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A review by niamhreviews
The Stranger I Wed by Harper St. George
2.0
I am so disappointed.
I loved the Gilded Age Heiresses series. Love it! It's my jam. And when Harper St George announced a spin-off series, I was 100% invested. And then I read the book (well, I read the vast majority of it and even that felt like pulling teeth) and I was so let down, I had to lie down. 'The Stranger I Wed' is, ultimately, a rather dull, repetitive book that feels like it's been done before - even by this author! It feels like she's plagiarising herself, badly. Fundamental issues with pacing, with character and ultimately, with the plot itself prevent this book from being as strong as 'The Heiress Gets A Duke', the first book in the previous series.
Firstly - these two do not get close to fucking until about 3/4 of the way through the book. There's 1 brief moment, lots of thoughts of doing stuff (but no action) and not even any real chemistry. Even when they do sleep together, the chemistry remains absent. I think this is largely because the characters themselves have no real conflict or even a spark between them that makes us want to read about their relationship. Everything Cora does that's 'different' from what Englishwomen would do is happily accepted by Leo - there's no push back, no conflict. Leo himself is a bland, two dimensional figure that offers very little despite the author constantly telling us how significant he is in government and how passionate he is about his work. Similarly with Cora - after a very strong prologue, her entire personality crumbles into 'I think I've done everything wrong, please give me approval big strong man'. There is nothing preventing these two from getting to the inevitable conclusion than their own unmotivated reasons.
Speaking of lack of motivation: neither of them had any. Leo is built up as having been rejected by a girl he loves and now won't fuck his own wife, despite the fact that he clearly wants to. This is not a bad motivation by any means, but it's never utilised to its full potential. The author just tells us everything, shows us nothing and it makes for a painfully boring book. Give us the conflict! Why does it always have to be him going to her - why can't Cora go to him? These two just do not ever communicate and it ruins the entire book.
The pacing is not bad, but it needed to be used better. These two enter into a marriage of convenience and you would hope that them being pushed together would create these wonderful sparky moments of chemistry and it just...doesn't. The chapters are very repetitive - it feels like at least 100 pages of this were just filler because the author didn't know what to write - and it doesn't move the plot or characters along. Occasionally other people appear to set up further books, but no one leaves much of an impact.
I was bored, truthfully. This book dragged and dragged, it was dull and in another author's hands, I think this could have been a much better executed concept. Go read the previous series to this book - you'll be spoiled by August Crenshaw who is much better written.
I loved the Gilded Age Heiresses series. Love it! It's my jam. And when Harper St George announced a spin-off series, I was 100% invested. And then I read the book (well, I read the vast majority of it and even that felt like pulling teeth) and I was so let down, I had to lie down. 'The Stranger I Wed' is, ultimately, a rather dull, repetitive book that feels like it's been done before - even by this author! It feels like she's plagiarising herself, badly. Fundamental issues with pacing, with character and ultimately, with the plot itself prevent this book from being as strong as 'The Heiress Gets A Duke', the first book in the previous series.
Firstly - these two do not get close to fucking until about 3/4 of the way through the book. There's 1 brief moment, lots of thoughts of doing stuff (but no action) and not even any real chemistry. Even when they do sleep together, the chemistry remains absent. I think this is largely because the characters themselves have no real conflict or even a spark between them that makes us want to read about their relationship. Everything Cora does that's 'different' from what Englishwomen would do is happily accepted by Leo - there's no push back, no conflict. Leo himself is a bland, two dimensional figure that offers very little despite the author constantly telling us how significant he is in government and how passionate he is about his work. Similarly with Cora - after a very strong prologue, her entire personality crumbles into 'I think I've done everything wrong, please give me approval big strong man'. There is nothing preventing these two from getting to the inevitable conclusion than their own unmotivated reasons.
Speaking of lack of motivation: neither of them had any. Leo is built up as having been rejected by a girl he loves and now won't fuck his own wife, despite the fact that he clearly wants to. This is not a bad motivation by any means, but it's never utilised to its full potential. The author just tells us everything, shows us nothing and it makes for a painfully boring book. Give us the conflict! Why does it always have to be him going to her - why can't Cora go to him? These two just do not ever communicate and it ruins the entire book.
The pacing is not bad, but it needed to be used better. These two enter into a marriage of convenience and you would hope that them being pushed together would create these wonderful sparky moments of chemistry and it just...doesn't. The chapters are very repetitive - it feels like at least 100 pages of this were just filler because the author didn't know what to write - and it doesn't move the plot or characters along. Occasionally other people appear to set up further books, but no one leaves much of an impact.
I was bored, truthfully. This book dragged and dragged, it was dull and in another author's hands, I think this could have been a much better executed concept. Go read the previous series to this book - you'll be spoiled by August Crenshaw who is much better written.