I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Somewhere I'll Find You
by
Lisa Kleypas
historical romance in a paperback edition that was published by Avon Publications on October 1, 1996 and has 377 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor, Rainshadow Road, Dream Lake, Crystal Cove
First in the Capital Theatre historical romance series revolving around Scott Logan’s theatre. The couple focus is on Damon, Lord Savage, and his never-met wife, Julia Hargate.
My Take
What a load of crap! Kleypas uses the flimsiest pretext for her conflict between the never-met husband and wife. Please. There is no legal precedent outside of royalty for marrying a four-year-old off to a seven-year-old and having it be valid. Then there’s the overly dramatic writing…talk about a drama queen.
Oh please, Julia thinks she can give in to him, make love to him with no consequences. Even if the “marriage” had validity, as soon as it’s consummated, they can’t get an annulment. How stupid is she? As for the passion Julia suddenly exhibits? No, Kleypas hasn’t given me any reason to believe that Julia/Jessica is so carried away with passion that she’ll give in to Damon. It’s the latter half of the 1820s and I’m supposed to believe that a duchess can be an actress on the stage. Ah well, it’s as believable as the rest of this story. Not.
Then there’s the scene where Julia is hiding in another room when her husband confronts her mother. Oh, please. Put some effort into it, Kleypas. Get out that thinking cap. This scene was just embarrassing in its utter idiocy. Any respect I may have had for Julia’s character went right down the tubes.
All of Logan’s passion is caught up in the theatre and his marriage proposal to Julia is strictly business…supposedly. I have my doubts with that last impassioned scene.
Talking about going to his estate…in London. I don’t think so. House, townhouse, yes. Then Damon asks Julia to “have supper with me tonight at my terrace” in Bath. Again, I don’t think so. It would be either house or townhouse, again.
Someone needs to proofread this. There are so many misspellings; the final blow was “Know what?”
I appreciate the efforts Kleypas expended to promote Jessica’s need for independence, not wanting to be under the autocratic authority of a husband. And it was nice how she finally got Damon to understand that he would lose her if he continued to be the man her father had been. But the presentation of the story is clumsy and overly dramatic. I will try another Kleypas in an attempt to be fair, but I ain’t holdin’ mah breath.
The Story
Struggling to make a living, Jessica Wentworth finagles an audition and is encouraged by Mrs Florence to pursue it. Julia/Jessica soon rises to the top of her chosen profession, happy with her independence, but missing…something. Then she encounters her husband for the first time at a weekend country house party.
It’s fate that Damon, Lord Savage, had met her when he thought she was a minor actress. When he remembers her from that May Day fest, he becomes even more intent on spending time with this woman and forces a meeting on her. There is something about this woman and Damon pursues her. And Jessica retreats.
She retreats to yet another secret visit to her mother who gifts her with a piece of jewelry, one that Damon will recognize.
The Characters
Julia Hargate, a.k.a., Mrs. Jessica Wentworth, a.k.a., Lady Julia, Marchioness of Savage, refuses to kowtow to her father’s arrangements for her marriage and runs away at her first opportunity. She finds a way to live and work, pursuing the activities she escaped to throughout her childhood. Her father, Edward, Lord Hargate, is an unbending, iron-fisted tyrant with an ancient regret while Julia’s mother, Eva, is a timid woman who resorts to illness to avoid the overbearing manner of her husband.
Damon, Marquess of Savage, heir to a dukedom, has been sacrificed on the all-too common altar of financial expediency. His father, the duke, has squandered the family fortune to the extent that they are in danger of losing everything. A disaster averted only by the duke’s arranging the marriage of his seven-year-old son to Lord Hargate’s four-year-old daughter. Young Julia’s dowry provides the seed money to rebuild the Savage fortune — how this worked when the father played ducks and drakes with it and Damon is only seven, I have no idea.
Lord William is Damon’s younger brother and fills out the character list while Lady Pauline Ashton is the requisite slut who provides the comic relief…oops, I mean the dramatic contrast with the virginal Mrs. Wentworth.
Logan Scott, the preeminent actor/producer in London, owns the Capital Theatre and has a reputation for bringing the act of acting back to a more realistic portrayal.
I was expecting to find that Mrs. Florence was Lord Hargate’s long-dead sister, but instead she is simply the voice of reason for Julia.
The Cover and Title
The cover is pretty enough with its lilac background and the watercolor effect of the Italian feeling landscape with its arched bridge crossing the river.
The title is too, too accurate as Damon is adamant about finding his lost wife.
