The Devil's Web Book

When I want an emotionally intense story with rich characters, I chose Mary Balogh. This book was intense...intense in my dislike for the characters, plot, and especially the ending. This is an old school romance wrapped in a 2008 cover. By page 50 I was begging Madeline and James to just have an uninterrupted conversation about their feelings. By the middle of the book, I was ready to hold a gun on them and force the conversation. I thought I would get rewarded in the end, but instead got a short confession of "I love you" from each and some quick sex that truly solved none of the overall issues. Where was the groveling and heart felt apologies for being such idiots? I don't have the words to adequately describe my disappointment in that. The one thing that kept this from being a DNF was the lovely but too short secondary romance of Jean Cameron and Howard Courtney. She is a businessman's daughter from Canada visiting England for the first time. He is a very successful local farmer. Their entire romance encompasses less than 10 pages of this book, but when they kiss for the first time (the first kiss for both) it is awkward and beautiful. He loves her. She loves him. And in a moment of craziness rarely found in old school books, they TALK about it. I wish they'd given some relationship advice to our main characters. It was this lovely hint at what I usually like about Balogh books that kept me hoping for a good end. I wish I'd quit reading after Jean accepts Howard's proposal (before page 200).