Man She Married

by Violet Winspear

Romance

Genres: Harlequin, Romance, Harlequin Presents, Marriage Of Convenience

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Violet Winspear was a British author renowned for her prolific output of romance novels, publishing seventy titles with Mills & Boon between 1961 and 1987. In 1973, she became a launch author for the Mills & Boon-Harlequin Presents line, known for its more sexually explicit content, alongside Anne Mather and Anne Hampson, two of the most popular and prolific British romance writers of the time. Winspear began writing while working in a factory and became a full-time novelist in 1963, producing her works from her home in South East England, researching exotic settings at her local library. She famously described her heroes as lean, strong, and captivating, “in need of love but capable of breathtaking passion and potency,” a characterization that provoked controversy in 1970 when she stated that her male protagonists were “capable of rape,” leading to considerable public backlash. Her novels are celebrated for their vivid, globe-spanning settings and dramatic tension, often employing sexual antagonism to heighten conflict between the alpha male hero and the heroine, who is frequently portrayed as naïve or overwhelmed by his dominance. Winspear never married or had children, and she passed away in January 1989 after a long battle with cancer, leaving a lasting influence on the romance genre.

Reviews

[Naksed · Rating 2 out of 5]

With my third Violet Winspear Harlequin, I am beginning to see a pattern. She REALLY likes her broody, Alpha heroes as kings of their literal castle, bringing their willowy, innocent, child-bride to lock in a turreted tower so they can be ravished at leisure. There was the Greek villa in The honey is bitter, the Spanish-African Castillo D'Oro in The tower of the captive, and now, in The man she married, it is the daunting, medieval castle of the Frenchman Malreaux d'Ath, straight from La Belle et La Bete.

I didn't particularly like this marriage of convenience story, though it is a favorite trope of mine in this genre. The plot was too full of holes, the characters too unlikable, and she did not succeed in achieving the wondrous, dream-like, setting that she achieved so successfully in The Tower of the captive.

Merry widow lives on an annual pension paid by the patriarch of a wealthy French family, in exchange for the betrothal of her daughter to the patriarch's grandson, to be sealed by marriage when said young girl turns twenty.

However, the girl in question dies of an illness while still a child. In order not to lose her bread and butter, the dear, grieving mom gets herself a replacement from a children's home, hoping that in ten years time, none will be the wiser as to the switch. She rechristens the child she secretly adopted with the name of her dearly departed daughter, teaches her the ways of the rich and idle, and eventually tells her of the deceitful marriage to be. She obtains on her deathbed her adopted daughter's promise that she will go through the charade and honor the arranged marriage when she turns 20.

The relationship between h and her husband starts chillingly. He mockingly admits that he went through the wedding only because 1) it was a condition of his inheriting the family castle and business 2) he wants an heir. She in turn tells him of her love for a handsome British officer and that she can't stand to look upon the burn scars on his face. He rips her dress from the neck down like it is a sheet of tissue paper but doesn't go further as she taunts him with his rapey tendencies.

A lot of outlandish soap opera subsequently occurs concerning the many family members who occupy the labyrinthian family chateau, which does absolutely nothing to further or better their relationship as they spend weeks apart.

H eventually realizes h is not who she claimed and as "revenge" he is going to hold her to their marriage contract under blackmail.

The fact that they both hate each other seemingly does not prevent them from finally consummating the marriage one heated afternoon (after more tissue-paper-outfit-shredding) and voila! All problems solved through the transformative power of sex and they are soon exchanging love declarations, never mind H still doesn't even know what h's real name is and neither do we!

[Debby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am only about 50 pages into this book. And I have to rant.

The h pretends that she is the woman he is supposed to marry. But in reality she isn’t. She marries him without telling him the truth.

If that’s not enough, she pretends to be abhorred by the scars in his face. She is deliberately cruel to not have to go to bed with him.

Then she lies to him that she has a heart disease.

Then she lies to him that she is in love with another man and that she has slept with that man. In reality she’s a virgin.

So in not even 50 pages (in just one day) there are 4 big lies from the h.

And if all her lies aren’t enough, she tells him that his scars are repulsive (because she knows he is self-conscious about it) and that she wants the lights out so she can’t see his scars.

I mean: WTF?

I give it 2 stars instead of 1 star because the h has such a big case of crazy b*tch syndrome that you keep reading the book. It’s like watching a freak show.

