ISBN: 0821775251
Publisher: Zebra Books
Release Date: Feb 2004
List Price: $5.99

Reviewed by Sandra K. Moore

Cheryl Bolen's An Improper Proposal is a very devious book. Sure, it's a historical. And yes, it's a marriage of convenience story. But what sets this novel apart from the rest is the author's insight into the human condition coupled with an experienced writer's impeccable sense of timing. If you don't read historicals, try this one; we contemporary authors can learn a lot from it.

George Pembroke, the Viscount Sedgewick, lost his beloved wife during the birth of their second child, Sam, two years ago. Devastated by his loss, George descends into a decadent lifestyle, unwilling and, in many ways, unable to fulfill his duties as landowner and as father to his two children. Marry again? Forget it. No woman will ever match Dianna -- in any way.

Enter Sally Spenser, the spinster friend of George's sister who adores both the neglected children and their still-grieving father. Sally isn't your standard heroine who sits demurely by the potted palm and hopes to be noticed by the Hero. She challenges and encourages George by turns, which usually results in his becoming angry with her.

But as George soon learns, his anger at Sally's well-aimed remarks is merely a defense mechanism. Sally, he must admit, is always right when it comes to his behavior with his children. Why, that makes her a perfect candidate for his second wife. After all, he doesn't want to replace Dianna in his heart, but his children need a good mother. And Sally fits the bill.

At this point, forget everything you know about marriage of convenience stories because Cheryl Bolen is about to take you on an insightful exploration of grief, selfishness, hope, and tough love.

George is a wonderful study of grief gone awry. To grieve and feel loss is one thing, but when grief becomes habit, is it still grief? Or is it the selfish escapism of a man who is, in the final analysis, afraid of beginning again, afraid of making himself vulnerable once more?

And George's feelings toward his son, Sam, are a complex mix of resentment, responsibility, fear, and downright cluelessness. George is a natural father, but is severely crippled by his own unbending loneliness and fear. George has forgotten how to be part of a family.

Sally thus brings to George's life the stability and affection he hasn't figured out he needs. Sally, a vicar's daughter, knows her social and financial options are few. Painfully aware that breeding does not always guarantee social and financial stability, Sally consents to be George's "wife," by which George means "glorified governess." But it's a role Sally fills quite naturally because the "glorified" part of the deal allows her to exercise her education, mind, and good sense in ways she finds gratifying.

As she comes to know her husband better and better, Sally realizes that remaining in Bath -- near all of George's old haunts -- will only continue to encourage his self-destructive habits. She must break those habits if she's to see George become whole again. Fair enough. She announces she'll take his children to Hornsby, his family seat, with or without him.

By this point in the novel, Sally has really come into her own as a character. A less complex character than George, she radiates strength and determination as she begins to suffer at the hands of the villain. Throughout her ordeals -- of resurrecting the downtrodden Hornsby household, of resisting the villain's destructive behavior, of longing for a man she's convinced doesn't want her -- her good sense wins out. Sensible women are often less "sexy" than their smart-mouthed, hot-headed counterparts, but there's a knowing, somehow practical innocence about Sally that gives her depth and breadth.

As for Ms. Bolen's impeccable timing, I never found myself thinking these characters have been too long in one place, whether that place was physical, emotional, or mental. An interesting exercise would be to graph out these three general areas of the novel to see how Ms. Bolen skillfully guides the story through its various phases, such as the events leading up to the cleverly plotted mini-climax of Sally's threatening to take the children to Hornsby without their father.

In fact, her handling of the couple's emotional growth is wonderful. Their emotional intimacy grows in Bath as they share a bed but no physical intimacy; at Hornsby, they no longer share a bed but the emotional intimacy continues as Sally makes sure George takes time to rest his mind as well as his body in their quiet evenings together. As George becomes more and more attracted to his wife, Sally becomes more and more convinced he doesn't find her attractive. How much better can emotional conflict get?

All in all, An Improper Proposal is an emotionally compelling novel that kept me reading until well after midnight. As a writer, I learned a lot from this novel. As a reader, I found it heart-wrenching, fun, and uplifting. So now, after years of contemporary-only reading, count me a reader convert to the historical novel -- at least as written by Cheryl Bolen.

Sandra K. Moore has been a technical writer, poet, martial arts student, and software product manager, occasionally all at the same time. She writes for Silhouette Bombshell.