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Admirals Penniless Bride (Historical) (2000)

by Carla Kelly(Favorite Author)

3.73 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Mills & Boon S/O

review 1: Carla Kelly is one of my favorite historical romance authors and whenever I pick up a book of hers I know that I'll have my heart strings pulled. The Admiral's Penniless Pride is a complicated book as it deals with characters with major secrets, some odd power dynamics but also a wonderful couple. The Admiral has recently retired and is worried that his family is going to be breathing down his back, but if he married then a wife will manage them. The heroine is down to her last cup of tea as the woman she was going to be a companion for died. She's a widow who's husband committed suicide after being court martialled by the navy in an infamous trial and her child died due to the ensuing poverty, after this she went back to her maiden name to hide. She and the Admiral connec... moret and agree to a marriage of convenience but soon find that they're in love with each other. There were two aspects of the plot that I found off putting. The Admiral's servants are all former sailors including the man who's his butler and who is incredibly protective of his master. This man goes out of his way to get in the way of the romance while seeming to ignore how the two make each other happy. It didn't make sense to me, I felt like if he cared, there would be a point when he'd accept her. Then there was the Admiral's reaction to finding out about her husband, it felt over the top and as if all that happened before didn't matter. A well written book but not one that I would easily recommend as the issues that are dealt with are treated respectfully, yet there are elements of melodrama.
review 2: I really enjoyed the banter and the setting of this book. I thought that Admiral Bright was a wonderful character and that his difficulties assimilating into a society he wasn't accustomed to (civilian instead of sailor, with all the social niceties required, and being socially awkward) were very realistic. I also liked Sophie very much. The problem, to me, came with the ending - it was simply too abrupt. I never felt like I understood why Starkey disliked Sophie from the beginning, and I didn't think that the admiral would send him packing permanently. Rather than going out and looking for Sophie himself, Charles instead wallows in a month-long drunk in his wine cellar. That doesn't seem like something he would have done.In short, this book started off very well, but resulted to contrived events (including Sophie's pregnancy) to stumble to an end. Given the strength of the beginning, and the unusual hero, it would be worth a re-read on a rainy day, though. less

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