My Darling Caroline by Adele Ashworth

I remember when this book first came out - readers really seemed to love it and it was listed on many "best of the year" lists. But there were also people who hated it. I always find it difficult to set aside the buzz about a book and not let it influence my reading (especially when a book is either loved or hated) so this one went into hibernation in my TBR pile and didn't emerge until now.

My Darling Caroline by Adele Ashworth
(1998, Regency Historical) 4/17/08
Grade: 2

Although Lady Caroline Grayson has dreamed of studying botany, her father arranges a marriage to Brent, Lord Weymerth. She hopes to keep their marriage strictly platonic and have it annulled in a few months, but complications keep coming up - whether it’s her attraction to her blunt, mysterious husband, or his many relatives.

Unfortunately, a great disappointment. I’d heard a great deal about this book, back when it came out, so perhaps I was expecting too much. But from the beginning, it seemed like the author was lecturing the reader about how wonderful and brilliant the characters were, rather than showing us. And every few pages, I’d be pulled out of the story by some clanging historical error - I’ve happily read books with major errors - if the book is compelling, I barely notice them, but when a book isn’t good, they start to stand out. (Was “sexy” really a common word in 1815?) I also didn’t find the incessent focus on sex to be particularly interesting (or erotic). But the thing that finally killed the book for me were the many, many plot “developments” that the author kept dropping in the book, rather like anvils. We get illegitimate deaf daughters, evil French spies, troubled estranged sisters, evil mothers, haunting dreams of war - it goes on and on and on. Even though there were some moments of enjoyment in the book, I finally gave up and skimmed the rest.

Most of the time, I don't bother posting about books that I don't finish, but I got over 100 pages in this one, and it was such a popular book in its time - I wanted to include it in my database (and blog).