1. Forbid her from riding astride
2. Hide her dueling sword
3. Burn all her breeches and buy her silk drawers
4. Frisk her for hidden daggers
5. Don’t get distracted while frisking her for hidden daggers…
Anthony Carrington, Earl of Ravensbrook, expects a biddable bride. A man of fiery passion tempted by the rigors of war into steely self-control, he demands obedience from his troops and his future wife. Regardless of how fetching she looks in breeches.
Promised to the Earl of Plump Pockets by her impoverished father, Caroline Montague is no simpering miss. She rides a war stallion named Hercules, fights with a blade, and can best most men with both bow and rifle. She finds Anthony autocratic, domineering, and...ridiculously handsome.
It's a duel of wit and wills in this charming retelling of The Taming of the Shrew. But the question is...who's taming whom? (from the publishers website)
My Thoughts:
I have always loved The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, so when I received an email from Sourcebooks offering How to Tame a Willful Wife, a retelling of The Taming of the Shrew by Christy English for review, I jumped at the chance to review it. Oh and let me tell that I was not disappointed.
Caroline Montague’s father, Baron Montague, is in debt. Anthony Carrington, Earl of Ravensbrook, is wealthy and in need of a wife. Having become friends with the Baron whilst fighting on the Continent, Anthony offers to pay off Baron Montague’s debts in exchange for his daughter’s hand in marriage, although Caroline is not the easiest of women to get along with.
Having grown up while her father was away at war, Caroline has become rather self-reliant, thoroughly independent, and exceedingly stubborn. Anthony believes that a man must have control over his wife lest she strays yet Caroline is not about to be controlled.
I was bit worried that I would not like Anthony Carrington. I feared that he would brutish and domineering and completely unlikable, yet I found that he was none of those things. He was rather likable and once you discover the reason behind his behavior things start making sense.
Caroline was a bit over the top, but over the top in a good way that makes you want to know more about her. She is stubborn, determined, and very willful. She is also highly skilled with a dagger.
I had wondered if the two characters were going to be like chalk and cheese as I felt that the characters in The Taming of the Shrew weren’t quite compatible, although I found them to be quite the opposite. When they shared the page, they truly brought the book to life and had me thoroughly enthralled.
I also loved the fact that Christy English placed the characters into the Regency era because when reading Regency romance more often than not you have a heroine that is completely focused on pleasing the hero. The romance world needs more writers like Christy English.
Overall: I could not put this novel down. It is definitely a keeper! One of my favorite romance books of 2012.
Book Details:
Author: Christy English, Title: How to Tame a Willful Wife, ISBN: 978-1-4022-7045-1, Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca, Format: Mass-Market Paperback, $6.99/£4.99, Release Date: November 2012, How I Read it: ARC from publisher, Rating: 4.5 Crowns
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