The Obedient Bride

One reason I love a Mary Balogh novel, so much, is she always gives equal time to her hero and heroine. This feature allows her reader to look at each character's side. In THE OBEDIENT BRIDE, this Balogh trait helped the reader to understand fully "both sides," for Mary Balogh's THE OBEDIENT BRIDE is about adultery. It is poignant, heartbreaking, and wonderfully executed. Refined Viscount Astor was getting married - to a complete stranger. It mattered not! For a wife would not alter his life, she simply would add her presence in his home and provide a child or two in his nursery. No, Lord Astor's life would not change deeply. He would go about as he normally did - enjoying his clubs, his games of cards and of course, his delicious mistress, Ginny Cox. The fact that his future wife was a stranger made little difference to this cultured "man about town!" How embarrassing! He thought he was marrying her beautiful sister, Frances. Oh, he must have been so disappointed when he realized that she - plain, dull Arabella Wilson - was his intended! Viscount Astor was confident, handsome, and experienced, while she was dreadfully plain, plump, and provincial. Oh how inferior she truly was! Well! The surprise was on him! If he blanked the sister from his mind, Astor supposed he could do worse than Miss Arabella Wilson. He supposed he could reflect on his marriage without cringing or wincing in horror. After all, Arabella did seem undemanding and she did say she would make him comfortable and obey him. He supposed she did not displease him entirely! Weeks into their marriage and suddenly something died! Was it her innocence? Yes! Perhaps her faith? Yes, that too! Her faith in him had died! He had a mistress! Someone he went to regularly! How could he go to another woman and do those things . . . to her? His lordship had willingly married HER! He had promised himself to her. He had sworn to God! Casually, he told her it was unimportant and that it was common practice for a gentleman to keep a mistress! He told her to grow up! How wrong! Oh . . . how wrong he was! Reviewer's Comments: When another person hurts us, they injure our pride or self-esteem. We are disappointed and we lose something. Something very valuable to us and we want the offender to pay. In THE OBEDIENT BRIDE, Mary Balogh skillfully maneuvers all over these feelings. Why does she do this? To tear my heart out, throw it on the ground, and stomp upon it! Holy, when Mary Balogh is on, I love her! No wonder she is a best-selling author, Mary Balogh can write poignancy! When Arabella confronted her husband with his continued adultery, it was heart wrenching! The scene was powerful and unforgettable. It was the story's turning point and it was bitterly sad. Although, Lord Geoffrey Astor knows he has betrayed the woman he vowed to protect he refuses to reform and this reluctant reformation makes Mary Balogh's hero human. THE OBEDIENT BRIDE is wonderful. Yet, it doe

I enjoyed this book, and would probably have loved it, if it hadn't been so underdeveloped. The outline or the bones of this book are great, but the story really needs to be fleshed out. I also think this would have been a bit more interesting if the heroine were older than 18. In short, this would have been absolutely wonderful if it had been a full-length book. Maybe this is one of those instances when an author ought to consider an update or rewrite, because this has the potential of being a best seller. (But, please, please don't do it, Miss Ballogh, unless you love the story and characters enough to do a better job than Catherine Coulter in her attempts at rewrites). With these provisos, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. If not entirely satisfying, it was nonetheless a quick and enjoyable read.

Arabella marries Geoffrey to save her older sister from a marraige of convenience. She does it out of a sense of duty. Geoffrey marries Arabella out of a sense of duty as well. Several weeks into the marriage she finds out he has been keeping a mistress, Ginny Cox. Arabella is extremely hurt by this. Geoffrey does not want to, but he feels some guilt and is very sorry Arabella has been hurt. He doesn't not know why he should feel guilt since theirs is not a love match and it is common practice for husbands of the ton to keep mistresses. I don't usually like any kind of adultery in my romance books. However, I'll make an exception for THE OBEDIENT BRIDE. Mary Balogh writes about it in a very satisfying way. By the end of the book, I was rooting for Geoffrey and Arabella. I was extremely happy by Geoffrey's actions after Arabella found out about his mistress. Did he become angry and arrogant? No. Did he become immediately contrite and admit he was wrong. No. Read this book! It is wondurful.

A young self-sacrificing type ends up married to her father's heir so her sensitive older sister can marry her true love. This is a very low key novel where love triumphs because the heroine insists on nothing less than full fidelity from the hero (who's a little thoughtless and a lot unfaithful, but reforms fully). A nice little romp in the park.