Nature or Nurture?

I've read several of Allison Lane's Regencies and enjoyed them, although her books have a different style and perspective than many Regency authors. (This book references several of her previous books - even including footnotes referring to previous books! - but I was able to follow the story even though I hadn't read all of the previous books in the series.)

Kindred Spirits by Allison Lane
(2002, Regency) 2/4/07
Grade: 3

Jack believes that he’s lost his honor after Waterloo, and is on the verge of suicide when he meets Marianne, the young girl he saved from the French 12 years earlier. She’s been in seclusion since then, afraid of going insane from the memories of her family’s death. Can Jack save her from her uncles machinations - and can she persuade him to live again?

A typically serious regency from Allison Lane. I found the story compelling, although I got tired of the hero’s constant whining about “bad blood” and “lost honor”. But the heroine was sympathetic, and their relationship was believable and interesting. The characters aren’t very emotional, but I was interested to see how the plot would play out and how the characters would react. Lane has a surprisingly dark view of Regency society, and it gives her books an unusual outlook. However, a revelation in the last pages was extremely disappointing - it undercut the entire “message” of the story, and annoyed me. I had to grade the book down accordingly.

I've read several books where the author throws in a "dramatic revelation" in the last chapter, which eliminates a problem that the hero and heroine have spent the whole book overcoming. The heroine doesn't want to marry an untitled man, but in the end she decides that love is more important. And then - poof! - he gets a title. The hero is poor and doesn't want to get involved with the heroine because she's rich. He gets over the problem, and then - poof! - he inherits a fortune.

Authors may think that this makes the ending "even more happy" but to me, it just seems like a cop-out. It makes the hero and heroine's emotional triumph over their obstacles seem hollow. Maybe some people like this kind of ending, but it really spoils a book for me.