Everything and the Moon

Author: Julia Quinn
Published: March 1997 (Avon)
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 7/10
Quote of Choice: "You needed to knee a man in the groin before you could tell me you love me?"

I seem to be in this Nora Roberts/Julia Quinn frenzy at the moment. I can't bring myself to read anything different and as I have lots of backlist titles to catch up on, this could go on for quite some time. Everything and the Moon is the first half of the duology about two sisters that ends with Brighter than the Sun.

When Robert Kemble stumbles across Victoria Lyndon in a hedgerow maze, he can't believe his eyes. The girl who'd torn him in two, who let him plan an elopement and then left him standing by the side of the road, was suddenly within arm's reach, and even though his fury still knew no bounds, she was impossible to resist...

Victoria's father had told her an earl would never marry a vicar's daughter, and he was right. Robert had promised her marriage, then danced off to London while she suffered the shame of a foiled elopement. But even though Victoria doesn't particularly enjoy her new life as a governess, when Robert offers her a job of a different sort - his mistress - she refuses, unable to sacrifice her honor, even for him.

But Robert won't take no for an answer, and he vows to make her his, through any means possible. Can these star-crossed lovers learn to trust again? And is love really sweeter the second time around?

The romance was so incredibly sweet. Here are two young people who realize and confess their love to each other. Robert courts Victoria for a couple months, but his father disapproves of the match, so he figures they can elope. Victoria's father tells her that Robert will use her and discard her, and when he catches her the night of the elopement, he ties her to the bed so she can't disgrace him.

I got impatient with Robert and Victoria. If they'd told the truth about what really happened the night of their elopement, we could've avoided a lot of frustration. But no, it dragged out for a really long time, even when Robert gets the truth from Victoria's sister. He's so cocksure about getting Victoria back that he tries to manipulate her into accepting him, after he'd insulted her by offering to make her his mistress. I thought he didn't respect her intelligence enough.

If the frustrating wait for Victoria's acceptance of the marriage proposal wasn't enough, then there was the stereotypical wait for "I love you." True, they'd said it before when they were younger, but since being reunited, they both held back the words they were desperate to hear from the other.

Amusing, but not one of Quinn's best.