A Love So Splendid
Grade : D

When I picked up this book at the bookstore, I was thrilled about the story I thought I was about to read. A young couple, married in early childhood, who haven't seen each other for years, struggling with love against the backdrop of the American Revolution. Splendid! Then I began reading the actual book and all that splendor went away.

Lord William Remington and Trinity Kingston were married in South Carolina when he was eleven and she four. The marriage was annulled when Trinity's father sided with the rising rebellion, but somehow the document failed to be properly registered. So, William is back from England to collect his wife and make her sign a real annulment so he can marry a suitable English heiress. Trinity, still angry at having been jilted, demands that William use his Royalist influences to extract her father from prison. But it is so tempting to ignore the annulment and make a real marriage out of this mess. . . .

Trinity is courageous and outrageously independent. She is one of those heroines who show their independence by arguing with the hero over anything, regardless of the situation. At the same time, she is fiercely loyal and passionate, also regardless of the situation. William is an upstanding man who is torn between his loyalties to Britain and South Carolina. He is a stuffed-shirt on the outside, but inside, is a kind and hot-blooded man (without the shirt).

Besides Trinity's immaturity, the plotting of this book was a continual problem. If the entire premise of a book is based on an annulment, I expect the author to know something about how marriages were dissolved during the historical time period in question, and that the premise is carried through correctly. As it is, I'm unsure of how the annulment fell through, especially since William's father was so adamant about dissolving his son's marriage. These details were never described. I also have difficulties with a couple seeking an annulment while repeatedly falling into bed with each other - not once considering Trinity's loss of virginity, and possible pregnancy, a problem.

The secondary characters are mainly stick figures that rarely detour from their predestined actions and reactions. On occasion, they provoked a smile, but no response more substantial that that. The setting is similarly very sketchy, and focuses mostly on fashion and the rumors about the moves of the American forces.

To sum it up, the

"yes-we're-married
no-it's-been-annulled
yes-sign-here
no-you-feisty-thing
boink-boink
no-we're-still-getting-an-annulment
boink-boink
no-we're-married"

and so on and so forth, ad nauseam, definitely killed the book for me. And that is overlooking a TSTL (too stupid to live) heroine who couldn't resist the hero or make up her mind about anything.

If I hadn't planned to review this book, I'd have left it halfway through - a waste of my time. It is tolerable - doesn't make you want to gag, or wash, or wall-bang, or even fall asleep. The initial outline was great, but the rest of the read was blurred by Trinity's childishness, and my problem with the annulment proceedings. If you don't demand much consistency from a romance plot and couldn't care less about settings and supporting characters, you might like this book better than I did.

Reviewed by Katarina Wikholm
Grade : D
Book Type:

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : April 4, 1999

Publication Date: 1997

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Katarina Wikholm

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