The Stranger I Married

If you're looking for a steamy, well written and wonderful erotic romance, this is it. Sylvia Day is a terrific writer. Lady Isabel Pelham and Marquess Gerard Grayson join together in a marriage of convenience...then Gerard has a life altering experience and leaves town. When he returns he's a different man and Isabel is attracted to him like she had never been before, and he to her. Gerard decides that he wants her and will get her. This is an erotic and wonderfully written story. There is a secondary love story that's terrific too, about Isabelle's brother finding his match. I hope there is a sequel planned, I want to read Spencer's story!

Isabel, Lady Pelham, has learned the hard way that husbands cannot be faithful. Her own marriage to Lord Pelham had ended with his death in a duel over a paramour. Since then she has taken a series of lovers but it's always with an understanding that there will be no permanence, and for the time they are together they will see only each other exclusively. Inevitably, every one of her lovers has wanted more and Isabel severed the relationship. Gerard Faulkner, Marquess of Grayson, is an unrepentant rake. He has no interest in marriage, but he's come up with the perfect plan to thwart his mother's marriage-minded efforts and keep his mistresses from expecting anything from him. Marriage to Isabel, whom he calls Pel, would solve both their problems perfectly. They would both be free to carry on with their lovers as before, but none of them would have any illusions of anything more permanent. Gerard and Isabel will have the perfect marriage of convenience. Before Isabel and Gerard's nuptials he learned that one of his mistresses was expecting his child. Emily is already married so there is no hope of them marrying and legitimizing the babe, but that doesn't stop Gerard from being ecstatic over the news. Six months into Isabel and Gerard's marriage he receives the devastating news that Emily and the babe died during the birth. Gerard is flooded with guilt and blames himself for their deaths. The very same last night he learned of the deaths, Gerard packed his bags and left. Isabel doesn't hear from him again until four years later when he returns home. Only he isn't the same man Isabel had married, this new Gerard is older, wiser, sexier than ever, and determined to turn their marriage of convenience into a real marriage in every sense of the word. Isabel had felt safe with their marriage before. Gerard and she had been great friends and enjoyed their time together when they were first married, but adding sex would destroy everything, wouldn't it? Gerard only wants one woman in his life, but Isabel is convinced that all he really needs is a mistress. She's even willing to help him obtain one. How is Gerard ever going to convince Isabel that she is everything he wants in a woman and that he is all the man she'll ever need? You just can't go wrong with a Sylvia Day novel. With larger than life characters, plots that steal your breath, and sex hot enough to singe the pages THE STRANGER I MARRIED is sure to keep readers up long into the night. I developed a respect for Isabel that I hadn't anticipated when I started reading this novel, but her honesty and ethics throughout this storyline touched me. Gerard did a lot of growing up during the time he was away from Isabel. He left still a young man full of selfish ideals who enjoyed the more debauched things in life. He came back with a man's body and a better understanding of what he truly desired. I loved losing myself in Gerard and Isabel's struggle to come to an agreement on th

Sylvia Day comes through with another well-written and developed story with characters so interesting and passion so sensual that leaves the fan of the erotic romance wondering how it can ever get better. Isabel, Lady Pelham, "Pel" and Gerard Faulkner, the Marquess of Grayson, "Gray" are The Ton's most beautiful and scandalous couple. They marry for the simple convenience of being able to keep their paramours and lead simple lives and although they lead lives of sexual scandal with others, they are friends. These two sensual people have anything but simple lives, as they both fell in love and were hurt at a very young age and did not realize until years later that life was not as convenient and simple as it seems. When Gray's young love Emily dies in childbirth he run off and Pel does not hear from him for four years when he suddenly returns a changed man. He has spent these years at his estates taking stock of his life and growing up and discovering that he wants a real marriage with Pel. When he returns, Pel is shocked and discovers she is sexually attracted to Gray, now the stranger she has married. She has always felt he was like her first husband, Lord Pelham, her first love who hurt her deeply when he did not return her love, but instead turned to a long string of other women, leaving her by dying in a duel over one of his paramours. Gray is determined to prove his love for Pel and feels he will begin by showering her with sensuality and passion, not realizing that this only reminds her of Pelham, but at the same time, while Pel enjoys and relishes his wild passion, she wants some sign that Gray will be committed only to her. There are family characters, Gray's mother and brother, and ex-paramours who try to put a wedge inbetween Gray and Pel's relationship that make the story interesting. The secondary side love story of Pel's brother Rhys is passionate, sexy and sweet, although a bit short and should really have its own story. Overall the book is sensual perfection and not to be missed.

When London's most scandalous couple weds its not for love or money, but convenience. The widowed Lady Pelham can continue her discrete affair with her latest bachelor without the burden of an unwanted marriage proposal and Gerard Faulkner, Marquess of Grayson, can continue his affair with his married lady love and mistresses. As friends, they get along famously, never crossing the line into a 'real' marriage (no emotional/sexual relationship, which neither wants). Neither wants, that is until Grayson, shaken by a recent tragedy, disappears for four years without word. He returns a different man, not only physically, but emotionally. No longer the light-hearted unrepentant ladies man without a care. In its place is a serious gentleman bent on righting the wrongs in his life, begining with his wife. Shocked to discover this new 'man' is her husband back from his self-imposed exile, Pel resists the urges and sparks that fly when the two are near. She guards her emotions well, knowing that Grayson is the one man who can completely destroy her heart if she allows it (even worse than in her first marriage). But Grayson will not be deterred and slowly breaks down her defenses while losing his own heart in the process as well. I have to say that I really enjoy Day's writing. Her stories are quite original; I mean when was the last time you read a historical where the herione is married AND has a paramour?. Added to the fact that the hero is completely in love with someone else in the begining of the book? I truly didn't think Day could pull this one off, boy was I wrong! And the love scenes?!?! Whew!!! I had to practically jump into the refrigerator after reading some of those! They were many of them and they were rather *well* described. But the heart of the matter is whether or not I cared about these two characters. There wasn't much of a story line besides their relationship (no big mystery to solve or misunderstanding etc.) So Day really had to focus on drawing out her H/H. This, I believe, is her strong point. In some books I've read, authors give descriptions of the characters and we're told to just accept that he/she is this or that. Day takes the time (well really the whole book) to give examples of why the characters behave as they do (why Pel is terrified of falling in love again and why Grayson is hell bent on making his marriage a real one). This results in what I think is a book thats a highly emoitional read with well drawn out characters. Just a really great character driven book and ......uh ....the erotic love scenes don't hurt either! ;).