Ransomed Jewels – Laura Landon – 4*
Ransomed Jewels is a historical romance set in 1855 in
England. The Marquess of Huntingdon is a
spy for England. While on a mission in
Paris where he and Major Samuel Bennett were tasked with stealing some jewels
which were being used to finance war.
Instead of just taking what he was supposed to the Marquess stole a
necklace and some papers. He is killed
in front of Major Bennett and with his dying words he says his Marchioness has
them. This sets the Major and a handful
of bad men after Lady Claire. The Major
and Lady Claire meet when he interrupts her being assaulted by a Russian. The major believes she has the necklace and
papers through most of their interactions he demands she hand them over. Through most of the book Sam and Claire bump
heads until the conclusion where they end up together.
For the most part I enjoyed this book a lot. There were some things that rubbed me the
wrong way. One of the big ones is no
matter how much Claire’s actions show Sam the kind of person she is he keeps
thinking horrible things about her. He
blames her for his friend stealing the jewels, for not giving the Marquess an
heir, and then how she resolves the necklace conflict. It was very frustrating the way most of the
men in Claire’s life treated her.
This next part is a HUGE spoiler so if you don’t want to
know stop reading!!!!
Claire’s husband never slept with her because he was already
married to someone else at the time of their wedding. He married an actress who his father didn’t
like and would disinherit him it came out.
Yes he was in love with this woman and had four children with her and in
his own way he was staying true to his wife by not sleeping with Claire but he
committed bigamy to keep his father happy.
He guaranteed his first family, heir and wife, would be shunned by
society as well as making it almost impossible for Claire to be able to marry
someone else. This plot line really
bothered me for a number of reasons.
First and foremost is the father could not disinherit his son of the
title. He could take away the money and
land that wasn’t entailed but anything that was entailed would have to go to
the son/grandson. Second he guaranteed
Claire would live a loveless marriage without children and once it came out she
would not be welcomed by most. The
Marquess basically made his family he loved live in secret to appease his
father and was a bastard to the wife he was forced to marry who was also forced
to marry him. Yes he kept her virginity
intact but seriously it would not have mattered.
If it wasn’t for that plotline this book would have been a 5
star book for me. I cruised through it
and wanted more but it really really pissed me off.