Pink Heart Reviews
SOMETHING ABOUT EMMALINE
by Elizabeth Boyle
ISBN#0-06-054931-9
AVON 2005, 375 pages
Historical Romance-Regency
$5.99 US, $7.99 CAN
Reviewed by Amanda
February 2005
What does a man do when he is constantly being pressured to marry, even though he has no desire to do so? Alexander Denford, Baron Sedgwick, is sick and tired of the members of the ton trying to push their daughters off on him, so in a moment of inspiration, he takes a friend's advice and does something unheard of.... invents a wife. He runs an announcement in the paper, and notifies his family that he has taken a bride, but unfortunately, she is always unwell or busy, and cannot travel with him between his various homes. This serves him well for years, until someone catches on to his secret.
Normally, the discovery of such an interesting secret would lead to blackmail, especially when the secret belongs to someone as wealthy as the Baron. But someone has something much more clever in mind for Alexander. The beginning of what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation in the country with his grandmother is cut short over breakfast one morning. As his grandmother is reading the society columns, better known to him as the gossip, he receives a pile of bills for services to his London home. Thinking them a mistake, he overlooks them, until his grandmother mentions how nice it is to see Emmaline recovered and living in their London home. Between the gossip columns and the bills, Alexander realizes that someone indeed is posing as his fictional wife Emmaline, but for what purpose? Back to the city he goes to make sense of all this mess.
When he arrives home, he finds a beautiful woman calling herself Emmaline and claiming to be his wife living there and redecorating the place. While kicking her out is his first instinct, he can't do that, because she has already allowed family members of his to come and stay with them. How could he explain kicking his own wife out? Seeing as how she is not really doing any harm at the moment, he agrees to let her stay temporarily, until he can get to the bottom of the situation. She's not forthcoming with information about who sent her or what for, and the few things she brought with her yield very few clues. And while Emmaline may look like an angel, it is clear that she is not one. She has a past, one that involves gambling, telling wild stories, and even getting shot. But the more that Alexander is around her, the more he likes her. She doesn't fit in with the ton, although she knows her mother's worn out copy of Debrett's from cover to cover and can act her way through any situation, but she makes Alexander think that maybe having a wife-a real one-wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.
Alexander also has family problems to deal with, namely his cousin Hubert and his wife Lilith, who prove that old saying that cousins really are good for nothing. Hubert is so hung up on being the next Baron in line that of course he doesn't want to see Alexander and Emmaline happy together.... what if they were to produce an heir? I wanted to shout, "Hubert, get over it! It's not going to happen for you, so get a life!". I love my family, but if they were that annoying I wouldn't stop myself from telling them so.
All in all, Elizabeth Boyle has written another wonderful book. At several points in the story I literally laughed out loud. Alexander was an okay hero, but Emmaline really stole the show. She was fun, loving, and brave, even when she didn't want to be. She was independent but it wasn't her war cry, it was just her nature. Alexander's friend Jack, who we met in this book, is slated for his own story in the future, and I look forward to that as well. SOMETHING ABOUT EMMALINE is a fun and sweet regency with a unique plot, and Elizabeth Boyle writes it well.
