I love the marriage-of-convenience storyline. I was reminded how much when I treated myself to Lisa Kleypas's
Devil in Winter yesterday. I chose this title pretty much on spec, and because Kleypas has rarely let me down in the past. When I opened the cover and read this excerpt, I was sold.
"It's not a love match," St. Vincent said in a clipped voice. "It's a marriage of convenience, and there's not enough warmth between us to light a birthday candle. Get on with it, if you please. Neither of us has had a proper sleep in two days."
Silence fell over the scene. Then the blacksmith's heavy brows lowered over his eyes in a scowl. "I don't like ye," he announced.
St. Vincent regarded him with exasperation. "Neither does my bride-to-be. But since that's not going to stop her from marrying me, it shouldn't stop you either. Go on."
Naturally, there turns out to be enough warmth between the unlikely couple to light that candle in a hurricane...although that doesn't surprise them as much as the fact that they do get along. The dislike doesn't last a tiresomely long time, as happens in some books (the ones that leave me wondering how long the happy-ever-after can last, when there's only lust and belatedly-professed love, but no like.) He ignites the quiet strength in a previously shy, stammering wallflower. She brings out the best in the previously indolent, spoiled rake. And that's the kind of romance I always enjoy, where character growth comes out of the relationship. Where they're both better people because of each other.
Have you read a marriage of convenience story recently? Are you a fan? Do you think they still work in contemporaries today?
Labels: marriage of convenience, reading
posted by Bronwyn Jameson @ 11:14 AM
