. Living separate lives, both have consummed themselves with different things. Viola with friends and community projects...John with wine and women. He has admittedly had several mistresses. After a tragic accident, it becomes necessary for John to reconcile with Viola so that he can ensure an heir. He begins the painful process of courting his angry and bitter wife. This book is funny, touching, painful, and very sweet. I loved John and Viola's courtship. The scene where they have the question and answer session with "brutal honesty" was so heart wrenching, but necessary for this couple to move forward. The museum, pond, and picnic scenes were all memorable, fun, and believable. I don't hesitate to recommend this book.

I found this book to be emotionally deep and very moving. Viola's pain was heartbreaking and as I read and re-read their arguments I was completely pulled in by her pain and how she gave voice to it. Especially the sword fight scene where she lays her pain completely open by telling him that she can't help but think about every woman that he has touched in ways that should have only been meant for her. It's at moments like this that I almost wanted to cheer out loud. I thought the ending was very powerful as he was brought face to face with the anguish his behavior had caused. His inability to feel deep emotion due to the abscence of love in his childhood was sad and I felt that he needed a dramatic event to bring about a self analysis of his behavior. The author certainly provided that climax which almost had me holding my breath as the mistress collapses in tears on the stairs to his home. Bravo! At that moment I truly wondered what any of the characters were going to do. I thought this novel was well done with intense dramatic moments and dialogue. While I am not generally interested in adultry in my romance novels I admit I was taken over by this one and felt that the hero's childhood, which seemed to lack any role models for healthy emotional relationships, made his actions while painful, real for this character.

Let me preface this by saying: I married young to a man I placed high on a pedestal and he fell flat on his face after one glorious year. I think Laura Lee Guhrke has done an outstanding job of writing the main characters. Remember that when they marry, Violet is all of 16. She doesn't have the maturity to understand men or the physical side of life and her hurt blinds her to everything else. I am shocked at how much readers thought the feelings were so unbelievable. When I read this book, it was like walking into my life (except 200 years ago). I hero worshipped my husband and he failed my expectations miserably. But we worked it out and I love him more now then ever before because I realized that no one is perfect. I don't blame myself and that is not at all what Ms. Guhrke was trying to portray (which another reviewer wrote). She was writing both sides of the story. Also, clearly some readers do not understand this time period. Men had mistresses. Period. The fact that he had one before and not after his marriage (when they first marry) is a testimate to the fact that he was did feel strongly for Violet and was trying to make their marriage work. Contrary to other reviews, I think John is absolutely one of the best male historical characters I have ever read. He is so human! I don't want a hero who is the most handsome, sensitive, caring, Perfect man in the world. How boring! How unrealistic! John was a flawed man who has never learned to love and because of this, he lost the adoration of his wife. So many times I read romance novels that describe the male character and I wonder how, if he is so perfect, how can he still be so pure and not swarmed by women (please). This book is about two real flawed characters and their attempt to forgive and start over in order to carry on the family title (make heirs). Violet was written almost as well as John. She was a stubborn daughter of a Duke who is used to having everything her way. She loved John from nearly the first moment she saw him and is absolutely devestated when he falls from the pedastal she placed him on. Such understanding and insight is given to Violet's character and yet she isn't seen as the perfect wife, either. She has her flaws and her own part in their seperation. Ms. Guhrke is not saying that it is Violet's fault and whoever thinks that is not reading this book thoroughly. Warning: if you are offended by cheating husbands who try to reform, do not read this book. He has slept with other women and freely admits doing so. I know this can sometimes be offensive to women. Usually, I am the kind of reader who will stop reading a book if the hero does not give up his mistress after he marries the heroine. I like my rakes reformed :-) but this book is different. This starts 8 years after the marriage has fallen apart and tells the story of how 2 people who made a lot of mistakes try to put it all back together again. I could re-read the playful bantering a

Well, I knew this would be an emotional tear jerker before I'd even turned the first page. What is it about characters and stories that go so horribly wrong at some point, and you just know you're in for a rocky, emotional read, but you go ahead and punish yourself anyway? Because, for me at least, it is so worth it when the characters reach a beautiful reconciliation. So, yeah, I'm willing to shed a few tears and mope for the hero and heroine, cry, laugh and cheer them on because that sort of reaction is what makes a book worthy in my opinion. When you feel strongly for the characters, you know you've found a winner. John Hammond knew he'd be inheriting a viscountcy one day, but the yoke of responsibility was never one he worried about. Why worry when he has a relative to rely on for such boring things as an heir? When the unthinkable happens to his beloved relative, John is again faced with the fact that he must have an heir. Thankfully, he already has a wife...now he just has to convince her to let him back in her good graces after almost nine years of being out of them. Lady Viola has gotten on with her life after her husband trounced her heart in a most unforgivable manner. She no longer needs the unscrupulous man, but when John enters her life once more, demanding she do her wifely duty, her carefully constructed world comes crumbling down around her. What is she to do in the face of the one person whom she thought she could trust with her happiness? John is determined to claim his wife again, but the real question is has he learned anything from his past mistakes? As wretched as I felt for both the hero and heroine, I just could not stop till I had completely finished their tale. John and Viola are the type of historical romance couple readers will either love or hate. Both have been wounded by the other and simply cannot come to terms with their differences and so they trade hurtful barbs and cutting remarks for years. The reason they worked for me, I confess with no small amount of glee, is that John does have a remarkable revelation about his character, his utter disregard for the feelings of the women in his life. He was a lier, he was a cheater and he broke hearts. In a way, this historical is unique because it tells of the awakening of a typical "rogue" and how he comes to realize how his actions have hurt others, especially his estranged wife. I just love it when a character like his gets what's coming to him. In this case he got an in-the-face dousing of pure and simple reality. It just took the love of an exceptional woman like Viola to help him accomplish it. Did he deserve her? No, not really. But did they deserve a chance at happiness? Absolutely, and that is what this book is all about. I just love it too when I find a new author to read and I am planning to backtrack to her previous titles before this one. Many interesting secondary characters - i.e. Viola's brother Anthony and his wife Daphne, their mutual friend Dylan - a