Book Review - First Comes Marriage

Book Review

First Comes Marriage

Mary Balogh

So last week the call went out over our Facebook page wanting to know if anyone was a romance novel reader and could do a review.  Hmmm…It’s been a while for me, but I could use some fun and fluff reading.  But where in the world to start?  Historical Romance?  Contemporary Romance? Paranormal Romance?  Historical Western Romance?  What in the world are people reading?  What do they want to know?

After an exhaustive search of the library’s e-book collection and several top 150 book lists, I finally settled on Mary Balogh’s First Comes Marriage.  I’d never read any of Balogh’s books so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  What I had really hoped was to find something I could review that would be interesting enough to lure in some of the most voracious romance readers, as well as tame enough that one could recommend it to her mother without worrying that she’d be shocked at the content.  First Comes Marriage definitely fit those requirements.

Set in England during the Victorian Era, First Comes Marriage is the first in a series of six “Huxtable” novels about a young family of three adult sisters pulled from the class of commoners and elevated to the aristocracy when their younger brother inherits an earldom.  At the center of the story is Vanessa Dew (nee Huxtable), a young widow accepted as the “Plain Jane” of the family.

Though she lacks the physical beauty of her two sisters, Vanessa’s inner beauty shines through in her every word and through her endless sense of humor.  Basically, those around her become easily enamored by her contagious laugh and ability to find joy in the smallest of things.

Through a series of events and for the sake of convenience, Vanessa marries the stoic and humorless Elliot, Viscount of Lyndon, and now has a huge task in front of her with her new husband.   Can she help him find his sense of humor?  Can she teach him to be happy and find joy in the world around him?  Can she teach him to love?

While First Comes Marriage certainly follows the prescribed formula of most romance novels, I found the characters to be well-developed and interesting, and the overall story to be compelling.  Simply stated, I enjoyed it and found it to be an nice change from what I’ve been reading lately.

First Comes Marriage is available at the Rochester Public Library in paperback format, or through SELCO in e-book and downloadable audio format.

For more information about this book or the author, visit her website by following this link.

~ Catherine H. Armstrong