A Christmas Wedding Wager by Michelle Styles

I had hopes for this one... alas...

A Christmas Wedding Wager by Michelle Styles
(2007, Victorian) 1/1/08
Grade: 3

Seven years after her romance with charity boy Jack Stanton ended, Emma Harrison has devoted herself to her father and his bridge-building. She has discovered her own interest in engineering, even though as a woman her options are limited. But when Jack returns, now a great success, will her dreams be destroyed - or will she find love as well?

Although I loved the setting and background of the book, I found the relationship between the hero and heroine frustrating. At the beginning, there are a lot of misunderstandings, and the hero treats the heroine quite badly - and yet, the heroine keeps saying how she can’t help falling in love with him. (Why?) I was especially frustrated by the odd pace of the book at the beginning - the supposedly serious heroine is worried about dangerous problems with the bridge, and yet fusses over dances and dresses. The hero says he admires the heroine’s work, then dismisses her. I got very tired of all of this, and just wanted these two to get a grip and talk to each other. But even when the characters did finally start getting along, there was still something odd about it - I just didn’t get the emotional connection between these two characters. Their relationship still felt stilted and strained. I actually had a hard time finishing this book - I can put up with plot contrivances if the emotions are there, but with these characters, I just couldn’t find a real emotional connection.

There was just something about this book that didn't work - the characters just rubbed me the wrong way, I guess. Hard to explain - like a shoe that just doesn't quite fit.