by Jessica Hart
Powerful uplifting tale of romance
with an unusual heroine
Jessica Hart's Newlyweds of
Convenience is a powerful short romance. Told mostly through the
heroine's eyes, the reader follows on an emotional journey with the
heroine, but just enough ahead of her to know the hero and his heart
before she does. Newlyweds of Convenience is full of smiles, laughter,
romance and emotion.
When Steve, Mallory's prince in shining armor turned out to be lying,
cheating flim-flam man, she lost everything ---- her home, her
business, and her heart. Marriage seemed a good solution to keep a roof
over her head, especially when Torr offered to pay off her staggering,
mind-boggling debt. When Torr inherits a Scottish castle, Mallory wants
no part of this ruin, but what choice does she have? Things go from bad
to worse when they arrive. If the isolation, lack of the modern
conveniences like heat weren't bad enough, there are also wildlife,
scary storms, no neighbors and bugs! Mallory's marriage seems more and
more a mistake and she will do anything to get out of Kincaillie. Can
Torr open her heart to see him in a new light before it is too late to
save their marriage? Can these newlyweds find new start in a new
setting?
In Newlyweds of Convenience,
Jessica Hart creates a modern fairy tale romance, a unique blend of
fairy tale situations imbued with modern psychological depth. Jessica
Hart writes a romance that brings love to the darkest corners of the
heart, a heart in pain. Depression leaves Mallory unable to do little
else but look inwards, turning her hurt and anger against herself. The
reader feels her emergence from depression, step by step. Torr has an
almost magical effect on her as he frustrates her. Her anger empowers
her, turning her feelings outward, giving her energy and an emerging
fighting spirit. Overwhelmed by fear and anger, Mallory fights her way
back from the devastation of her past.
Newlyweds of Convenience
is a bit different than others I have read by Jessica Hart but just as
powerful. Newlyweds of Convenience is almost exclusively told through
Mallory's point of view. The reader questions Torr alongside Mallory,
feeling her anger and seeing his actions through her eyes ---- except
Jessica Hart lets the reader know just a bit more than Mallory,
providing lots of smiles as the reader knows and loves Torr just a bit
more quickly than Mallory. As I followed Mallory and her hanging
relationship with Torr, I felt smiles, tears, laughter. Jessica Hart
takes an impossible hero/heroine mismatch and an impossible marriage of
convenience and turns it into a powerful story of a woman finding love
again with a man whose patience is greater than Job's, a man who truly
loves her even in her darkest moments.
Jessica Hart is one of my favorite Harlequin Romance authors, even more
so after reading Newlyweds of
Convenience. No matter what the plot or no matter how zany the
initial circumstances, she writes a deeply powerful romance. In the
initial stages, Torr (as seen through Mallory's eye) seems an
impossible man --- the reader feels Mallory's growing anger at him,
sides with her....but as the story unfolds, as Mallory emerges from her
depression, the reader feels the changes in perspective through her
eyes. I applaud this author for writing a romance with this particular
heroine, telling her story through her eyes (the character's, not the
author's). Newlyweds of Convenience
is a beautiful, uplifting romance.
Publisher: Harlequin
Romance (July 2008)
