I’ve always wondered why many Regency romances start to sound the same and use the same plot devices. After reading Confessions From an Arranged Marriage, I am starting to realize why the old tried and trues are reused. It is because they work. With this book, Neville tries to take the old cliché of a “compromising position” forcing a marriage and turns it on its ear. Unfortunately, it doesn’t succeed at making the plot enjoyable and it made me long for a reused and successful old cliché.

Minerva Montrose has grand political aspirations. Unfortunately, as she is a female living in London in 1822, she can never become a politician. So in true Machiavellian style, she plots to choose the perfect husband to give her the next best thing. She wants to be the woman behind the man with all the power. She has looked over the Members of Parliament and found the perfect victim, um, I mean candidate. Now all she has to do is seal the deal.

Blake Vanderlin is the heir to the most political dukedom in England. If he had political aspirations, he would have a life of power and prestige ahead of him. But Blake has a secret that he has kept all his life. He is unable to read. Rather than admit his failing, he has done a wonderful job convincing his father that he is a lazy wastrel. Because, for some reason, that is a preferable option than that he is stupid. Unfortunately for Blake, now his father thinks he is a lazy wastrel and a stupid idiot, but for some reason, Blake prefers that.

When the lazy wastrel is drunk one night, he unwittingly compromises Minerva and the two are forced to marry. Only this is not the typical “compromising position” of a Regency couple. These two seem to truly hate each other. Minerva is angry that she had to give up her plot to marry the Member of Parliament. Blake is angry with his father and Minerva and determines that he will never provide Minerva, or his father, with an heir (which he caves on fast enough to show us he has no self-control). Next, he decides that he wants to win her affection before letting her in on his big secret. Meanwhile, Minerva the Great (for everyone seems to think she is brilliant) can’t put the clues together and discover that her husband is really quite intelligent. It didn’t take long before I realized that it was not a problem with Minerva not being able to figure things out, it was that she didn’t care to. She was far too selfish to concern herself with the problems of anyone she considered beneath her. And, as close as she came to calling her husband an idiot to his face, it was clear she considered him beneath her.

I have to say the concept of the story intrigued me. The two were forced to marry due to their “compromising position” and I really liked idea. But in practice, this story just didn’t work for me. For one thing, the beginning so convincingly showed why the two characters hated each other that I ended up not liking them. Blake was irresponsible and uncaring and Minerva was a snobby brat. Once the two were married and spent a decent honeymoon together, I began to appreciate them a little, but all too quickly the Big Misunderstandings (including a gift of jewelry to Blake’s former mistress and of Blake’s dependence on his younger sister) reared its ugly head and the two were fighting to gain back that little slice of promise that they had once felt.

Eventually, I began to like Blake. In fact, I began to feel very sorry for him. He tried to have a reconciliation with his father, but events got into the way. He put a lot of effort into wooing his wife and even goes so far as to let her become a spy for his family in order to make her happy. At every turn, Blake showed potential. But Minerva was hopeless. She went from a snobby brat to a spoiled one who was nearly unbearable to deal with. Though she proclaimed far and wide that she was an advocate for egalitarian rights and liberal ideas, she was guilty of such petty snobbery against her husband than it was really unforgivable in a romance novel.

Frequently the story became too intent on the dull politics of the day. My main complaint was that the politics didn’t further the story; it just gave Minerva an opportunity to once again show her “brilliance.” Even Minerva said it at one point to (and about!) Blake – people who just talk about themselves are boring. Well, this book seemed all about creating a plot around Minerva’s interests and it didn’t take too long for that to bore me. I personally would recommend a pass on this book. Even the cameos of past characters aren’t worth slogging through Minerva’s story.