Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage

I have recently been enjoying second chance romance but I skipped to the second to last chapter of this book and came across the heroine proclaiming that she "wasn't a whole person" before she met the hero. Admittedly I was in a very bad mood before I began reading and this may have influenced my emotions, but the heroine's statement irritated me. I have grown tired of romances that suggest that the main characters are not whole without each other. Those sentiments smack of an unhealthy codependence rather than love. I may return to this when I'm in a better mood but I truly doubt it.

I was surprised to be moved so much by this book, because the first book, apart from the Autistic POV (about which I had mixed feelings) was a fairly standard insta-lust mystery romance. I enjoyed it well enough to keep going with the series.

This one is anything but your standard romance. It shows instead the reality of what often follows insta-lust - how a relationship between two damaged people can make less of both of them no matter how powerful their love. It is ultimately a story about a reconciliation made possible by both parties doing their own inner work confronting their demons, owning their prior actions, and changing their attitudes and behaviours. Only then can they tentatively, vulnerably, come back to each other to put it all to work in developing a healthier relationship.

The flashbacks reflect with painful accuracy what a relationship with an alcoholic who has family trauma can be like, and how destructive it can be to both partners. Same with how much effort and dedication it takes to break such an addiction and begin to heal.

It's not a 5-star for me because of genre related reasons- the repetitiveness, the fawning, the stereotypical depiction of Scottish people, and the melodrama of the mystery/suspense subplot.

Ironically, those are among the elements that made the book light enough for me to be able to finish it and, to my surprise, enjoy it, even as I read through reflections of some of the most traumatic moments of my life. In turn, the very elements that were fully expected and made the book less appealing to me, actually made reading this book a healing experience for me.

Objectief gezien is dit zeker geen slecht boek. Het kaart enkele emotioneel zware onderwerpen aan op een welbespraakte, toegankelijke manier. Hierdoor wordt ook serieus wat diepgang gecreëerd bij de personages.

En toch kon dit boek me niet helemaal meeslepen zoals ik gewoon ben bij dit genre, getuigd ook het feit dat ik er zowat een week over deed om hem uit te lezen, terwijl ik dit genre toch vaak op 1 à 2 dagen uit heb.

Vermoedelijk ligt dit deels aan mijn gemoedtoestand en goesting om te lezen, maar ook toch deels het feit dat het verhaal iets te lang werd uitgesponnen en de zogezegd spannende nevenplot te oppervlakkig werd uitgewerkt en ook nog eens abrupt werd afgehandeld.

I actually really liked this. A bit of an eye-rolling start but then it got much better.

Looks like I'm going to be continuing this series even after the disappointing first book. But that may have just been because of the hype.

I REALLY wanted to love this book. I thoroughly enjoy romances with this plot line. They are married, and they are separated for whatever reason, and now they are working through some kind of reconciliation. For whatever reason though, this one just didnt sit well with me. I should probably have stopped reading when there was cream involved. Food on genitals just doesnt really do it for me.

*3.5 STARS. Full review to come.