Not Quite a Husband

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Synopsis

Bryony Asquith has chosen to live an unconventional life by becoming a doctor in a time when women rarely do. She's brilliant and well-liked by her patients and fellow medical professionals, but rather lonely in her personal life. Bryony has known the handsome Leo Marsden since childhood and she's developed an attraction for him. Leo is everything Bryony wishes she could be, outgoing, charming, and sought-after by society, while she's introverted and socially awkward. Since Leo is the fifth son of an earl with little money of his own and she's an independently wealthy heiress, she proposes marriage, thinking that even if he isn't attracted to her, he just might want her money. Her plan works, but a mere week before the wedding, Bryony discovers Leo doing something that sullies her opinion of him and dooms their marriage from the start. Six month later, she finds herself asking for an annulment, which he grants her, after which she travels the world, putting her medical skills to good use. Three years later, she's surprised when Leo tracks her down in the mountains of northern India, stirring up her feelings for him again, but can she forgive him for past mistakes?

Leo Marsden is brilliant in his own right, a mathematician whose accomplishments go far beyond calculations. He's been deeply attracted to Bryony from afar since they were children, but never thought anything would come of it until the day that she asks him to marry him out of the blue. He cares for her, but they've barely had a chance to get to know each other as adults, and he thought there would be a long engagement in which they could do just that. However, Bryony insists on a quick wedding. Leo agrees, but in a moment of cold feet, he makes a crucial mistake that he has no idea Bryony even knows about. Instead, she seems cold and distant from the moment their vows are said and then asks for an annulment a mere six months later. Though hurt, Leo grants it to her, but watches out for her from afar. When her sister sends word to India that their father is gravely ill, Leo doesn't hesitate to brave the wild mountain passes to track her down and accompany her safely back to England. Along the way, his feelings for her are reignited, but he's a little hesitant to put his heart on the line again. That all may not matter, though, when they become embroiled in a fast-developing war on the Indian frontier that puts both their lives on the line.

Review

Not Quite a Husband is the second book in Sherry Thomas's Marsdens series. It features Leo Marsden, the younger brother of Will, who was a supporting character in the first book, Delicious. Leo and his heroine, Bryony, have known each other since childhood, though not well. Despite that, they'd both had a powerful crush on each other all those years. After becoming a brilliant doctor, Bryony, who is socially awkward, decided to ask Leo to marry her, thinking that as the youngest of five sons, he'd probably jump at the chance to wed a wealthy heiress. He did, though because he was attracted to her and not for the money. However, in a moment of uncertainly about the speed with which things were moving between them, he made a lamebrained choice, which unbeknownst to him, Bryony discovered. Even though she went through with their wedding anyway, his mistake unfortunately doomed their marriage right from the start. Six months later, Bryony asked for an annulment, and after getting it, she left the country. She's been in a remote, mountainous region of India for quite a while, when Leo shows up out of nowhere with news of her ailing father who wants to see her again before he passes. Although Bryony is still angry with Leo about the past, she embarks on the long journey back to civilization with him as her protector and traveling companion. Along the way, the truth finally emerges about what really ended their marriage, and slowly their feelings for one another begin to reignite. But even when Bryony suggests that they give it another try, Leo isn't so sure that it's a good idea. And then there's the not small matter of an armed uprising in the region they're traveling through, which could end both their lives when they've only just barely reunited.

Bryony is a pretty untraditional romance heroine. She's a highly intelligent woman who's father was equally brilliant but often distant. The only person she was ever truly close to was her first step-mother, Toddy, who was everything Bryony could have wanted in a mother, but her life was tragically cut short when she died in childbirth. Bryony was devastated and has never really been able to open her heart up to anyone since. She convinced her father to send her to medical school even though it was rare for a woman in those times to become a doctor, and she's dedicated to her profession. Bryony wishes to marry, but she's pretty socially awkward and doesn't think she's much of a catch physically-speaking either. She's been attracted to Leo for a long time, although they don't know each other well. He's the yin to her yang, a handsome, outgoing, and well-liked man, and as the fifth son of an earl, she thinks he just might be persuaded to marry her for her money. Bryony is inordinately pleased when Leo accepts her proposal, but the unfortunate timing of a house call makes her privy to Leo's bad decision. Thinking she could get past it, she went forward with the wedding, only to realize that her rosy picture of Leo had been forever tainted. However, rather than trying to work it out with him, she instead filed for an annulment and then ran away heartbroken. She's traveled to several far-flung locales, landing most recently in India, where Leo tracks her down to inform her of her father's illness. Bryony reluctantly allows him to accompany her on the long journey home and rediscovers her feelings for him and begins to forgive him, but Leo seems unsure of a real reconciliation and their lives end up on the line when they're caught in the violent uprising. I love that Bryony is so smart and different than the average Victorian romance heroine. However, her heart is rather closed off and it takes her some time to really embrace her emotions to find genuine happiness with Leo.

