Guest Review: Secrets of a Wedding Night by Valerie Bowman

Our book begins with widow Lily Andrews attempting to find money in her account books that don’t exist. Lily, her sister Anne, their butler and one maid have lived off of 10 pounds a year for the past 5 years and the money is just not enough. Lily’s good friend James Medford is sponsoring Anne’s debut ball but they still need money to eat! The ironic thing is that everyone in the ton is under the impression that she’s rich. Not soon after the book begins Lily is visited by her old beau, Devon Morgan. Devon is pissed off that Lily wrote a pamphlet called Secrets of a Wedding Night and because of its content it has caused his fiance to call off the wedding. Devon doesn’t actually know for sure that Lily wrote it but that’s the rumor. I have no idea how that rumor is started or why anyone would think it was Lily but there you have it. Lily denies it but Devon is pissed and wants a retraction written. When Lily refuses Devon swears revenge. He assures Lily that since she wrote about the horrors of the wedding night that she just hadn’t been with a man who knew what he was doing. He tells her that he intends to seduce her and prove to her how wrong her pamphlet is. Right away I knew that the characters in this book were going to be overly dramatic. It didn’t bode well for the rest of the book but I read on.

The couple tends to ebb and flow in their love and hate for each other. They don’t trust each other, they don’t believe in each other – it doesn’t set things up for a solid HEA. Five years ago they were in love but she received a note on the morning that she was to elope with him saying he was crying off. He received basically the same note. For the last five years they’ve believed the worst about each other and for all of the conversations that are had over the course of the story they don’t clear that up until the end of the book. Why, oh why, did we have to wait? The story could have gone on had they known that info earlier! *sigh* She’s destitute but he just lets everyone think that he’s poor but he’s really quite wealthy. I understood this to a point but after all was said and done it just didn’t make that much difference in the story even though it was brought up constantly.

Anyway, Lily is shy and quiet one minute and saucy and provocative the next. It was a bit disconcerting going into each chapter not knowing what to expect. At times I really liked the couple but most of the time I found them childish and not all that likable. The heroine was controlling and manipulative and so was the hero in his own way.

When I finished the book and Lily and Devon had had their happily ever after I can’t say I was all that satisfied. The story is filled with dishonesty, rumors, innuendos and not so witty banter. I found the book to be frustrating and in the end just an ok read.

Oh…and an aside…see the man on the cover?  Is he wearing a corset?  I swear at first I thought it was her sleeve but when you look closely it’s black and very, uh, corset-like.  Opinion???

Rating: 2 out of 5