The Marriage Bed by Laura Lee Guhrke
Published by Avon
Grade: A-
It was love at first sight for Lady Viola the night she met the dashing
viscount John Hammond. Swept into a whirlwind courtship, it wasn’t until after their vows had been spoken that Viola learned the shattering truth: her beloved John had never loved her, had married her for her fortune…and worse still, saw nothing wrong with that. Heartbroken, she vowed never again to let the deceiving scoundrel into her bed.
John never intended to hurt the headstrong beauty who has become a stranger to him. Now, after years of sham marriage, he is in need of an heir, and John is faced with a luscious, intriguing challenge—seducing his own wife. He must
persuade Viola back into their marriage bed, but this time, he may be the one to
lose his heart.
As much as I disagree with the actions of both the Heroine and Hero, I still loved this book. The sexual tension was perfect, the story was engaging, and I really couldn't put the book down.
Hammond needed a wife with money, and even though he liked Viola, he did not love her. He told her that he loved her so that she would marry him. A few months after they are married, Viola finds out that Hammond kept a mistress while they were courting. She gets all mad about it and kicks him out of her bed. After a month of being denied his husbandly rights, he starts back to having mistresses.
Eight years later, they have still not gotten back together, but Hammon needs an heir, so he tries to get back together to his wife.
Just like a typical man, he says all the wrong things, and it takes longer than he thought to get back into Violas bed.
I was conflicted while reading this, because as much as I disagree with Hammond taking on mistresses, I believe that Viola is just as to blame as he is. She was using sex as a weapon and that is as bad as the cheating.
She was also angry about the money. I understand that he married her for her money and that pissed her off, but thats what they did back then. If this was a contemporary book I would have very different thoughts, but for the era, it was all fitting.
My only complaint is that I would have liked to have seen more groveling from both of them. Sure, they talked and had lots of make up sex, but to me it just wasn't enough.
The Marriage Bed is part of a series. I have not read the first two, but I plan to ASAP. I had no problem reading it alone though.
I really liked this book, too, and I was surprised that I did. Having read the first 2 books before this one, I already had major issues with the hero (we see worse behavior from him in the first two books).
Sometimes authors surprise me. Cheating is one thing I can't abide and yet I enjoyed this one.
Hey there :D I'm glad you enjoyed the book :D one reason why I enjoyed it so much was that to me, it was different than most of the historicals on the market :P However, I'm not sure I agree with you that she was using sex as a weapon... seriously, would you sleep with someone who you know doesn't love you? I guess she was waiting for John to realize his feelings and he never did ^^;
I'm so happy I found the 2nd book at the World's Biggest bookstore! I'll be reading it soon for sure!
Holly, I know that John is cheating on her, but at that time, mistress was quite common though? To me, the fact that it's a historical helps accepting the cheating.
Hi Holly, I know what you mean. I don't put up with the cheating, but since this is a historical, it kinda worked. It's hard to explain.
I read on LLG's website that before she wrote this book that a lot of her fans wanted her to kill John off. I'm eager to see how he was in the other books.
Hi Nath, I would, and I have had sex with someone who didn't love me. I'm pretty liberal when it comes to fornication, lol.
I want to read the first two in this series. I really like Viola's brother. Is his book the first or second?
hey chantal :D
Anthony's book is the first one... and then, the second book is their friend, the writer/composer.
Oh I didn't like the book. I hated the fact that once he needed an heir he decides to work things out with her.
Nath,
I agree it's more acceptable in historicals. That WAS the norm for those days. It's just that seeing them in the earlier books, especially the way Viola was hurt...well, it was off putting. I think it just depends on the context.