Janet Evanovich & Dorien Kelly - The Husband List

So recently there's been a book that took me a month to read which really annoyed me because I would not be defeated by a book as well as another book that brings a series to an end; luckily, I enjoyed the latter thoroughly which cheered me up before I moved on to another book.  While this blog is under the 'historical' genre, it's probably not an accurate historical piece as it's just a light read and is just made up in the mind of the two authors and is a romanticised version of how society works at the time this book is set in.

The Husband List is the second novel from Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly which is the sequel (or more of a prequel to their first collaboration, Love in a Nutshell).  Janet Evanovich is known for her Stephanie Plum series which has spun off into the Wicked series which is a more paranormal series; Dorien Kelly is known for writing romantic comedy novels such as The Last Bride of Ballymuir as well as a number of others.  I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Love in a Nutshell, which followed Kate Appleton as she gets a job in a brewery, working for Matt Culhane undercover to spy on his employees to find out who is sabotaging his company.  The link between this series is that the one of the main characters, the man, is a member of the Culhane family who falls for the main female character as she falls for the Culhane.

Rating: 5

Recommended To: Evanovich fans; romance fans

Favourite Characters: Jack - still love the Irish; Flora - loved her

Favourite Part: "Mr. Edward Maxwell and Mr. John William Anthony Patrick Xavier Culhane," the butler announced to the other guests, who were readying to take their seats.
"He got it out in one breath," Jack said to Eddie as they stepped into the room.  "Impressive."
"Better than most," Eddie replied. - Page 125

Good Points: Easy read; finding out more background on the Culhane family; Caroline and Jack together

Bad Points: Secondary characters are very two dimensional; setting feels forced; predictable

The Husband List opens with Caroline Maxwell, an American heiress from New York, as she gets through another boring dress fitting her mother is forcing her to do when she would rather be going out into the city, visiting museums or attending lectures.  Unfortunately for Caroline, her mother dictates her every waking moment as well as her sisters', all because the matriarch of the Maxwell family intends to marry all three of her daughters off to wealthy gentlemen who will raise the family's position in society.  Caroline's mother already has plans for Caroline's nuptials from the flowers to the location, including the man - Lord Bremerton, an English lord set to inherit a dukedom from his family, meaning if Caroline were to marry him, she'd become a duchess.  However, Caroline has her eyes set on someone her mother would never approve of, her brother's best friend, Jack Culhane, a young Irish-American who owns multiple breweries across the east coast of America and comes from new money unlike Caroline or her family.

This was a good book to read following Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons because it was a nice, easy read with light humour, mixed in with a simple story and a dash of passion.  While it is a historical romance in a way due to the era in which it is set, I would most definitely call a chick lit book as I found it to be a palette cleanser, much like other chick lit books I've read which aren't particularly challenging but entertaining in the moment.  I fell in love with the main love interest and understood the main character which is all you really want from a chick lit book and while I have some problems with this book, which I will speak about later, I found it enjoyable enough to read it within a few days of starting it.

Having already read the predecessor to this book which is set in the modern day where the Culhane family have been established as brewery owners for years when the main character is introduced, I found it interesting to find out more of the Culhane family history firsthand as Jack is the first of his family to be born in America and is buying breweries across the eastern coast as he is introduced.  Bringing new information and developing a history to a series makes it more realistic for me because I am then able to build a timeline with every new bit of information that is given and thus builds a bigger picture.  Due to this, I enjoyed this book and is one of the points I would recommend Evanovich's writing on because she does provide a history and adds to it every so often in all of the books I've read written by her.

The times when Caroline and Jack were together, whether they were alone or even in a group, were some of my favourite moments in this book because I adored them as a couple, as I believe you should when reading a romance novel.  This was because Caroline could be herself despite her mother's disdain for Caroline's true nature - and Jack whom Caroline loved - while Jack went out of his way to prove how much he cared for Caroline to both her and her parents, especially her mother who seems to have a tight grip on the entire Maxwell family.  Both of them inhabit the key qualities of the romantic leads; she is a head-strong, young woman who is trying to find an exciting, passionate love and he's exactly what she is looking for and also has the drive to succeed and understands that Caroline should be able to do the exact same thing as him despite the era in which this book is set in.  While it is stereotypical, it is a nice distraction from the real world, like watching a romantic comedy film which is entertaining at the time.