[Tia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, hopelessly short and erratic ending. Although the book wasn't bad as a whole I have to wonder if Violet Winspear has issues with writing ending because in all her books so far, the ending is rushed and annoying in some ways. Don't get me wrong, you get your happy ending but it feels incomplete and rushed.

[iamGamz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dunno how I feel about this book. There's an imposter wife, a scarred, angry husband and various family members with more issues than Time magazine.

Glenda marries Mal because her "mother" and his grandfather arranged it when they were children for a substantial allowance. However, her "mother" fraudulently collected money from Mal's grandfather for years when her real daughter died and she adopted this Glenda and passed her off as her real daughter.

There is a lot of animosity between Glenda and Mal for various reasons. The main one being Glenda's unkindness to Mal because she feels she is cheating him and herself with this marriage. She also thinks she is in love with someone else and tells Mal lies about that relationship to keep him at a distance.

Mal is a super macho alpha male and doesn't accept her lies graciously. He does what super macho alpha males do and attacks! They spend their time tearing each other apart instead of getting to know each other.

The book kept me interested and riveted but it was dark, angsty and the characters were so damn cruel to each other. Sooo, I enjoyed it, but I don't know if I really liked it.

[Margo · Rating 2 out of 5]

The non-con consummation was hard to recover from.

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure I ever did understand how the arranged marriage at the center of this story came about or figure out why it involved paying the heroine's guardian an allowance. Maybe it was plausibly explained and I just missed it. Not that plausibility is a factor in a story like this. The arranged marriage is just a ploy to bring the delicate heroine into the power of the dangerous, damaged hero so that romance can ensue. But it wasn't a particularly satisfying romance. They were both crueler to each other than I am comfortable with, and I certainly didn't care for the sex scene--although grudging credit to the hero, he at least admitted that it was marital rape. The ending felt a little odd too. The heroine goes from traumatic sexual encounter to rapturous love in pretty short order. Throw in a chorus of "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life," and she's Madeline Kahn. Oh well, at least the Loire setting was lovely.

[Booklover · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just completed today this book,must say the author has written it nicely but i strongly hate the fact Rape was in the story n hero says"you knew it was coming i will not apologise"i hated this part of the story n end was a not satisfying

would have liked it if Glenda would have slowly realised that she was not infactuated to Simon n loved Mal ,her feelings were shown to chang very suddenly n Mal he was never shown to fall in love

but story was nice,Genda's guilt n her actions to save herself n Mal's attitude cause he faces rejection cause of his scars n his anger is justified but Rape nope i hate him for that

i recomend it ,read it for once

[Mudpie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I cannot believe it! He finally rapes her and they declared their love for each other after a couple of days and pages! Haha I am giving this two stars for the interesting characters and back story. So glad I didn't grow up back in those days..."A husband is no longer allowed by law to rape his own wife." *roll eyes*

[*CJ* · Rating 1 out of 5]

"The Man She Married" is the story of Glenda and Mal.

The hero and heroine are forced to wed due to a dictate by their family. The hero is a scarred meanie, the heroine is a shrew hiding her own secret past. Anyways, from the very beginning, instead of being honest, she decides to weave a web of lies and just be a total B to the hero. She also mocks his appearance, and lives in "woe is me" world. Lots of unnecessary drama happens, only for the heroine to defend marital rape, because what else does true love endure?

You know what, f you to the heroine who deserves to be pushed into a shallow ditch. Hero was meh.

Safe
1/5

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Their family had committed them to marry years ago. She would do anything for her mother. But that is one thing she didn't think she could do. Her secrets were there hidden from the world. He was willing to take her as bride even not knowing the whole truth. Can they make their marriage work or will her secrets break them apart?

[More Books Than Time · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t much like h or H or the plot but this pulled me in..

[Prac Agrl]

DNF based on comments.

[RomLibrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

They had married for all the wrong reasons
They were two strangers fulfilling a commitment conceived for them years before. But Glenda was an impostor, and in spite of promises made to her dying mother, she sought to free herself from the web of deception.

Malraux d'Arth had other ideas. "You must have expected I had more to gain from marrying you than the acquisition of a wife, " he claimed, revealing the conditions of his grandfather's will.

Then she knew there would be no escaping this dark domineering man=-even if she really wanted to

[Shaundra · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many childhood memories here! Forgive me. It's been MANY a moon since I read this, but I do remember just the feeling of being swept away by the tempo of it all. Ms. Winspear truly took you to faraway place and sweeping feeling of passion.