the convenient marriage by georgette heyer

And yet she possesses a selfless love and adoration for her older sisters, a gentle, childlike admiration for her husband, and carefully submits to authority. She gambles, she spends an outrageous amount of money on nonsensical things such as emerald-studded shoes, she proposes to the hero-I mean, what more could you ask for? She's the pinnacle of a strong female. In fact, I think I might like Georgians better than modern-day society. The authenticity of her character for her time period is admirable. She's strong-willed and stubborn and has a mind of her own without being 21st century-like pretty much every historical heroine in any genre is today. So, due to being written in 1934 (and by Georgette Heyer), Horatia Winwood is a typical Georgian young lady. Having fresh (if the 30s can be considered fresh) air breathed into one of my favorite (when done well) romantic plot tropes is fantastic.

There is no overload of petty excuses, no nauseating instances of the heroine/hero making eyes at the other and then acting as though they hate them (so hypcritical), and absolutely no clichés at all-since any MOC clichés had yet to come into existence as of 1934, of course. There is no need to expound upon why they have not consummated their marriage or why they did not marry for love-the reasons are rather evident. It is the most historically accurate and realistic MOC story I have ever read! There is viable benefit for both parties and they quickly assume comfortable roles within their marriage. For part of the book, the romantic aspects between Horatia and Rule are pushed to the back burner, but it is by no means boring. (Want the best of both worlds? I recommend Julie Lessman's novels and Karen Witemeyer's More Than Words Can Say!) TCM is neither. Of course, said guidelines differ between secular and Christian romance, with the former being more steamy and less about true love and the latter usually being downright boring. I cannot even begin to tell you how many MOC stories I have read over the years, but I can say that half-or more-of them are awfully cliched, undeveloped, and follow a set of rules/guidelines that no romance ever should. Quite possibly this is the very first example of the plot trope which has taken the romantic fiction world by storm. Obviously, due to the title, this story is about the loveless union of two parties for their mutual benefit.

#1 It was a MOC (marriage of convenience).

The convenient marriage by georgette heyer