Out of all the characters, Jack stood out for me because he was such an ideal match for Caroline as he understood her and wanted her to break out of her mother's clutches yet he isn't completely perfect as he has wnger issues and is a workaholic.  These flaws made him more realistic as some romantic novels such as this paint the woman's idea match to be perfect in every way and have no chinks in their armour in comparison to the man that her family is forcing her to marry.  Although he was protective of Caroline, he knew she was capable enough to keep herself safe as she has a spark about her that Jack finds appealing unlike the other girls he is introduced to as a prospective husband.  The shallower part of me love Jack solely on the fact that he was Irish as well as tall, dark-haired, well-built (like a rugby player from his description) and naturally tanned which are all qualities that make me a happy woman along with other women in this world I believe, however, what would be the point of a romance novel if you didn't find the lead male attractive.

As well as Jack, Flora was a great character too as she acted as a confidant to Caroline when she needed one the most while struggling to deal with her own relationship with Culhane Sr. and her own insecurities.  She couldn't truly see what made her wonderful and why the other characters around her loved her so; yet, she still had this confident air about her herself that she projected.  She also brought this insight into the Culhane family that nobody else would have known as she has been intimately close with the older Culhane while acting as a mother to the son, meaning you learn a bit more about the Culhanes which I always like.

I found some of the secondary characters to be very two dimensional and forgettable; two examples for me were Caroline's younger sisters who barely spoke throughout this book and just appeared in the background if Caroline happened to notice them so we weren't able to learn a lot about them which was a shame because they would have been able to provide another perspective to Mrs. Maxwell's tyrannical reign over the family much like how Eddie does when he is speaking with Jack.  If they had spoken more, this book may have been improved for me because I would have liked to have known more about them away from their family and heard their thoughts on certain situations.  This just suggests lazy writing for me and implies Evanovich just can't be bothered with creating new, exciting characters, even minor ones as she did previously.

The setting for this novel is unusual for Evanovich because she usually sets her novels in the modern day, making the story relatable in this way.  This time, it is set in 18th century New York and personally, I found it to be too forced and artificial because the language was too modern and lacked some historical authenticity, it just felt like a romanticised version which was irritating occasionally.  Even if Evanovich and Kelly had still chosen to set this novel in the past, they could have set in the 1960s and we could have still learnt more about the Culhane family and they could have achieved a better sense of historical authenticity as I believe they write better when telling a story from the modern day because I enjoyed Love in a Nutshell a lot more than I did this one.

There was, unfortunately, a very predictable story to this novel as it was just like every romance novel where the woman is head-strong and misunderstood by everyone but the man she is desperately in love with and has to fight tooth and nail to get away from her prospective suitor.  He is handsome and wealthy yet considered unfit by the woman's parents, or at least her mother, even though he is considered a family friend to the woman's family just like Jack who is best friends with Caroline's brother, Eddie.  Due to the predictability, I may not reread this book in the future which is a shame as I used to like reading Evanovich's novels over and over again.  Just like writing secondary characters who are instantly forgettable, churning out predictable and repetitive novels suggests lazy writing and I expect better from Evanovich (I'm not sure about Kelly as I haven't read any of her books other than this series) and unfortunately, Evanovich is becoming less of a favourite author of mine.

"Mr. Edward Maxwell and Mr. John William Anthony Patrick Xavier Culhane," the butler announced to the other guests, who were readying to take their seats.
"He got it out in one breath," Jack said to Eddie as they stepped into the room.  "Impressive."
"Better than most," Eddie replied. - Page 125

Amidst the drama and the passionate moments, humorous moments such as this keep the book light-hearted and are what draw me to Evanovich's writing.  What struck me most is that the humour in this book tended to come about when it was Jack interacting with anyone whether it was his father, Caroline, or even Lord Bremerton to name a few but I especially love the conversations between him and Eddie as it feels like an authentic best friend relationship where they joke around constantly yet are able to be completely serious at the drop of a hat.  I love this part in particular because it just seems absurd to tell the butler your full name, especially one of this length, because you were late but it gives the impression of a sense of humour from my point of view as it would have made me laugh because he was entering a room where majority of the people present know him.

I seem to have a love/hate relationship with this book because I enjoyed the premise of it and some of the moments between Jack and Caroline but I also found the book to be quite forgettable as a number of events didn't stick in my mind very well so when I was reviewing it, I had to keep the book near me so I could reread particular parts.  I recommend this to someone who wants a nice, simple book without an overcomplicated storyline and very simple characters, a beach read.  If the secondary characters had been made more three-dimensional and the story was set in a more modern time then I may have enjoyed this book a bit more and would have given it a higher rating, even if it had been predictable.  Maybe I've judged this too much on the fact that I used to enjoy Janet Evanovich's novels, seen as this is a collaboration with Dorien Kelly, but I have no experience with the latter's novels and wouldn't recommend this book to avid Evanovich fans as it is a far cry from the early Stephanie Plum books.

Other Books by Janet Evanovich