The Marriage Lesson

by Victoria Alexander and Alexander Victoria

Book Overview

Lesson #1: Never Tempt a Lady Become a bride? Never Lady Marianne Shelton has come to London to experience life, and marriage is not part of her plan. To finance her independent future, the pretty country miss pens a series of anonymous stories. Soon they are the talk of the ton-and only she knows that her wicked hero is based on none other than bold, brash Thomas Effington, the future Duke of Roxborough. Lesson #2: Never Deny a Marquess, Thomas has...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380818205
• ISBN13: 9780380818204
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: Avon Books
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Disappointing

Not up to this author’s usual standards. No plot, a silly leading lady and puerile humor. Basically a rather silly repetitious book with a silly premise. Frustrating.

Romantic, funny, sensual and witty.

This is the 5th book of this series I have read,(preceded by "The Wedding Bargain", "The Husband List", "The Prince's Bride",and "Her Highness my Wife", although not precisely in that order) and I can say without a doubt that it is my favorite of them all. Thomas is charming, sensual, strong, masterful and an accomplished lover , as any romantic novel hero should be, but at the same time has flaws,and makes mistakes and even gets himself in ridiculous situations sometimes. Surprisingly, that doesn't take away from him, on the contrary, makes him even more endearing and believable. Marianne is bold, romantic, intelligent and a dreamer. I liked the fact that she wears glasses, its kind of different.I enjoyed the sex scenes in this book, they were passionate, and well written and balance a story that otherwise would have been too "light". A nice surprise in a Victoria Alexander book, that sometimes tend to not include enough or not develop well this type of scenes.The story is funny and romantic, althogh there are some things I had trouble believing, like the fact that Thomas needed a clue from Marianne sisters to figure out the stories were about them. Hello? It was pretty obvious.One thing I have noticed about Alexander's novels is that the characters sometimes tend to act in a maner more appropiate to this century than the rigid English society of that time. The heroines are far too bold and the tolerant and even encouraging attitude of the older people (specially the Dowager Duchess)is a little unbelievable.But in general is a good story, fast paced, passionate and charming. A real page turner (I could barely put it down) I strongly recommend it.

one of my favorites

A truly adventurous romance that moved me. It's witty and entertaining, with a fun storyline

A wonderful, light read!

I was surprised to see a reviewer write that this was simply ridiculous. The majority of historical romances go the same way this one did. I actually really liked the book and I loved Alexander's witty dialougue. She had me laughing quite a few times at the exchanges between Thomas and Marianne. What I liked about this book was that Marianne wasn't drop dead gorgeous like her sister and Thomas fell for her for her other qualities besides her beauty. This was my first Alexander book, but I am now anxious to read another one.

5-Stars for Ms. Alexander

Lord Helmsley finds himself in a position no self-respecting rake should ever be placed in: acting guardian to three lovely sisters who are related to him through their brother's marriage to his sister. Helmsley must house these three ladies and launch their debut into society while his parents and sister are out of the country. At the same time, Helmsley has been charged with finding a wife for himself; he believes watching over the sisters will interfere with his own search for a quiet/biddable bride who will believe he hung the moon and stars. (These three are definitely not quiet and biddable!)Finding husbands for the girls would get them out of his house and out of his hair. But, as a TV character used to say, "Surprise, surprise!" These ladies don't want to be married off! After living quietly in the country, they want excitement. In particular, the eldest wants to "experience life" and decides that Helmsley will be the one to instruct her. Despite his being a rake, Helmsley has been raised correctly and knows that he can't seduce his brother-in-law's innocent sister. ("Why not? My brother seduced your sister.") The verbal skirmishes begin and the reader is enchanted. The two verbally fence, dancing back and forth, each winning a skirmish here and there. Each believes they are winning the battle. Marianne wants more lessons from Helmsley who wants to continue as her instructor even while he knows that he shouldn't. THE MARRIAGE LESSON is a genuine 5-star read and an enchanting follow-up to Ms. Alexander's other two novels: THE MARRIAGE BARGAIN and THE MARRIAGE LIST. Ms. Alexander has definitely joined my "must read" list of authors.

A Fun Filled Regency Romp...but read the Husband List first

Before you embark on this treasure, read the Husband List, a sexy, clever and funny novel by Victoria Alexander. In The Marriage Lesson, we find the return of Richard Shelbrook's three younger, lively and affible sisters as well as his very best friend, and Brother-in-law, Thomas Effington...the future Duke of Roxborough. Thomas, a noted rake, has suddenly found himself in charge of these three beauties and is responsible for taking them out into society and finding them suitable husbands, while at the same time find himself a "biddable and soft spoken woman" to marry and satisfy his family obligations. Soon this rake turns into a responsible fuddy duddy, plotting to maneover these adventure-seeking women into the arms of dull and respectable marriage minded men as soon as possible. What he does not expect is that these girls are not quite ready to settle down, especially Marrianne, the vision that unsettles him. Marrianne has other plans, as she has decided to never marry and instead decides to earn her own way as a writer. She has the tons tongues wagging with her weekly, anonymous column of an orphan country girl flirting with her rake guardian and heading for disaster. Very entertaining..and the main characters have great chemestry.