more GH...

[insaneneko]

A Civil Contract is a very odd book. I thought it was good, I really enjoyed reading it, but I don't love it. It's about a guy in the army fighting Napoleon who goes back to England when his father dies. He inherits the title and all, but finds out that his father had been very, very bad with the money and that he was basically ruined. Instead of selling everything, including his beloved ancestral home, he decides to marry the daughter of a very rich merchant. It's a loveless marriage of convenience, but the guy makes a good go at it. The book isn't a romance romance, as he's actually in love with another woman whom he can't marry due to his craptastic financial situation. It's very...domestic. The woman he does marry is very good at the home stuff and is very good at making him feel very comfortable. The problems come from the love he has to forget, as well as trying to repress his ingrained snobbery and dealing with the culture clashes when dealing with his wife's father. (The father loves things to be new and shiny--blingy! While the husband is much more into tradition and elegance.) My problem with the book? I didn't get into the wife. She's not a bad character and really is rather admirable, but...just not exciting to me. I felt invested in the husband's feelings, but the wife's were so concealed I couldn't feel anything remotely similar for her.

Speaking of romances, has anyone watched The Inheritence, a made for television piece loosely based on a novella by Louisa May Alcott? Sounds somewhat cheesy, but it may be somewhat good cheese...