ALL THINGS BEAUTIFUL by Cathy Maxwell

PUBLISHER: Harper, 4/1994
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: England, 1811
AUTHOR SITE: link
MY GRADE: B

SYNOPSIS: Lady Julia Markham's mediterranean-blue eyes and daring spirit made her the toast of the season, until she attempted to elope with a man who then betrayed her. By the strict standards of London society, Julia was ruined.

Three years later, desperate and penniless, Julia agreed to marry Brader Wolf, a self-made merchant who was unwelcome in aristocratic drawing rooms. Yet Julia was determined to make her businesslike marriage bloom-and found herself inexplicably drawn to her magnetic and dangerous husband. Breathless passion awaited her with Brader, but Julia's heart could settle for nothing less than the love of a lifetime.

MY THOUGHTS: This was pretty dark in nature in several ways with a slight gothic feel. It spans not quite a year. This is the author's first novel, which came out in 1994, the year I began reading historical romance. I learned of this novel many years ago, probably on the defunct Amazon romance forum. Something in the heroine's past made me want to read this, so I finally did, as it's very atypical for a historical romance book character.

Julia is twenty-four. Her parents and three brothers are garbage and heartless. All but one brother who's an alcoholic seems to be addicted to gambling. Her much older brother, Geoffrey, I think he's thirty-five, is truly a bad seed and villain. A few years prior something awful happened in Julia's life (after the attempted elopement) and her brother was involved. He helped Julia do something and it just makes no sense for him to be involved in that. He had nothing at all to gain by it other than to get pleasure from watching someone suffer.

Brader's in his early thirties, comes from nothing and has become wealthy. His parents weren't married to each other and his father died when he was a baby (I think). He marries Julia for her property, Kimberwood, because his mother and her first husband lived on it over thirty years ago and her first husband is buried there. He's a decent guy who treats Julia well...most of the time.

I'm not sure how I feel about Julia. I guess I don't really have an opinion of her. She's judgmental toward Brader since he's from a different 'class' than her. She literally doesn't know how babies are made, which is very annoying to read. She's got a strong personality yet she's easily led by her brother Geoffrey and we aren't made to understand why and it's frustrating. He's after money and wants her to do away with Brader.

As with many novels, a lot of action takes place right at the end and that's what happened here. It was no surprise it all involved Geoffrey and was violent. It was a little over the top but I liked it anyway.

The eight page epilogue took place twenty-five years later and consisted of nothing but them hanging out with most of their six living children.