Midsummer Magic (Magic Trilogy Series #1) Book

A rather juvenile but humorous set-up bringing two reluctant people into a marriage of convenience. The beautiful wife disguises herself like an ugly duckling by donning unattractive garb and a pair of thick glasses. Rather reminded me of Hollywood romantic comedies where the nerd girl only has to switch to contact lenses and get a blow out to become a femme fatale.

There were funny lines and entertaining banter as these two butt heads but it grew to be tedious overtime. The involvement of a mistress with a heart of gold, which the hero thinks and talks about wistfully to the very last page of the novel, in AND out of bed with his wife, certainly went against the cliche of the catty other woman, but she was just too involved with the story.

There never was any romance or love between the characters, who seemed to dislike each other to the bitter end. The only times they clicked was in bed and that was only after the husband realised his wife's disguise. Before that, he treated her quite ruthlessly like a broodmare in disturbingly graphic scenes that made me quite sad as they rang very true of what a woman's experience would be in the marital bed in that era (and quite frankly remains the case with many women even in this era). There never was remorse, much less grovel, for the very horrible way he treated her before realizing she was attractive nor any indication that he loved anything about her but her body. To the bitter end, he calls her a shrew and feels he has been snared unwillingly into a matrimonial trap. Basically, he admits to himself he is in love but he is certainly not elated about it and quite resentful of her. He honestly did seem a lot happier when he was free to be with his mistress and flirt with aristo ladies at his leisure.Not my kinda romance.

The last part of the book deals with a very boring horse mystery that results in an unintentionally comical standoff with a bunch of bad guys. I could not care less by that point.