Mary Balogh, The Ideal Wife (1991?). I had to struggle to finish, as I didn't like wither mani character much. He's practically perfect and entirely lacking in personality; she's a wet noodle and also a fool. They get married.
One thing I find both a plus and a minus in Balogh is that most of her characters, especially in her earlier books, are of their times in that they're duty-bound and the women tend to be conventionally feminine rather than the spunky tomboyish proto-feminists so common to the genre. It's a strength because I like the realism of it, but every once in awhile I think it gets away from her a bit and she creates characters that strike me as a bit too passive and buffeted by circumstances rather than acting to improve their lives. IIRC, The Ideal Wife struck me that way, though I still basically enjoyed the story.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2006-07-20 03:20 pm (UTC)One thing I find both a plus and a minus in Balogh is that most of her characters, especially in her earlier books, are of their times in that they're duty-bound and the women tend to be conventionally feminine rather than the spunky tomboyish proto-feminists so common to the genre. It's a strength because I like the realism of it, but every once in awhile I think it gets away from her a bit and she creates characters that strike me as a bit too passive and buffeted by circumstances rather than acting to improve their lives. IIRC, The Ideal Wife struck me that way, though I still basically enjoyed the story.