[W5E]∎ Download The Ideal Wife Signet Regency Romance Mary Balogh 9780451170439 Books

The Ideal Wife Signet Regency Romance Mary Balogh 9780451170439 Books

Download As PDF : The Ideal Wife Signet Regency Romance Mary Balogh 9780451170439 Books

The Ideal Wife Signet Regency Romance Mary Balogh 9780451170439 Books

"If you could set before me the plainest, dullest, most ordinary female in London, or in England, for that matter, I would make her an offer without further ado."

FINAL DECISION: With a trippy premise (proposing marriage on minutes acquaintance), this book does so many things right. The hero is so wonderful. The heroine, unfortunately, drove me crazy with her secrets. Overall, I thought it was well written but not among Balogh's best.

THE STORY: Miss Abigail Gardiner is a survivor. After being dismissed from her position as a lady's companion she decides to approach a remote "cousin" who is a also a complete stranger to ask for help in finding a new position. Miles Ripley, Earl of Severan refuses to give her a reference but instead proposes that the two marry. Miles wants to wrest control of his life from his interfering female relatives who have already chosen his bride despite his wishes. He decides that Abby who appears quiet, plain and shy will be the perfect wife to marry, give him an heir and then not interfere with his life. Abby, however, has secrets that threaten to tear their marriage apart in ruin and scandal.

OPINION: What I loved best about this book is how Miles accepts and falls in love with Abby even though he is completely mistaken about her personality when he proposes to her. Frankly, he is almost a saint because Abby lies to him, keeps secrets and risks ruin and scandal again and again. He treats her with respect and generosity at every turn.

Abby on the other hand is a mixed bag for me. She is caring and protective of others. She also makes stupid decisions, keeps secrets far too long and threatens her own marriage. By the time, Abby's last secret is revealed, I could only roll my eyes at her behavior.

One of the best part of Balogh's novels is the sense of realism that she infuses in her books. Here, there is no instant attraction and torrid love scenes. The sex life of the characters has a progression and they have a more satisfying sex life as they open up to one another.

There is also overlap in the story here and the next book's romance (Miles' friend is the hero in the next book).

WORTH MENTIONING: The book was originally published in the early 1990s.

CONNECTED BOOKS: THE IDEAL WIFE is the first book in the Stapleton-Downes series.

STAR RATING: I give this book 3.5 stars.


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The Ideal Wife Signet Regency Romance Mary Balogh 9780451170439 Books Reviews

This is a cute little romance with smart characters and a few well-written sexy scenes to round it out. Very worth-while. Abigail is in a bit of trouble in Victorian London. While protecting her best friend from the advances of their boss, Abigail has lost her position. Rather than walk the streets, she turns to a very distant older cousin for help in securing a new position. She's desperate.

Instead of finding a much older cousin she finds his much younger son, Severn, who just happens to be gorgeous. It turns out Severn needs a favor from Abigail as well - the way out of an almost-arranged marriage to a society gal who might be beautiful and exactly right for him but he wants something different- a docile, agreeable, plain woman whom he can control. Severn, instead of offering Abigail a position, offers her marriage. Abigail accepts. As they get to know each other, they slowly begin to realize that all is not as it appeared on their wedding day. Will Severn be happy with the real Abigail? Can Abigail trust Severn enough with the secrets of her past? Will they actually fall in love? Indulge in the Ideal Wife to find out.
This was a very pleasant read. The villain was already dead and the secondary villainess wasn't much of one at all.

In fact, the real villain was more of a mind set than a person.

BUT this was still a very enjoyable read. It was a story of redempation and being able to forgive youself - to allow others to accept you for what you are. To make a marriage (or any close personal relationship) work you have to learn to trust others - to allow them to accept you in spite of whatever stupid thing you might have done or feel responsible for.

The author has written far better books than this but it is a very good 'first' effort. I have read several of her books and many of them are 9.0 and above. Her ability to make the reader care for the characters is extraordinary and is something I wish I was able to do when I write.

This kind of book, when well written, allows a person to feel like they are actually a part of the story - like you know the 'people' involved - like they are real and not just on a page.

The book arrived quickly in perfect shape. Price was about 10% off list.

A very solid 7.5 to 8.0 out of 10. I highly reccomend this author to any one who wants a character driven story.
Premise of the story is that miles - hero and newly tuned earl, marries Abigail within three days of meeting her in order to avoid being forced to marry someone that his mother and sisters have chosen for him. He believes Abby would make a plain, dull and sensible wife who will not try to manage his life and will fade into the background. Abigail in reality is not at all dull or plain or even sensible at all times. Abigail’s family has a somewhat disreputable past and elements of this past threaten to come out and shatter their marriage. The story revolves around how the H and h come to trust each other and fall in love.
The thing I disliked about this story was that Abigail tried to hide things from miles even though he had told her multiple times not to be afraid of him. This made me really reallly annoyed especially about her parentage. And I hate hate hate when a lead knowingly succumbs to blackmail.

Not Balogh’s best. The next four books of this series are so much better. Skip this one!
This was an easy read, light and fun. There are not many characters and there is no major drama between the main characters. I give it there stars because I kept thinking, this whole story takes place in about two weeks. Miles never gets upset or angry and Abby is such a delight they seem to good to be true. Otherwise, it's a good book. I was disappointed with the ending. I wanted Miles to confront a certain character who has caused Abby so much stress....instead the book sort of just ended. This is not the author's best book, but it was a good story.
"If you could set before me the plainest, dullest, most ordinary female in London, or in England, for that matter, I would make her an offer without further ado."

FINAL DECISION With a trippy premise (proposing marriage on minutes acquaintance), this book does so many things right. The hero is so wonderful. The heroine, unfortunately, drove me crazy with her secrets. Overall, I thought it was well written but not among Balogh's best.

THE STORY Miss Abigail Gardiner is a survivor. After being dismissed from her position as a lady's companion she decides to approach a remote "cousin" who is a also a complete stranger to ask for help in finding a new position. Miles Ripley, Earl of Severan refuses to give her a reference but instead proposes that the two marry. Miles wants to wrest control of his life from his interfering female relatives who have already chosen his bride despite his wishes. He decides that Abby who appears quiet, plain and shy will be the perfect wife to marry, give him an heir and then not interfere with his life. Abby, however, has secrets that threaten to tear their marriage apart in ruin and scandal.

OPINION What I loved best about this book is how Miles accepts and falls in love with Abby even though he is completely mistaken about her personality when he proposes to her. Frankly, he is almost a saint because Abby lies to him, keeps secrets and risks ruin and scandal again and again. He treats her with respect and generosity at every turn.

Abby on the other hand is a mixed bag for me. She is caring and protective of others. She also makes stupid decisions, keeps secrets far too long and threatens her own marriage. By the time, Abby's last secret is revealed, I could only roll my eyes at her behavior.

One of the best part of Balogh's novels is the sense of realism that she infuses in her books. Here, there is no instant attraction and torrid love scenes. The sex life of the characters has a progression and they have a more satisfying sex life as they open up to one another.

There is also overlap in the story here and the next book's romance (Miles' friend is the hero in the next book).

WORTH MENTIONING The book was originally published in the early 1990s.

CONNECTED BOOKS THE IDEAL WIFE is the first book in the Stapleton-Downes series.

STAR RATING I give this book 3.5 stars.