Leo's intellect matches Bryony's. He's a bit of a renaissance man who is a brilliant mathematician, but he's also written a play and several travel books. He's adored Bryony, who is four years his senior, from afar since he was just a tiny tot, but he never thought anything of a romantic nature would ever transpire between them. When she makes her proposal, he's rather taken aback, but also secretly thrilled. Since they didn't know each other well, he thought they'd have at least a year-long engagement, but when she seems intent on the wedding happening right away, he's a little unsure. Leo quickly realizes, though, that he'd be crazy to let her go and accepts, only to do something dumb in a moment of weakness. Rather than the first six months of their marriage being filled with romance and passion like he expected, it's instead marred by anger and resentment on Bryony's part that comes out in a way that makes Leo think she can't bear making love to him. Still, Leo stands by her and keeps trying to make their relationship work even though he doesn't know why she's acting the way she is, until she finally requests a dissolution of their marriage. Although devastated, he agrees, but can't seem to let her go completely. Instead he covertly follows her everywhere she goes just to be near in case something happens to her or she needs help, which is why he's able to reach her quickly in India when her sister sends news of their father. On the road home, Leo's feelings for Bryony are fully reignited, but he isn't sure if he can trust her with his heart again.

************Spoiler Alert************ Since many romance readers hate cheating of any kind, I'm going to be honest here and say that Leo's dumb move was him cheating one week before the wedding. ************End Spoiler Alert************ I wasn't quite sure how to feel about it myself when it first came out. It did mar my opinion of him a bit at that point but the more I got to know him the more I was able to forgive him. He was young and a little stupid in this regard, and although he cared for Bryony, the wedding was way faster than he'd anticipated and he didn't really know her on a deep level. Therefore, him getting cold feet was somewhat understandable. But there were a few things that really solidified my ability to let it go. First he genuinely felt badly about what he did, and was so devoted to Bryony that he's remained completely faithful ever since their wedding despite the sex not being good and even after the annulment. Secondly, I thought it was pretty romantic that he purposely found legitimate business in all the places she traveled to, just to be near her, not in a stalkery way, but just to look out for her well-being. And lastly I couldn't help adoring him for respecting her intelligence and allowing her to have a career and supporting her accomplishments. So ultimately, despite his early misstep, I did end up liking Leo very much.

Overall, Not Quite a Husband was an enjoyable read for me, but it didn't quite make it to keeper status. I think part of the reason for this is that the romance is a little subdued until near the end. Bryony is holding back a part of her heart because of events from childhood and it takes a while for her to figure that out. It also takes a little while for the truth of what killed Bryony and Leo's marriage to come out. Once it does, the healing starts, but it's still a little slow getting to complete forgiveness. Having read a similar story just a few months ago, I've discovered that I'm not a huge fan of plots that jump back and forth between present and past events to show what went wrong in the relationship. It wasn't too bad here, but each time I had to reorient myself in the timeline. Lastly, I appreciated that the story primarily takes place in an unconventional locale, but having very little knowledge of Indian geography, I struggled with those parts of the book. Rather than offering richer descriptions, the author mostly just throws out a lot of names of villages, rivers and other geographic locations with little context.

Now that my critique is out of the way, I'll say that I did very much enjoy the somewhat gender-bending nature of this romance. Bryony is the one who has the demanding career, as a doctor no less, which was highly unusual. She was the one who proposed to Leo and also the one to dissolve their marriage. While Leo was no slouch, writing and publishing papers and giving lectures, he took care of all the tasks around the house, too, which traditionally would have been the woman's place and which I felt made him a more beta leaning hero. Despite the friction in their marriage, they always supported each other in their careers and celebrated each other's accomplishments. Theirs was very much an egalitarian relationship in what was undeniably still a more patriarchal era. Taking all this into account, I can confidently say that Not Quite a Husband is a solid four-star book and one that I would recommend to anyone who's looking for something a little outside the norm in a historical romance.

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Sherry Thomas

Themes

Beta Heroes
Doctors, Nurses, & Medical Professionals
Geniuses, Scholars & Scientists aka Geeks - Heroines
Medical Drama
Reunion Stories