Romance Novel Reviews
A Rose In Winter
by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
The premise: The Fleming's are a pathetic family. Avery, the widower, lives with his cripple son and bluestocking, yet beautiful, daughter. He is physically and emotionally abusive at times. In order to pay off his multitude of gambling debts, he is determined to sell his daughter to any rich man who will have her as a wife. Unfortunately for Erienne, all these "suitors" are of a disgusting lot: fat, old, meek, sweaty men with wandering hands. A handsome, virile man shows up at her door as she awaits the arrival of the newest "suitor". Assuming this is he, she is delighted with this man who has manners and good looks. However, the visitor turns out to be none other than Christopher Seton, the man who dueled with Erienne's brother Ferrell, leaving him without the use of his right arm. And so it goes, the very wealthy Christopher attempts to woo the young lady, only to find her and the other Flemings' hatred of him quite the obstacle. In the meantime, Avery comes across the idea of auctioning off his strong willed daughter, making a stipulation that Christopher Seton may not participate.
When all is said and done, she is bought by Lord Stuart Saxton, whom the town people had thought dead from a fire at his estate. The fire left him badly scarred and crippled. Erienne agrees to marry him out of a sense of duty, but comes to an agreement with her new husband that she will not have to consummate the marriage until her innate fear of his visage wanes. In the meantime, Christopher Seton seems to be everywhere she is and has made it quite clear that despite her marital status, he is intent on having her and making her his wife. This rakes at her soul, for as time goes on, she has fallen in love with Christopher but refuses to betray her marriage vows.
In the end, it turns out Christopher Seton and Stuart Saxton are really one in the same: Christopher Stuart Saxton.
The chemistry: I give Christopher and Erienne:
Sensuality:
Miscellaneous notes: I strongly suspected that Christopher and Stuart were the same person from the minute Stuart refused to attend a ball, sending Christopher in his stead. However, that did not ease my ire at Erienne's quick forgiveness. Had a man been deceived in this manner, it would take much more than some sexual tension to ease his anger at betrayal. I felt Erienne should have taken much more time to get over the unveiling. Plus, I hated Christopher throughout this book due to his insistence on having a married woman despite her continued pleas for him to leave her alone. When it was revealed that Stuart the cripple was not real, I felt a true sense of loss, as I had fallen in love with that poor tragic figure. To find out that it was the jerk Christopher all long angered me in a way that it did not anger Erienne. I actually stopped reading at that point, refusing to finish the book. But...curiosity pushed the book under my nose and urged me to finish. I'm glad I did, for Christopher really is Stuart, the kind, caring man. And the more I thought about Christopher's situation, the more I understood and came to forgive him.
Overall rating:
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