The Ruthless Marriage Proposal by Miranda LeeMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This started out to be a pretty decent book, that I thought I'd enjoy. I did enjoy it for the most part. But towards the end, it kind of went downhill.
It's a personal thing. I couldn't get past the fact that Emily's father's blithe explanation for his committing adultery on his dying wife. He claimed he wanted to 'feel alive.' And how Emily accepts that after being estranged from him for almost two years. I don't like how that seemed to make everything okay. How about his wife dying and suffering from cancer? Did she get to feel alive when her husband couldn't even be faithful to her while she was sick? Why didn't focus on taking care of her instead of his own selfish needs? Frankly, I was disgusted by this. I realize that he felt bad about it, later. But, to dismiss what he did this lightly in words negated that he felt guilt about his actions. I mean, who cheats on their dying wife? Really!
Then it was the fact that Emily leaves Sebastian when his ex-girlfriend comes back and brags about him having sex with her on her wedding day. She goes crying back to her father, and he explains that men can be unfaithful because they don't equate sex and love together, and it was just something she had to accept about men. Letting men off the hook for their natures, allowing them not to be faithful and to sleep around, while woman aren't allowed, that is a big pet peeve of mine. I can't imagine a man giving his brokenhearted daughter that advice. To be honest, I can't imagine a daughter being that open with her father about her sex life at all!
Of course, I was pretty sickened by Sebastian having sex with a married woman on her wedding day, even if he only did it for a few seconds. I know he was disgusted, but he should have been disgusted enough not to do it in the first place. He knew he didn't love Lana. His pride was just hurt that she left him. He didn't even like or respect her. He just wanted her. Bleh.
This is why Miranda Lee just doesn't work for me, most of the time. She has to put these objectionable things in her books, that make it hard for me to feel positive towards the characters. Emily having had a full sexual past wasn't even the issue for me. I was okay with that. But the sexually callous attitudes shown by these characters towards the end of this story were a deal-breaker for me. I have a bad taste in my mouth just writing this review. Too bad. It started out a pretty good read. I think this one's going on the trade pile.
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