Mary Jo Putney
The Marriage Spell (2006)
Author: Mary Jo Putney
Genre: Romance (Historical)/Fantasy
Plot Summary:
Abby Barton is a respected wizard healer, but has mostly given up on the idea of ever getting married, until Jack Langdon arrives at her home, dying. Abby is a gifted healer, and is willing to risk her life to save Jack's, on one condition: Jack must marry her if he survives. Jack has a hatred for all things magical, yet finds that the magical healing that Abby affected has awakened his own long-buried magical ability. He must learn to accept his own powers with the help of his new wife, and perhaps in the process find true love. Meanwhile, Abby struggle to be accepted by Jack's friends and peers, who have a natural tendency to dislike magic and those who practice it. Jack is trying to gain the strength to face his mother and step-father, who have taken over his family estate. SPOILER: Jack has been deeply affected by multiple magical spells used to control his actions. One was a spell that made him hate magic. This led him to be open to other spells, the most troubling coming from his evil step-father who has ensnared Jack's mother and is destroying Jack's home estate. Jack finally realizes that he loves Abby when she is almost killed.
Geographical Setting:England
Time Period:1813
Series: Book One of the Stone Saints series
Appeal Characteristics:
Characterisation is very important in this novel. The focus is on Abby and Jack, whose emotions and thoughts are especially well developed as their romance occurs. There are also interesting secondary characters such as Jack's friends who support him even though they don't like magic any more than he does. The storyline has some action, but the focus is on the character's romance. The action is more episodic in nature, as the occurrences around them lead to the main characters falling in love. Like many romances, this novel is framed with a prologue and an epilogue, giving more information about the characters and sharing their happy ending at the end. It has a historical setting, but also includes the existence of magic. The magic element is focused on more than the historical setting, because the magic is a key element in the plot. Like many romance novels, there is a theme of love conquers all, as the main characters work through their differences to find love, and echoed in the story-line centered around Jack's sister, who has to work out problems with her husband. Another important theme is acceptance, since Jack and his friends must accept that magic and the people who do magic are not bad. The pacing varies throughout the novel, with fast paced action scenes such as the beginning where Jack gets hurt and the scene where he faces down his step-father, which punctuate slower emotional scenes between characters. The writing style was very unobtrusive. The writing doesn't get in the way of the story.
Read-alikes: An Arranged Marriage by Jo Beverly features Eleanor Chivenham, whose brother drugs and allows to be raped. Eleanor then enters into a marriage of convenience with her attacker's twin brother. Beverly's novel shares the same plot element of the couple that is married and then has to learn to love each other. It is also set in England in the same time period. It had a similar pacing, with slower emotional scenes punctuated by faster action scenes. Merely Magic by Patricia Rice is about Ninian, a woman possessing a magical ability to heal people. She has given up the hope of getting married until she meets Lord Drogo, and the two are instantly attracted to each other, despite their differences. This book is also in a historical setting, and features a heroine who has magic and feels that her chances of happiness and marriage are compromised by that. It has the same theme of love conquers all. The writing style is smooth and unobtrusive. Not Quite a Lady by Loretta Chase features the romance between Darius Carsington, an unapologetic rake, and Charlotte Hayward, a woman who has vowed never to marry after she bore a child out of wedlock when she was younger. This book is a historical romance set in England. It features strong and interesting characters with problems to solve, like Putney's novel. Uncertain Magic by Laura Kinsale might be a good match. It is about Roderica, a woman who can read minds and has given up on love, until she takes a chance and gets married to an enigmatic and impoverished lord. This novel is a historical fantasy with magical elements, though set in Ireland rather than England. Kinsale's writing style is very similar in that it is unobtrusive and doesn't get in the way of the story. The characterization is similar with strong and interesting characters. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn is the story of Miranda Cheever, who first fell in love with Nigel when she was 10 and he was 19. Ten years later, the two meet again, and Miranda seeks to win his love and heal his heart. Again we have a historical romance set in England. There is similar characterization, with the hero needing to have his mind and heart healed by the caring heroine.
