Karen Harbaugh: Miss Carlyle’s Curricle

A headstrong young beauty is caught between a rock and a lonely place, when she must marry a man she does not love in order to collect an inheritance. At first, she cannot imagine marrying the new Lord Brisbane, no matter how witty and charming he seems. But as the wedding grows closer, she finds herself irresistibly drawn towards her husband-to-be. But will an underhanded plot tear them apart before they can ever be together, or will love truly conquer all?

I had some luck recently with reissued Signet titles, so was willing to give this one ago. The title sounded interesting enough, and I was hoping for a traditional read.

Unfortunately, this one did not deliver. The whole time one mantra was running through my head: melodrama. The heroine was underdeveloped, with a hefty hand of backstory thrown in on the third act. Weird. She seemed screechy and although Harbaugh tried to give the reader the beloved archetype of hoyden heroine, Diana fell flat.

The hero was not much better. Urbane, dressed like a dandy, and very secretive I just couldn’t figure out why in the world he claimed to be in love with the heroine. Totally unbelievable.

Then, you had what felt anti-tone intimate scenes, some cliché villainy, and generally a bunch of boring supporting characters.

I faithfully read from cover to cover, hoping for some redemption, but came away disappointed. It wasn’t really a marriage of convenience story. Not in the true sense. And the other plot lines were threadbare and hung on a very weak skeleton of character development.

It had its moments of good intentions and wasn’t the worst of what I have read, but I urge others considering this title to get a second opinion and check out the reviews on Good Reads.

5 Stars 2.5 out of 6