"The Wedding of the Year!"
Reviewed by Audrey Lawrence
Posted August 12, 2010
Romance Historical
Weddings! Pink and frothy, full of flowers and jewels -
what was there not to like? Every new wedding Sophie
Harlow had to cover for her newspaper column was different,
but each had the same result. Every wedding evoked the
memory of having been jilted right at the alter and each
one made her sick with the emotional memories. Yet, she loved her job and the bantering interaction
between her and the other society writers at The
London Weekly. They were widely known as the scandalous
"Writing Girls" as many in London were still not as modern
as they could be in 1832. Sophie relished the
respectability, as well as the safe guards the four
scribbling women used to protect their privacy. Being a
journalist was better than the alternatives, as Sophie would
remind herself at every wedding. Knowing that her best friend, Julianna, would get the
details, Sophie rushes from the wedding at St. George's,
before her nerves make her a spectacle. Distracted, Sophie
doesn't immediately notice that she is headed for a worse
disaster, but fortunately, Henry William Cameron Hamilton,
the 10th Duke of Hamilton and Brandon does. After rescuing
the luscious brunette with the delightful pink lips, Mr.
Brandon offers to escort Sophie home after making it clear
he is not married. Truer words were never spoken, but he just happened to
neglect to mention that he is engaged! To make it worse,
his upcoming wedding is the big exclusive Sophie has been
commanded to cover. Sophie is appalled to discover her Mr.
Brandon is set to marry the beautiful Lady Clarissa Richmond
in less than a month. Sophie is dismayed, but is she
dismayed enough to give up hope? After a lifetime of being
a proper Duke, can Brandon give up his honor to follow his
heart? Maya Rodale has hit upon a winner of an idea with her new
series, The Writing Girls. It provides a strikingly
different means to write about the regency period while
still being true to the era. I particularly enjoyed the
interspersion of newspaper columns within and between
the chapters. This device was a great vehicle to keep the
plot moving and to highlight the stress and pretension that
Sophie has to endure. This is a delightful read with its
witty dialogue and strong secondary characters. Given
that, some readers may find Sophie a little too brazen with
her outrageous flirting with Brandon before his perspective
in-laws and Brandon too dithering to be a hero you would
want to dream about. Still, very glad it is a series!
Enjoy!
SUMMARY
Miss Harlow’s Marriage In High Life
London, 1823 A handsome duke. His beautiful soon-to-be duchess. A
whirlwind courtship. It is this author’s privilege to
report on the event all of London is talking about: the
upcoming wedding of the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon to
the only daughter of the Duke of Richmond. Every details
of the “Wedding of the Year” will be reported in these
pages as a London Weekly exclusive. But I, Miss Sophie Harlow, must confess to a secret
infatuation with this “double duke” that can only lead to
trouble. It is impossible that this notoriously upstanding
gentleman would ever jilt his bride for a scandalous
female newspaper writer. And yet...the arrival of a
foreign prince, the discovery of a shocking secret, and
one passionate kiss could change everything. Will this
perfect duke risk the scandal of the year to marry the
woman his heart desires? There are only just three more weeks until the wedding…
Excerpt“Newssheets! Only seven pence!” cried a young man standing
at the corner with a stack of newspapers.“Get yer copy of The London Weekly!” he hollered, this
time to the captive audience of dozens of people waiting
to cross the street, including Sophie and Brandon. “Do you read such rubbish, Miss Harlow? Or are you
particular to The Times?” Brand asked. Sophie managed a
tight smile while thinking Oh, hell and damnation. Not only did she read The Weekly, but she wrote for it.
She could not admit to that, nor could pride allow her to
acknowledge The Times, archrival to her own paper, as
worthy of her attentions. Nor did she wish to lie and said
she did not read a paper at all. It would be horrible for
Mr. Brandon to think her uninformed, or a fool. She so
wanted to impress him. “I believe most of London reads that rubbish,” she said.
When the path was clear, he pressed his hand at the small
of her back to guide her through the crowds, and she
experienced a shiver of pleasure. “That is the truth. The Weekly is the one with those
scandalous Writing Girls, writing about yet more
scandals?” “The very one,” Sophie answered, thinking that Mr.
Knightly, proprietor of the paper, would love that
description. “And what is your opinion of those scribbling
women?” Everyone in town had something to say on the matter. She’d
never been so keen to know what anyone thought until now.
“I think it is scandalous, but far preferable to some of
the other options available to a woman,” Brandon answered
and Sophie smiled broadly. He would understand her chant
of Seamstress or servant; governess or mistress. She was
about to tell him that she was one of those scandalous
women writing about scandal, but then— “Of course,” he continued. “I’d probably feel differently
if the woman in question was one of my sisters, or my
wife.” Sophie was, unfortunately, reacquainted with the sensation
of hopes crashing and one’s heart sinking. “Do you have a wife?”
“No,” he said, and she waited for him to say “however,”
or “but” or to anything to send her hopes and heart into a
tailspin, but he did not, and she dared to dream and
entertain thoughts of This One.
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