Writing this review was problematical for me. The fact is, I wanted to enjoy The Former Fiancé. I love traditional Regencies and have enjoyed several by Teresa DesJardien in the past. Unfortunately, I did not love this book, and since I also did not hate it, or even dislike it particularly, I found myself in a kind of reviewer’s limbo. What do you say about a book that’s this bland?

Robinson Hollister became the sixth Earl of Rosegoode when his older brother was killed in the war. Because he had never wanted or expected the title, he decided to live as he pleased, and so he left his estates in the hands of a manager and opened a discreet inquiry office (read Private Detective Agency).

He is surprised to have Lady Madeline Dalton show up at his office needing his help. Lady Madeline has quite a serious problem. She has an unwanted suitor who has become obsessed with her and is stalking her with the goal of forcing her to marry him. Mr. Carmichael is becoming more and more insistent, but, despite the fact that he has already left bruises on her once, Lady Madeline cannot convince her father that Mr. Carmichael is not suitable.

The Earl agrees to help Lady Madeline and immediately whisks her off on a completely improbable and mostly pointless cross-country journey. The Earl and Lady Madeline had, at one time, been engaged. She had also been engaged to the Earl’s brother but had ended that engagement as well. Their cross country jaunt served three purposes: it allowed them to find out about the decidedly ho-hum misunderstanding that had caused them to call off their engagement (this was not even a big misunderstanding, it was a slip of etiquette that would have required three minutes, tops, to sort out); it allowed the Earl to learn some private information about his brother; and it allowed the two of them to become thoroughly compromised.

What the long and winding trip did not establish was any spark between the two characters. The most ardent the Earl gets is when he realizes that Madeline is not a “fribble.” Oddly enough, I liked the characters separately, but their romance was completely unconvincing I also enjoyed the last scene and the Earl’s gift to Lady Madeline – if that chapter had been at the end of another story it would have been lovely.

While the lead characters in The Former Fiancé are likable as individuals, their relationship is simply not interesting. The book also suffers from poor plotting, which has not been my experience when reading DesJardien in the past. If you’re looking to give this author a try, check out our archived reviews for her; there are a couple of good titles listed.