Red Flags: Sex and violence
The Wild Child (1999)
Author: Mary Jo Putney
Genre: Romance (Historical)
Plot Summary:
When she was five years old, Meriel Grahame traveled with her parents to India on a routine trip. However, a violent raid left her parents dead, and Merial was kidnapped. When she was returned to British hands almost a year later, she was silent, strange, and reclusive. Eighteen years later, she has never spoken a word, and lives in a disconnected world of her own on her family's estate in England. She is considered mad by most, including her two guardians, her uncles Grahame and Amworth. Grahame believes her to be beyond help, and wants to commit her to a grim institution; Amworth believes she can still be saved by marriage to the right man. So, while Grahame is out of the country on business, Amworth arranges a marriage between Lady Meriel and Kyle Renbourne, heir to the illustrious Wexham estate and title. The courtship must be swift, since they have only a few months before Grahame's return. But Kyle cannot bring himself to be parted from his dying mistress. Fortunately, Kyle has a twin brother, Dominic, who he sends in his place to play out the role--after all, Lady Meriel is mad, and will never know the difference. But Lady Meriel may not be as mad as everyone thinks, and she and Dominic begin to fall into a relationship that may shatter both their lives. SPOILER: Meriel falls in love with Dominic, knowing full well who he is, and seduces him. Following their declarations of love, Meriel's uncle Grahame returns and commits her to a madhouse, from which Dominic must rescue her before his brother returns.
Geographical Setting: Warfield Manor and London, England
Time Period: 1825
Series: The Bride Trilogy #1
Appeal Characteristics:
The complex and outlandish plot is a key appeal characteristic of this novel--the twists and turns are so unexpected as to leave the reader unable to guess the story's direction, while the fact that it's a romance allows the reader to feel comfortable in knowing the ending will be happy. Additionally, the tone fluctuates between sweetly romantic (when Dominic and Meriel meet, for instance), humorous (the story switches to Meriel's point of view when she vents her frustration at period courtship rituals), and suspenseful (as Dominic and Meriel flee her wicked uncle). Putney includes several lusty sex scenes as well, which breaks the "period melodrama" feel that might otherwise pervade this novel. Characterization also plays a key role in this book's appeal: narration largely jumps between Dominic and Meriel, so the readers are given a good view of the "falling in love" process, as well as thorough background on each of them. Putney's style
is clear and concise, with occasional forays into more earthy language when the story calls for it, largely when things occur from Meriel's point of view. The pacing, like the tone, starts out slow and sweet as the characters get to know each other, and builds to fast-paced as they struggle to overcome the obstacles to their marriage. The local setting of Warfield manor is well fleshed-out, but the period details of post-Regency England are somewhat lacking--a fact easy to overlook in light of the swift plot and sweeping romance. Despite the sometimes intense subject matter, the book remained light, and a compelling read.
Read-alikes: Readers who enjoyed the story of Dominic and Meriel's courtship may also enjoy Putnam's sequel novel, The China Bride (2000), which tells the story of Kyle's romance with a concubine posing as a man in nineteenth century China. For readers who loved the over-the-top plot and humorous touches of Putney's book, Lady in Waiting by Kathryn Caskie may be an appropriate follow-up. It tells the story of Jenny, a lady's maid who finds herself impersonating a lady to woo a handsome Scottish lord. Another book with a compelling period plot and intense characterization is Jo Beverley's Forbidden, which tells the turbulent story of Serena, a beautiful woman fleeing an arranged marriage, and Francis, a young lord who feels he cannot trust her. For a darker, more Gothic tale that maintains the same romantic tension, bursts of humor, and complex plot, try My Sweet Folly by Laura Kinsale. Here, Folie comes to live with her dead husband's brooding cousin, who may or may not be mad. Finally, for a lighter, more humorous take on the "switched twins" theme, try The Accidental Duchess by Jessica Benson. This novel takes place just after Gwen has married her childhood friend Bertie, only to realize that she has in fact been tricked into marrying his twin brother and future duke, Harry.
Red Flags: Meriel relies on some unethical ploys to seduce Dominic, including drugging him with opium; several graphic sex scenes are featured, despite the innocent cover; graphic depictions of a nineteenth-century mental hospital; death of a minor character from a wasting illness.
|top|
|
