Marrying Winterborne (The Ravenels #2) by Lisa Kleypas

After months and months of actually waiting... I finally got to read Marrying Winterborne.

Fin.

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Long version:

Truth is... I'm kind of let down. I actually liked it. I wasn't expecting it to be the love story of the ages, but I was expecting a little more.

I have been obsessed about the release of this book since I first encountered Cold-Hearted Rake, a story so much more about introducing everyone else that the love story almost became an afterthought. It was so lukewarm that if it wasn't for the introduction of Rhys Winterborne halfway through, I would have written that book off as boooooooring. Alas, there should have been so much more in Marrying Winterborne. Well, at least Pandora isn't as annoying as she was in the first book.

In short, Marrying Winterborne is more of a coming-of-age story for Helen Ravenel rather than a romance. She's a brilliant character, one of those characters who is always underestimated, but turns out to made of sterner stuff. She finally meets her real father (there were hints dropped in Book 1), discovers and saves his half-sister, and married her true love. It's a great book for self-discovery, but compared to the seemingly take-charge attitude her love interest employed in the first book, Rhys Winterborne seems to be have been relegated to a sub-plot and cash machine.

What the hell? Helen is decked out in all her
finery and Rhys couldn't give two figs about
buttoning up!?

Someone fire Quincy! 

I wouldn't have minded it if this story was in another genre. Fuck yeah, girl power or whatever. However, this is a romance and it seems like the love story part was over and done with by the first few chapters and the other story overtakes it.

To her credit, Lisa Kleypas didn't end up employing the Simon Hunt (Secrets of a Summer Night) tactic of using his wealth and influence to save the day. However, that places Rhys into the corner for time-out as a passive character. Apparently, the only character development Rhys needs is to learned how to wait to get what he wants. Really... after he becomes a swoon-worthy romantic lead in the beginning chapters, that's all he needs. In the end, all he ever did was to sprout out lines about how much he loves Helen (the child of his most hated person in the world) and, yes, he doesn't mind taking care of the child of his dead cuckold best friend's dead wife and said most hated person in the world.

For God's sake, that's a lot to take in! Even for someone of Rhys' robust constitution, he still needs to be eased in to the kinds of secrets Helen has been keeping. Instead of being handed one pot of orchid at a time, he's being dumped all of 200 pots and have him carry it all.

What I expected more of: trust issues.

However, the fact that it's Helen and his love for her supersedes everything. I expected there to be a little more conflict between he and Helen about her unwillingness to confide in him or ask for his assistance. Then there is also a little more of the inner-workings of Rhys' thoughts - the fact that the girl you love more than anything in the world is the child of your worst enemy can really fuck up with someone's mind. No internal conflict? Not even slightly taken aback at the thought? No thought process for him of how it all doesn't matter and will help Helen get through it all anyway?

No. Helen, as by way of explanation.

All in all, it's a pretty pleasant read, but I think it relies more of my anticipation from the last book. However, it's very hard to read it as a stand alone. It's a continuation, that's about it. If someone who hasn't read Cold-Hearted Rake, the opening chapters would come across as coming out of nowhere.