The Penniless Bride

Jemima Jewel is in my opinion the most delightful character ever portrayed in a romance novel. The description of Jemima and her brother and their family of chimney sweeps is beautifully drawn. It made me want to have sweeps at my wedding. The blossoming relationship between Jemima and her husband is sweet. It is somewhat of a fairy tale, true, but the world is full of tales of people falling in love against society's dictates. The sexual tension is thrilling and without using explicit language Ms Cornick still manages to pump up the volume.

Lord Robert Selborne, if he intended to inherit his beloved home Delavel, had to marry one of the women present at his cousin's wedding according to his father's will. The number of candidates were slim - exactly two, to be precise - until Rob meets the charming chimney sweep's daughter after the wedding. Since the sweep's daughter, Jemima, interested him, he chose to ask her to marry him. Of course, he would let her know that it would be a marriage in name only, but wouldn't exactly tell her why - his grandmother's will had stated that if he wanted to inherit the 40,000 pounds she left him, he would have to be celibate for 100 days. But when circumstances happen that keep bringing Rob and Jemima together, can Rob manage to keep his hands off Jemima that long? Jemima Jewell had grown up on the rough streets and knew better than to believe in anything like love. Love was a tale for children, and it only brought hurt in the end. But when her abusive father was about ready to force Jemima into an unhappy marriage, Jemima took the lifeline Rob had thrown to her and decided to marry him, instead. Rob assured her that their sham marriage would be annulled, and that he would buy her a house in London while he lived in the country. It seemed like the perfect arrangement to Jemima, until circumstances forced her to join Rob in the country. Could she keep her heart from falling in love with this man? This book was pretty good. I liked both Rob and Jemima. Rob seemed like a pretty easy-going guy, and although he tried to fight it, he couldn't deny his growing attraction for his wife. Jemima was intelligent and fairly independent, and had no desire to fall in love with anyone. I could identify with that. Rob and Jem seemed like real people, unlike a lot of romance book characters. The secondary romance of Jemima's brother Jack and Rob's cousin Letty was an interesting one, too. I would read their story if they had their own book :) The story was unrealistic, especially towards the end when the truth came out about Jemima's humble beginnings. I just don't see people accepting a sweep's daughter into society. Still, a very good book and I enjoyed reading it.

This regency set historical romance was almost a fairy tale - the reader definitely needed to suspend disbelief to enjoy it. For it was indeed a most enjoyable confection, a light-as-air pastry to be enjoyed.Robert, Lord Selborne has been forced to return to England by the death of his parents and inheritance of the title. His lawyer has interesting news for him - to be sure he is to inherit a good deal of money necessary for the running of the estate from both his father and grandmother. However... there are some very nasty strings attached to each and the said strings are pulling against each other. His father's will impels him to marry a 'lady' who attends his cousin's forthcoming marriage within a month or lose his unentailed inheritance to his cousin. If that is not enough, his grandmother's will grimly requires him to remain celibate for 100 days to teach him a moral lesson! Robert is not amused.Fate, though, rescues him from a fate worse than death with a nasty cousin in the person of Miss Jemima Jewell, an unexpected 'guest' at the wedding. Very unexpected - as she is the daughter of a master sweep who attends as a part of one of the 'traditional' superstitions attached to the wedding. She is also a 'lady', due to the fact of her education as one at the hands of Mrs. Montagu's school. The by-product of this has also been her own alienation from her origins, especially her father who is wanting to marry her off to his own advantage.The pair are instantly attracted. Robert eventually persuades her to make a marriage 'in name only' and she agrees to find her own independance. Then fate tweaks the tale again and the marriage becomes real. They travel to his country estate - they both begin to know each other and discover their roles.This is a most charming tale, despite all the blind eyes one must turn to the improbabilites of trick wills, noblemen marrying sweep's daughters and daft lawyers.Robert and Jemimna are believable and very sympathetic characters. Jemima is especially wary of him and his station, her gradual acceptance of the reality of his sincerity is well done. Poor Robert's double bind is stretched out to create a good deal of sexual tension between the pair. Jemima's brother is also swept into the tale involving a murder, highway robbery and yet another unlikely romance.All highly charged - very entertaining, but definitely requiring a grave suspension of reality.