I assigned The Proper Wife to myself because Julia Justiss has gotten two really positive reviews from AAR: one for A Scandalous Proposal, and another for her novella in The Officer’s Bride anthology. I haven’t read either of her other books, but my curiosity had been whetted. When I picked up this book, it was clear to me that the praise for her previous work is well-justified: Julia Justiss is definitely an author to watch.

Colonel Lord St. John “Sinjin” Sandiford returns home after Waterloo to an estate on the verge of bankruptcy. He must marry an heiress almost immediately if he is to have any hope of saving it. Since his childhood sweetheart Sarah (the heroine of The Wedding Gamble) has already married, he figures it doesn’t much matter who he marries anyway. Sarah’s husband offers to help him find a bride, and Sinjin tells him he wants to find a wealthy girl with middle class roots. His experience with ton women is that they are all vain and flighty.

His first glimpse of Clarissa Beaumont does nothing to disabuse his notions about aristocratic females. She is obviously wealthy, beautiful, and surrounded by admirers. Sinjin can’t help admiring her beauty himself, but he’s sure he would never marry someone like her. Clarissa soon cements Sinjin’s negative impressions by getting into a foolish predicament. Her handling of the consequences earns his grudging respect, but he still proceeds with his plan to wed someone from the middle class. But try as he might, he just can’t get Clarissa out of his head, and she is afflicted with a similar problem. But when Sinjin compromises her and feels honor-bound to propose, she refuses him because she wants him to want to marry her. Meanwhile, Sinjin becomes more and more sure that Clarissa is exactly the right woman for him.

The Proper Wife is another perfect example of a book whose elements have been seen before. We have an impoverished military man returning to civilian life, who falls in love with exactly the sort of woman he originally disdains. And again, what makes this book work are the characters. I particularly admire the heroine. Clarissa is definitely out of the common way, and she may be a little too unusual for those who demand perfection in their heroines, because she definitely isn’t perfect. When the book begins she seems self-absorbed and a little shallow. Some of the things she does are not exactly brilliant. But she never comes across as stupid; instead she seems human. She’s a refreshing change from all the perfect bluestockings out there, and even though she’s a little vain she never teeters over the edge into conceit.

Sinjin is similarly likable. I haven’t read the previous book, in which he apparently figures prominently. That in no way hampered my enjoyment of this one, because Justiss does an excellent job of explaining Sinjin’s grief over his lost love with Sarah. I also found it refreshing that Sarah and Sinjin really loved each other but were able to go on with life and find other partners. Typically the hero faced with this problem discovers that his former love was actually a lying, money-grubbing virago. How nice to have Sarah and Sinjin move on with life and remain friends.

This book wasn’t quite a DIK for me, mostly because Sinjin and Clarissa take their time falling in love (and it was a little too much time for me). But The Proper Wife is a darn good book that I heartily enjoyed reading and can recommend without hesitation. Julia Justiss can definitely join the ranks of “Buried Treasures.”