The Admiral's Penniless Bride

I really appreciate Carla Kelly's character work and dialogue. This story is tougher than most of the other's I've read of hers. The heroine is a widow and lost her young son to starvation. As a parent this made for a difficult read when I got to how she both described it AND when she references it later in the book.

I absolutely loved this book up until the 3rd act break up. They meet adorably at a tea shop after she's spent her last penny to travel for a position that no longer exists. She's broke as a joke and not eating much. I think CK has done an excellent job of showing how vulnerable women are at the time, espcially women who don't have family to rely on. She meets the admiral, who has a hook for a hand, as he's waiting for what amounts to a blind date/interview for his future wife. He figures since he was going to marry a stranger (who didn't show) why not marry this pretty and charming woman instead. So they marry.

CK let's them spend time falling in love slowly, it's slightly open door and has more explicit intimacy than I'm accustomed to in her work. I loved that the heroine likes sex and has missed it. They have a healthy sex life and both like and trust each other. They're totally in love when his BFF and estate manager exposes her secret to the admiral.

Her husband was a clerk and had been involved with a terrible tragedy that affected enlisted men and caused their very painful deaths. While her husband had not been responsible for the tragedy he was found guilty of causing it (he was framed). The admiral believes the heroine manipulated him and hid her husband's crimes from him and the rest of the world. It's important to know that essentially the whole of England hates this man (her dead husband) and belives he was evil and greedy, sailors in particular spend a lot of time talking trash about him. He doesn't use any of his critical thinking skills, knows nothing about taking deep belly breaths to calm his irrational anger and while in the throws of unearned betrayal he throws a glass paperweight at her. It hits the door behind her and shatters over her head. She takes off after this and writes him a scathing letter detailing the death of her son and leaves evidence of her husband's innocence. Let's remember, she has NO FAMILY, so when she takes off we have no idea where she might go.

For me, this would have been the end. I'd have been perfectly happy if she took off never to be seen again and left his man to wallow in self hatred. Instead he cuts off the friend that exposed her to him and attempts to get satisfaction for her husband (he is unable to, which, of course, but my HEA needed the actual criminal (a member of the nobility) to pay a price. The admiral tracks her down and she forgives him. Which he did not deserve. At all. Don't throw shit at vulernable people, calm the duck down.