One of the other reviewers liked Mrs. Mumpson; I find her too odious and much too central. A character like that should be peripheral. Ugh.

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot. wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission. Title: He Fell in Love with His Wife Series: ----- Author: Edward Roe Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre: Romance Pages: 308 Format: Kindle digital edition Synopsis: A farmer's wife dies and leaves him on his own. After several disastrous attempts at hiring women to take care of his domestic needs, he enters into a business marriage with a woman who has been used, lied to and cast aside. What neither of them expects is to fall in love with the other. However, when the cad who ruined the woman returns, all comes into the open and love and justice prevail. My Thoughts: After the Best Book of 2015 came from Roe (His Sombre Rivals) I deliberately lowered my expectations for this book. In some ways that was a good thing. This was a rather dry romance. It was a romance that I could believe in. Nothing like those pornographic books today that are called romance but are not much more than passion and sex. It also wasn't the Jane Austen variety of romance [of which I am a big fan] with its funny, quirky, irascible, heroic and villainous characters who were in very circumscribed circumstances. However, what this was a romance that dealt with some deep issues and had some weight behind it. A couple of things that I really did like: 1) One night a group of young men come to the cottage and perform some backwoods thingy, where they scream and insult the wife and husband. Well, the farmer knows that what they are saying is false but the wife doesn't and she is so afraid that she faints. The farmer then gets a hickory stick and beats the boys black and blue. But all the while he knows the boys aren't trying to harm his wife and he doesn't hold a grudge. He is punishing them for frightening her and to teach them to think before they act. 2) Near the end of the book the farmer confronts the man who ruined Mrs Farmer's reputation [by marrying her and hiding the fact that he was already married] and whips the man until he leaves. Men are creatures of violent natures, even those most inclined to peace and tranquility. Most of the time we see that violent nature at its worst; in murder, in abuse, in rape. But when properly channeled and in a right cause, a violent man is a thing of wonder to behold. So overall this book was a success for me. I have several more of Roe's book in my Calibre library and I am glad that I'll be reading more of him. " ( )

I picked this book because I read A Young Girl's Wooing (by this author) years ago and loved it and I always assume if I loved one book by an author, I'll love another. Well, I liked this one fine - not at par with the other, but good. The author was a reverend (which probably is why religion colors his books at time), but while AYGW had some religion in it, it was secondary to the plot at all times. In this one, it felt a little preachy at times, which I don't typically like.

There was a fair amount of internal dialogue (sometimes you would be reading someone's thoughts for more than a page) and I would have liked to see more interaction among the characters.

My favorite character was definitely Mrs. Mumpson. Someone else here described her as a female Mr. Collins, but I'd have to say she reminds me more of a Mrs. Elton ;) ( )

While the writing is dated, this is a sweet book that includes some truly humorous scenes. The main thrust of the story is the dawning of love in the hearts of the two protagonists, but there is some subtle character development as James, in particular, goes from being a perfectly correct man, to one with greater depths of passion and engagement with life. I quite enjoyed this story. ( )