THE INCORRIGIBLE MR. LUMLEY by Aileen Fish is a sweet Romeo and Juliet-esque romance championing the virtues of honesty and humility in relationships. I give it 4 stars for the happy ending achieved by the characters through earnestness and diligence.
In THE INCORRIGIBLE MR. LUMLEY, David Lumley is the second son of the Earl of Bridgethorpe and happily manages the family's stud farm. One day while exercising his prized stallion in Hyde Park, he meets Lady Joanna Hurst, the daughter of Bridgethorpe's supposed nemesis, the recently deceased Earl of Northcotte. Mr. Lumley suspects that both the former and current Earls of Northcotte have somehow been involved in the death of his family's prized stallion six years ago. Mr. Lumley sets out to get to know Lady Joanna so that he can obtain some information about her father and brother to use as evidence against them. Little does he know that Lady Joanna will prove to be the perfect life partner for him.
Lady Joanna is embarking on her second Season in London, but wants nothing more than to attend the races to see the colt that she's trained. As far as marriage goes, Lady Joanna wants a husband who will allow her to continue training horses, but her options are slim. Her brother gives her an ultimatum – find a husband this Season or he'll choose for her. Of all her choices, Lady Joanna can only imagine spending the rest of her life with Mr. Lumley, but he has already declared that he isn't looking to get married. Her brother's "choice" is a creepy, conniving moneylender to whom their father indebted the estate.
David and Joanna must deal with the past before they can move on, but what are the odds that they'll succeed in working things out before someone has a chance to separate them permanently?
I enjoyed THE INCORRIGIBLE MR. LUMLEY a lot. The characters were deliciously complex and faced equally as complex issues, i.e., how can you want to marry a woman whose brother you suspect of murder? That question definitely has a complicated answer. Working out the family issues while getting to know each other, David and Joanna demonstrate great personal growth, through which the virtues of honesty and humility are promoted. It's not often that a romance novel achieves this level of education. Here, the reader can absolutely walk away and apply to his/her own life the life lessons learned by the characters. Bravo!
As for the romantic development, I liked the fact that David and Joanna's relationship was built on consistent social interactions. It might have progressed quickly, but there were a great many opportunities to get to know each other. This novel has a heat level rating of 1, appropriate for teenagers and adults alike.
The pace of the book was good, but there were some editing issues that need to be addressed. Some of the sentences were structured oddly, causing a few reads to understand the sentence. I was able to get past the editing issues without too much effort, though.
Overall THE INCORRIGIBLE MR. LUMLEY is a sweet romance and definitely a great addition to your summer reading list.
*Review originally written for The Romance Reviews.com at
http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=10210
