Another one down on my quest to read the first 100 HPs. This one is numbered 21 and was published in 1969.

On the whole it was pretty decent. Unlike many books written in this era it didn't take half the book to get to the action/romance portion of the story. It starts right off with the wedding of the hero and the heroine. There are then a couple of brief flashbacks to fill in what is happening. The marriage is consummated but it is fade to black and there is no suggestion that any part of it is forced. So that's kind of different for an old HP. The heroine was sensible enough to realize that he had told her up front he wanted a son and she had agreed to it so there was no fussing around like a twit when she had to follow through. On the other hand, she was a bit of a twit about the instant dislike she took to the hero even before he blackmailed her into marriage. Then she continued to snip at him in a haughty manner for no real reason. I think the author was trying to convey how feisty she was.

You did get the feeling all along that the hero had fallen for her and that is why he forced her to marry him. Where the book really falls down though is the ending. It was too brief and there were no real explanations to tell us how he had felt about her all along. Okay we kinda knew but the heroine sure didn't. I think HP authors have wised up to how much readers want those satisfying I Love Yous and explanations so this shorting of the feelings bit doesn't happen so much anymore.

I want to thank StMargarets so much for gifting this book to me! ( )