Title: Midsummer Magic
Author: Catherine Coulter
Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Signet (July 1, 2003)
Ratings:
★ ★
My thoughts:
This is my first book by Catherine Coulter. I wanted to love or even like it because my best friend loved this book. It is actually one of her all-time favorite books. However, for me, the whole book was rather boring. I really had a tremendously difficult time in getting into this book. It was hard to like it when you hate the main characters.
Frances does not want to marry Hawk (arranged marriage) she disguises herself as an ugly woman so Hawk would choose one of her beautiful sisters. Hawk wants to have an unattractive wife so he could leave her anytime he wants to. For him, Frances is just perfect as his wife so he chooses her because she's unattractive. Hawk soon discovers that his wife is a very beautiful woman, it was supposed to be a funny read but I found myself doing an actual eye rolling numerous times. This would have been an OK book if not for the following problems:
dialogue/characters
Hawk is a cold-hearted husband so imagine my disappointment with how he talks to his wife and to all other characters in the story. He's so insensitive and most of the time, he humiliates his wife and continously rapes her. I know marital rapes happen during that time. I have no problem with that, considering I loved Whitney My Love by Judith McNaught which also has a rape scene but in this book, I didn't like it.
Hawk never showed any good in him. Sweet? Caring? And even remorse for the things he did to his wife. Nothing to like in him. Frances on the other hand, her character was likeable - well only when she hates Hawk. But when she began to fall for her husband, I immediately hated her. How could she fall for that kind of man. Stupid girl.
writing style
I have said this a number of times in this blog that I usually have a wall up when it comes to stories with different point of views. The writing must have the perfect time in starting and ending a POV. In this book, the author used a lot of different POVs which made it harder for me to connect to the characters. Again, I couldn't count the number of times I had to go back to the earlier pages to make sure I was reading it right. There was one part of the book that I thought it was Hawk that is talking and then when I get to the end of the paragraph - oh no, not him. It was another man talking.
Overall, it wasn't an easy book to read, you may be disappointed if you expect too much reading this.
I'm giving this book 2-star but here are some of the positive reviews for this book. Read here
About the book:
Philip Hawksbury, the Earl of Rothermere, obeying his father's dying wish, hies himself to Scotland to offer for one of the daughters of Alexander Kilbracken, the Earl of Ruthven. Frances Kilbracken, informed of the earl's arrival and his mission, disguises herself as a bespectacled dowd so she won't be the one selected by the young earl. But choose her he does, and for all the wrong reasons. The newly married couple return to England, together but now at all happy. Philip dumps Frances at Desborough Hall, his ancestral estate, and heads back to his old life in London. Ah, but Desborough has a stud farm and racing stable, and Frances is magic with horses. When the earl returns to his home, driven by guilt, he discovers the woman he married has grossly deceived him. What follows is a battle of the sexes that will have you chuckling, maybe even howling with laughter.. - Goodreads
About the author:
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