Romance Around the Corner: TBR Challenge 2011 Review: SOS: Convenient Husband Required by Liz Fielding

May 17, 2011

TBR Challenge 2011 Review: SOS: Convenient Husband Required by Liz Fielding

I have been meaning to read this author for quite some time and since this month’s theme was Marriage of Convenience I had the perfect excuse to do it.

May Coleridge, the heroine, is in serious trouble. Her very rich grandfather has died and in the will there is a clause that states that if she is still single by the time she turns 30 she won’t get anything. This includes the huge manor and everything inside it. Since her 30^th birthday is in less than a month and she is very much single, you can see why she is a bit worried. Parallel to this, Adam Wavell, the hero, is also in a pickle, but a very different one. His irresponsible sister has disappeared leaving her baby behind, in his office to be precise. Ever since May rejected him for not been good enough (she was the rich girl, he was the boy from the wrong side of the tracks) he has been quite detached from his feelings and wants nothing to do with a baby. You can see what’s coming right?

The story had quite a fairytale feel to it. I think this was because it was set in England, the prose was very beautiful and the heroine talked to animals. Well, not really, but boy did she had Disney stamped all over her. She was clumsy, a little bit plump, very caring, she had an array of stray animals under her care -including bees- and she was overall very good, very nice, and very useless (maybe useless is a harsh word, let’s just say unprepared for life in the real world). It might seem like I didn’t liked her, but I actually did. She was endearing and I was rooting for her. The author managed to create a very likeable character full of traits that under any other circumstance should have been annoying, but with May they worked like a charm (no pun intended).

Adam was too a likeable character. He was also a bit of a cliché, but again, Fielding managed to make it work. He was the poor boy who took care of his irresponsible mother and even more irresponsible sister, who fell in love with the quirky rich girl from school. And who became a scorned almost-lover when she rejected him in High School. Now he has become the rich tycoon who owns the heroine’s ticket to salvation. He was wounded but he wasn’t an asshole. He did have some assholish intentions towards her, but I never believed him capable of hurting her and I think that neither did he.

The ending of the story was a bit crazy. The book was doing fairly well until that point and then it went insane. The fact that even after all the implausible things that happen at the end I was still liking the book, is quite a measure of Fielding's quality as a storyteller. The only thing that really bothered me was that the big revelation at the end wasn’t really a revelation at all. He kind of knew all along and was too pigheaded to accept it. That was a bit anticlimactic to me, and absurd (although more absurd was the part where they traveled “east” to America to gain time… They went what, through China? Last time I checked if you go from England to America you flight west. Technically you could flight east, but not if you want to get there as soon as possible...).

Overall I liked it, I enjoyed the writing style, and the book was fun. If you are looking for a quick and entertaining read, then this book is for you. If you like sweet stories with even sweeter heroines then by all means grab this one. This won’t go to my keeper list, but without a doubt I will be reading more from this author.

Review by Brie

Grade: 3

Sensuality: McDreamy

Synopsis:

May Coleridge must marry before she's thirty to inherit her family home and keep her new business afloat. Adam Wavell comes from a long line of wastrels—but he's turned his life around. He's a corporate success story and a pillar of the community. Only, now his flaky sister has left him with her screaming baby! A deal must be done. May will help Adam with his niece if he'll answer her SOS!