Oh Eloisa James, what a disappointment!

As some of you know, I have a fondness for romantic novels. Not those gross ones that are quite distasteful, but historical romance with strong characters and story lines. This is exactly what was lacking in the latest novel I started titled "An Affair Before Christmas".

I have read a few of the author's other books and some are quite good and then there are those I can't finish they are so bad. This was one of them. I was looking forward to reading this book and I'm upset that I wasted time and money on it.

The characters are weak and boring. The main female character, Poppy, has become a duchess and while she claims to be in love with her husband, she doesn't even enjoy being intimate with him. She feels it is distasteful or something. In reality, it is her mother that is controlling her whole life making her feel (or rather not feel) the way a proper lady should. I felt sorry for her husband, "Fletch" (she doesn't even learn his true first name until the last few pages of the novel, how sad is that) who was so faithful to her and was blamed for loving her and wanting her to love and desire him back. Of course, Poppy finally lets herself feel things for her husband in the last few chapters of the novel, five years or so into the marriage. In the middle of this is another love story going on with Jemma, a duchess as well (an annoying trait for some of James' book where you don't know who the main character is there are so many stories going on at once).


A few chapters into the story, I was so frustrated with the stupidity of the characters I literally threw the book down in disgust. The only reason I know how it ends is because I flipped through it trying to figure out when the characters actually did more than complain about their lack of understanding. Also, the novel is filled with typos...and I didn't even read all of it to discover this. It is so sad since I really like her Essex Sister series. I hated the Duchess books I looked at. I guess I can't read anything that she writes in a series labeled "Duchess". I should have known it wouldn't be a sweet holiday novel. You live and learn. I'll stick with my Juila Quinn novels which are never a disappointment.