Not Quite A Good One

Not Quite a Husband, by Sherry Thomas, has a ridiculous cover. It has a ridiculous plot. In fact, almost everything about it is ridiculous.

At first, I was hopeful. This was a story about a female doctor back in the early 1900's. She was briefly married to a handsome, brilliant mathematician, but their marriage fell apart for undisclosed reasons. Several years later, he comes to find her in India. Her father is ill and they journey back to England together. Along the way, they endure malaria (him), painful memories (both of them), and an uprising against the British (again, both of them). It seemed like this could be a story about an empowered woman who made her own choices and found love by staying true to herself. In some ways, that is true. The main character, Bryony, does in fact practice medicine throughout the book and refuses to give up her career for her husband's. She does go off on exciting adventures around the world. She does play an integral role in a war, not as a weak female caretaker but as a skilled surgeon.

But.

The only reason that it's "okay" for her to get back with this guy, for her to sleep with him, is because they used to be married. The language is lackluster and is really graphic in its description of the sex. I mean, I just never need to read about someone being "fiddled." In addition, Thomas tries to impose some sexual tension, but it feels forced. As a reader of romance novels, I prefer stories that have more developed relationships, more realistic tension. The characters she created were a) not realistic and b)probably wouldn't have been so stubborn with each other. The tension wouldn't have existed between the types of people she wrote. And I love tension.

Overall, I'm disappointed. I had hoped for better. Perhaps "His at Night" will be better. One can only hope. Sherry Thomas is NOT living up to her titles thus far.