The Wedding Night

Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
Published: October 1991 (Harlequin)
Category: Romance
Rating: 5/10

I have a hard time reading romances written over a decade ago. The exception to this rule (so far) is Nora Roberts. Most of her older books I read are her J.D. Robb titles, but I wonder if their being set in the future has something to do with it. Anyways, I read the blurb for The Wedding Night and I thought, "This could be amusing!" and ordered a used copy. I'm really glad I got this used because if I had to pay $6.99 for this (it's since been reissued), I would've been really ticked.

Hotel magnate Owen Sutherland was the last man Angie Townsend expected to marry. After all, his family had been feuding with hers for years. But in three short months, Owen convinced her to be his wife. Angie loved him... or so she thought.

On her wedding night it became clear that Owen's motives were questionable. The ardent bridgroom was eager to consummate their union - but even more eager to consummate a merger between the battling Sutherland and Townsend hotel empires.

Feeling used and betrayed, Angie declared war. The conjugal bed was off-limits until Owen proved he married her for all the right reasons!

First off, the book felt really dated. Maybe I'm just being overly sensitive about it (I hardly watch any movies from the 80s), but a silver and white bridal suite just makes me think of an Elvis jumpsuit.

Owen takes Angie to his family home, where his stepmother lives and conveniently, his sister and her husband, and his aunt and her husband, are visiting. They hate Townsends with a blind obsessive passion. The animosity between all the Sutherland family and Angie was irrational to the point of being overly irrational. And then Angie magically manages to diffuse a lot of the anger from the sister and stepmother, which seemed too easy considering the depth of their supposed hatred. Posers.

Another annoying thing: After Angie gives in early to Owen in the marriage bed, she decides to stop saying "I love you" to him as a power move. He realizes this and decides to hold his ground and not give her what she wants to hear, just because she was nudging him to say the words. He doesn't even really love her until the last few pages. Up until then, I really believed that Owen just wanted to possess Angie for himself, motivated by testosterone rather than feelings of love.

Eh, disappointed, but not surprised. Krentz's work is fantastic now.