From Waif to Gentleman’s Wife is perhaps the densest category romance I have ever read. I sludged through this bucolic account, really to give this book a solid C grade for utter dullness. But in the last quarter of the book something began to click, and I ended up liking Joanna and Ned.

Sir Edward Greaves, a gentleman farmer, is a little bored with his life. When his friend Nicholas Stanhope, Marquess of Engelmere, has an estate that needs major renovation, he decides to take up the challenge. He buys Blenhem Hill and sets off to the Midlands at once, eager to begin turning the farm around. On the way there, his coach is attacked by a group of men he suspects are Luddites. He decides to forego his title and arrive at the house as simple Ned Greaves, manager, in order to befriend the tenants and figure out what’s going on.

Widow Joanna Merrill has just left her position as a governess because her employer’s husband has made inappropriate advances towards her. Unceremoniously booted out in the middle of the night, she is desperate and decides to go to her brother Greville for help. He is the manager of Blenhem Hill, and she hopes he will be able to provide some assistance. She arrives on the doorstep, dripping wet, and stumbles into Ned’s arms. He is immediately intrigued by her. He tells her that her brother had been fired for negligence, but she can stay for a little while until she can get back on her feet. They slowly become friends, and Joanna lingers until the day propriety demands that she simply must leave. Indulging his attraction to her and acting on his pity towards her situation, Ned conjures up a reason for Joanna to stay: he establishes a school for the children of the tenants, and installs her as the teacher. She happily accepts. While their relationship deepens, Ned feels uneasy about lying to Joanna about himself, but he has good reason to believe that the information would put everyone at risk. Besides, Joanna has had bad experiences with the upper gentry and he doesn’t want her to reject him. Meanwhile someone keeps trying to sabotage the estate. Equipment is being destroyed and mysterious men start making trouble. Ned has to save the property quickly and consider the best time to confess his true position to Joanna and his faithful tenants.

Joanna and Ned are practically the same person: simple, generally good natured, and angelically good. They reminded me very much of Mr. Bingley and Jane Bennet: a lovely couple to be sure, but boring as heck. Every thought they form is dictated to us word by word. Every action is reasoned out to the reader before it is carried out. Every feeling is dissected; every blush and telling glance is noted and mulled over long after the fact.

Ned is an incredibly, incredibly good man. Every feeling of lust he has for Joanna is tempered by an equally heavy feeling of guilt. He has a tendency to go over his most recent conversations with Joanna with a fine-tooth comb and mentally praise her courage or shrewdness. Repeat ad nauseum. Whenever he’s complimented, he blushes rosily. He’s just that kind of guy.

Not only is Joanna is just as good as Ned, but she is incredibly turned on by Ned’s goodness. When she finds out that he’s been regularly sending food to an old lady, she’s overwhelmed with the urge to kiss him. He sympathetically listens to a little boy’s plight in a factory, and she is so touched that she has to restrain herself from jumping him. So, these two characters continue on in this way, wanting to kiss each other, mentally berating themselves for it, and eventually realize that they’re truly in love.

The writing style is a little slow and heavy. It tends to drag, and the dialogue lacks a dialogue feel. Simple conversations sound like carefully worded speeches. It almost feels like the author is trying too hard to make sure the mannerisms match the era. It’s either that, or the writing is simply too ponderous.

All of this is sounds dull, I know, but somewhere in the last few chapters, something strange happened. Instead of remaining a dull Samaritan, Ned turned into a desperate man trying to win back his true love. True, he remained eminently reasonable in his wooing, but he actually turned into a human at this point, and I began rooting for him to get Joanna back. Accordingly, Joanna became a character I could actually enjoy, and I enjoyed reading about her time away from Ned and her interactions with her family. Separated from Ned, she became a real person. And when Ned returned, I was glad to see that her reasonableness was still in full-force, and there were no drawn out, wishy-washy rejections. Ned is such a good guy who just needed a break, and I’m happy Joanna gave him one.

So, in the end, From Waif to Gentleman’s Wife is a silly title for such serious people, but I left the book feeling slightly chastened. I deplored the lack of any real mischievousness or spirit throughout the story, but being wholesome and good may not be such a bad thing after all, if it can produce a true romance like Ned and Joanna’s. Exciting they are not, but this is one couple that I know will end up old and content, sitting by the fire and still holding hands.