Grade D:

Sabrina Winfield has longed for stability for her daughter and herself since her first husband died young and virtually left her penniless. She has been an example of just what a young woman should be, not calling attention to herself and living an exemplary lifestyle. The Earl of Wyldewood's son is engaged to her daughter, yet he might just have designs on the Mother of the Bride. After all, he is in need of a wife himself and what a lovely woman she is. Sabrina has vowed never to need to depend on a man. Very uncharacteristically of her she decides to head to Egypt in search of treasure that will provide her daughter with a proper dowry.

I had a lot of problems with this book. I will say that I was quickly sucked into the story by a charismatic character in Lady Sabrina and her wild adventure after a treasure. However, Lady Sabrina after a few short chapters turned out to be a very annoying character. She was extremely hard headed with her own perception of things with not much bending room. She came across as immature and flighty, which I did not find endearing in the least. I liked Nicholas more than I did Sabrina. He seemed to have a good head on his shoulders and I was quick to take his side over things rather than Sabrina's, but in the end, I wondered what he saw in her.

There was a secondary love story between Sabrina's daughter Belinda and Nicholas's son Erick. Their relationship was just touched upon but did not really delve beneath the surface. I cringed at Sabrina's reaction to her daughter at times and vice versa. Belinda was exactly as Sabrina raised her, yet Sabrina would get annoyed with her daughter's behavior when that was how she was taught to behave. Sabrina and Nicholass love story was moderately believable at best. I can't really recommend this book. It was definitely not my style.

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Bleh. This book had the basic ingredients of a pretty good historical romance. However the execution just did not work for me. Victoria Alexander TELLS you how these characters fall in love but she never SHOWS you. They pop from scene to scene with sudden and significant changes in both relationships and feelings without much reason for why things change. There is too much instantaneous love and people behaving and speaking in a manner that doesn't seem to fit the historical time period. It was a challenge to finish this book.

Another very minor gripe is that the picture on the jacket is of a young woman but the character is actually 36 with a grown daughter.

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Took a while for me to get this one read. The plot is slow, and not very interesting.

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From the cover...An ideal spouse, the Earl of Wyldewood had decided, should be pleasant to look at and agreeable to display on his arm. She should have little effect on his well-ordered life, and little to do with his private pursuit of pleasure. After meeting Sabrina Winfield, he thought he had found the woman to fit the bill. Graceful and genteel, the exquisite blonde seemed a perfect match. But appearances, the Earl was soon to discover, could be deceiving. For beneath Sabrina's delicate beauty lay the most infuriatingly stubborn, wildly adventurous woman he'd ever known. And now his plans for a proper marriage were about to go dreadfully awry. For suddenly all the mighty Earl could think about was silencing her biting repartee with his kisses, diverting her schemes with expert seduction, and forever surrendering his heart and soul to her capable hands.

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