The Ideal Wife

Mary Balogh

Edition	Mass Market Paperback
List Price	$6.99
	$6.99 (Save 0%)

Published by	Dell
Release date	2008-06-24
ISBN	0440244625
Availability	Usually ships in 24 hours

In this classic tale, New York Times bestselling author Mary Balogh introduces a hero like no other: Miles Ripley, London?s most irresistible bachelor, who?s about to lose his heart to the last person he ever expected to love?his wife.

When Abigail Gardiner knocks at the door of Miles Ripley, Earl of Severn, the last thing she expects is a marriage proposal. Desperate, she?d come to this charismatic stranger?s home to plead for her future. Instead she shocks them both by saying yes. Her impulsive decision will have consequences neither she nor her new husband can foresee. For Miles has his own reasons for marrying her. And Abigail is harboring a secret of her own. As distrust gives way to desire . . . as, together, they give in to the pleasures of the marriage bed, a devastating scandal threatens their future. Now these two wary hearts will risk ruin and disgrace for a love that has changed them both forever?the kind all seek, but few ever find.

Customer Reviews - courtesy of Amazon.com ( Marked4Sale.com is not responsible for review content )

Disappointed

I think I started when Mary Balogh had crafted her skill. The first book I read by her was "A Summer to Remember." It left me eager to read more of the author's work. If "The Ideal Wife" would have been the first book I read by Balogh, I would have stopped and probably never read anymore of her work. Needless to say, I was very, very disappointed with this book. It wasn't as bad as "Web of Love," but it wasn't good, either. I was several chapters into the book, and I gasped, "HORRIBLE!" The thought didn't improve as the book went on. I ended the book with a resounding, "UGH!" I looked in the front jacket and realized that like, "Web of Love," "The Ideal Wife" was also one of Balogh's earlier works. Just my opinion, but I don't really care for her earlier works. I would not recommend them to anyone to read.

The "ideal wife," Abby, was a bubble-headed (though well-intended) idiot. The character's babbling was even irritating to read. I could not understand how or why love blossomed between Abby and Lord Severn. Balogh seemed to imply that sex= love. That was the only thing I concluded was the reason for their love. I didn't read anything else.

Typically, I enjoy Balogh because she shows a friendship with her male and female characters. Sex is not the basis of love. In her later books I think she shows growth with her characters. It becomes easier to see and understand how the characters come to love one another. This is not so with "The Ideal Wife." I never saw how the love blossomed. I didn't see it with this book,or several of her earlier books, for that matter. Maybe I just didn't get it.

I don't want to discourage anyone from reading Mary Balogh. I really like her later works. "Simply Magic" is my absolute favorite. If you wish to read "The Ideal Wife" or any of her earlier books, my recommendation is: these are books you can live without reading. However, if you still wish to proceed forward, check to see if your local library has them, first. (Save you some money. Save you from saying,"I paid my money for this?")

Good for what it is

Don't understand all the negative reviews. It's pretty much a typical romance, quick read not much thinking involved.

not ideal

This is a boring book about an immature young lady who is a liar and a bland, bad in bed, dull hero. I got this book for free and its obvious why. Forget wasting you money, don't waste your time.

Balogh's Worst -- A real disappointment

I have every book by Mary Balogh. I wasn't interested in reading this book and it stayed on the tbr shelf for a while. I should have left it there. It was a huge disappointment. I couldn't even finish reading it. The characters have no substance. The plot was a sleeper. Balogh just didn't write it believable. The heroine talks so much (and during the love scenes too) that it becomes overwhelming. I just kept thinking "okay I understand that she is talkative, let's move on."

Also the hero is supposed to be a great lover? It didn't read that way. The first couple of love scenes are all about him taking his pleasure and the heroine (like I said earlier) TALKING.

The way that this book develops is just to fast paced. The conflict in the book is sloppy. He wants an ideal wife, she seems to be. Wait, No shes not, but I don't care. This all happens in the first 100 pages. It is like everything is pushed.

I always look forward to my favorite authors new releases. This book just made me frustrated because I wanted it to be better. Unfortunately NOT.

not such a great idea...

This came in a glossy new cover, and I ordered it from the library, but half way through I checked the publication date and saw that my suspicions were correct - it was originally written in 1991. I now also realize it's been padded because the original book was far shorter.

I found both the characters and the situation very irritating. The Earl of Severn, all because he cannot say no to his mother, proposes to a woman who he has just met, having totally mistaken her character. And the annoying Abigail, normally chatty and silly, stays quiet and sensible because she hates poverty and wants security. Well, who can blame her.

But Miles is not hero material - what sort of man of 30 would find himself managed into a marriage he didn't want all because he could not say know to his mother. And he's crap in bed, and he's condescending. I imagine that eventually Abigail tells him that she's never come and the sex gets better but I couldn't be bothered to stay with it and find out, and gave myself permission to put it down.

I am sounding snarky, aren't I?! But I wouldn't want to befriend either character and didn't find them or their situation at all interesting. It felt like a very early novel, Mary Balogh has written far, far better books than this. I hate it when they sneak in old novels like this, because you expect a certain level of sophistication in the writing, and that's unfair for a 17 year old romance, but you don't know it's 17 years old initially - sounds like the big confusion you get in romances, which stop the lovers from acknowledging that they love each other. If the publishers stopped trying to fool me, I might love their reprints better!