This was not a romantic book. I'm not sure whether it was proffered as such when I first came across the overview. The writing is excellent, but I gave it only 3 stars because it is ridiculously depressing. I cried a good deal through the second half. The ending is bittersweet, and there is a moral to the story. As soon as I finish blowing my nose and drying my eyes, I'll try to figure out what it is.
A Catch of Consequence is about a Bostonian tavern owner, Makepeace Burke, who saves an English lord from drowning after being chucked in the river by some Patriots. She nurses him back to health only to become the target of civil unrest. The English lord, Phillip Dapifer, had come to America to get a quiet divorce from his adulterous wife, Catty. Phillip doesn't feel right leaving Makepeace in Boston after her tavern is burned, and he takes her to England. They get married on the ship, and land in serious drama in London. Even though she has received a very generous divorce settlement, Catty sues Phillip for divorce on the grounds of bigamy, alleging that he was still married to her when he married Makepeace. Makepeace gets pregnant, and in a ridiculously unwise move, tries to make peace with Catty. In an intemperate move, Makepeace reveals that she is pregnant, and oh, do the games begin. I won't give any more of the story away, mostly because it is just too depressing. I can say this for certain though - Update your wills, including guardianship of any children you may have, every YEAR, and keep them in a safe deposit box where no conniving ex can get to them. Seriously. The ruination faced in this book by the characters could have been completely avoided, but such is the nature of stories with morals behind them. There are things to learn here, and not all of them are pleasant.
This book is appropriate for those 16+ because of thematic elements. Other than some occasional language that would make this a rated R film, it is relatively clean.
