The Bad Luck Wedding Night

The title:  The Bad Luck Wedding Night
The author: Geralyn Dawson
Publication: Pocket Books, 2001
Got it from: Fremont Books, 2008

I haven't read any of the other books in the Bad Luck Wedding series or anything else by Geralyn Dawson, but I picked this one up because it sounded interesting.

Sarah and Nicholas Ross have the most dreadful wedding night ever.  She's a 16-year-old shrinking virgin, he's an inexperienced 18-year-old, and let's just say it doesn't end well.  After a big misunderstanding (and a painful sex scene), Nick ends up leaving his bride in Texas to inherit his family title in England (duke? earl? I can't remember).  He ends up becoming a British spy while Sarah teams up with a bunch of other women to run a wedding planning business.  Yes, you guessed it - the other women all get their own novels!

For the most part I enjoyed this book.  I loved how the beginning is taken up with some of Sarah and Nick's letters over the course of eight years,and how they get to know each other and fall in love this way. (Confession: I am a huge sucker for epistolary novels.  Even more so ones where people fall in love through letters).  I really liked the development of Sarah's character, how she goes from being a frankly annoying 16-year-old to an independent and self-assured woman.  Nick's character I'm not so sure about, he was a bit overbearing at times.  He has his redeeming moment when he realizes he isn't going to be able to woo Sarah in person so he decides to woo her through sexy letters that he leaves for her at night.

Here's the thing about this book: holy crap there are a lot of sisters.  See, Nick was raised by a Scottish family and he has a bunch of adopted Scottish sisters and he also has a bunch more of his real  English sisters.  Which makes approximately 98 sisters.  The sisters were great and I enjoyed the way they sided with Sarah, but man I had a hard time keeping them straight.  Add to the fact that later on Sarah's girl friends from Texas show up and I was completely lost.  Also, there's a subplot about an attempt to blow up Queen Victoria that has a really, really, and I mean really silly resolution.  Oh yes, and throw in a revenge storyline where the sisters try to get rid of Nick's supposed fiancee, the bitchy Lady Steele.  (Sarah hilariously and purposefully calls her by the wrong name throughout the book: Lady Iron, Lady Brass, etc.)

I would probably rate this book a B+.  It was quite entertaining even if the plot was kind of crazy and there was a lot thrown in there.  It's funny and light and didn't cause me too much angst.