Julianna

by Judith Nelson

At twenty-three Julianna was still unmarried, by choice. Rich and attractive, she had received her share of proposals although nobody was more persistent than her cousin Jonathan who had proposed twelve times. Julianna truly loved Jonathan but as a brother and was seriously concerned about his gambling debts yet it was no basis for marriage. And then what would her Great-Aunt Elizabeth do but push an ingenue goddaughter on Julianna that she was sponsoring. It didn't help that Miss Marley was as innocent as she was mysterious and in dire need of Julianna's worldly wisdom. Particularly when it came to the rakish Earl of Marleton. Julianna could not trust the man and was more than a little suspicious about his motives.

Genres: Traditional Regency, Romance

204 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1989

Reviews

[Claire S · Rating 2 out of 5]

I seem to have read Nelson's best books first because I have not truly enjoyed the most recent ones I've read. The book is written in a way that we're not supposed to know who the hero is and what his motivations are. Unfortunately, the blurb on the back cover spoils that so I kept wondering when the heroine is going to find out who he is, which doesn't happen until the second part of the book. I appreciate that Nelson writes strong heroines but Julianna seemed immature and lost pretty much any argument/confrotation with the hero until the very end, when she finally gets one on him. At that point, however, I was just ready for the whole thing to be over. The H is a bit of an a-hole and it's a constant stream of the H and h confronting each other, the h storming off, and the H laughing at her. The cousin was slightly amusing and the girl that Julianna was chaperoning was the only one that showed some growth throughout the story. I think the great-aunt was supposed to be one of those characters with large personalities that you end up loving but I just thought she was very high-handed. In fact, the whole story seems to boil down to everyone knowing what was best for Julianna, aka marriage to the H, except herself. But, of course, we're supposed to know that she loves him deep down inside. How the H and h get together at the end is also one of my least favorite tropes. Her hand is basically forced by an announcement of the betrothal on a newspaper (even though Julianna said no to an earlier proposal from the Earl) and other characters had to tell Julianna that she indeed loves the Earl. I recommend the author but sadly not this book.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite clean by today's standards. Not Judith Nelson's best work, but I enjoyed the story. Relaxing light read.