This Is a Romance?

Carl her husband and the Hero: “I don’t want your love!… I never asked for it or encouraged it, so don’t blame me if you get hurt.” “If I care it’s because you’re my wife, something belonging to me, but not for you personally.” Carl kisses her so hard that her mouth bleeds, grinds his chest into her breasts, bites her breast, shows triumph when he sees that he hurt her.

His wife Gail, the heroine, thinks during this: “Carl must still be hurting terribly to be capable of saying such things. If she cared for him, her love might act like a healing balm and he might forget.”

I don’t see love here. I see a petulant, spoilt man whose fiancée walked out rather than deal with his broken leg, and who married the girl that he knew had loved him unconditionally for years. I see a woman who fools herself into believing that this sorry excuse for a man could grow up and be worth her time and marriage.

Plot Synopsis

Carl owns a racing stable and is engaged to Other Woman Petula, a very spoiled, selfish beauty. Petula dumps Carl just before book opens because Carl broke his leg and Petula wants a man who can take her around, lavish money and attention, and clearly Carl is out of the running for a couple months.

Gail’s father had been Carl’s chief trainer and Gail worked as his assistant and has been acting as the trainer/stable manager for several months. Gail has been in love with Carl (why??) for years and he alternately acts ignorant and as if he knows. I believe he knows and thinks it’s hilarious. Gail comes to his house, cooks his dinner, gives of herself with zero return.

Carl starts to pay Gail a little attention, finally he asks her to marry him, going out of his way to make it clear that he cares nothing for her, even threatening her with losing her job if she refuses. “In a way, being so plain, you could consider you’re doing rather well for yourself, marrying me.” Carl does not suffer from humility.

They marry. Carl insults Gail’s dress, calls her dowdy and claims people will feel sorry for him because she looks so awful: “I didn’t realize that after marrying you I might be pitied even more than I was.” Carl says several times that he will eventually get tired of her and make her leave.

Carl and she share a suite in his house, he doesn’t intend to sleep with her, a few days later Carl blames drinking too much for kissing her. Eventually Gail offers herself and at first Carl is delighted to sleep with her but later blames her for it and he continues to make “scathing remarks”.

Eventually OW Petula, now divorced, sees Gail at a race and tells her to tell Carl that she’s back and wants him. Of course Gail does not do this.

Carl acts even more erratically and Gail calls him on it, says he’s afraid to go places where he will run into Petula. He hits her because “You aren’t fit to mention her name!” Gail knows her marriage is doomed and decides not to tell him that she is pregnant.

Carl meets up with Petula in London and decides to divorce Gail and marry Petula in New York. He has his bags packed when she comes in – apparently he wasn’t going to bother to tell her – and we have the low light of this faux romance and insight into this conceited man:

“You didn’t tell me you saw Petula at Ascot.”
“What would be the point? She hurt you and I didn’t want it to happen again.”
“She realizes she hurt me, but she was confused. When she was engaged to me, her feelings had never been so involved before and she became frightened.”
“So frightened she married another man.”
“She felt safe with Oscar. He was like a harbour in a storm. It wasn’t until she married him that she realized what she’d given up.” (As noted before Carl does not have low self esteem.)
“Doesn’t she have any conscience about leaving her husband?”
“She couldn’t make him happy when she can think only of me.”
“Hasn’t our marriage meant anything to you?”
“You knew when you married me that there was little chance of our relationship being permanent. It wasn’t a normal marriage.”
“You made it one.”
“You didn’t exactly discourage me. Proximity had a lot to do with it. I believe you knew I was fighting it, yet you couldn’t stay out of my bed. As a woman, even a fairly innocent one, you couldn’t help taking advantage. It’s not always easy to resist something that’s handed to you on a plate.”
“How can you (love Petula)? She’s like a statue, beautiful but as cold as marble. She’ll never be able to love you back in any way because she’s not a real woman.”

At this point Carl hits her across the room. Gail apologizes for saying that about Petula! And no, Carl does NOT apologize.

Gail offers to leave and Carl tells her he would be grateful if she did because Petula wants the house completely done over before they return from New York. He walks out. Gail drives off to her sister’s house and gets into a car accident and miscarries. (Of course.) Her sister and brother in law are glad to have her with them but Gail knows she needs to get a job, be independent, she’s frightened of running into Carl or Petula if she works with horses.

About six weeks later Gail is home by herself when Carl comes. He knows all about the accident and the miscarriage and he’s bitterly remorseful. He claims he realized on the flight to New York – sitting next to Petula – that he doesn’t love Petula, he loves Gail. Now he’s come to ask her to come home to him. Like a dummy Gail does.

What’s Wrong with This?

A better question might be “What’s right with this?” Carl hurts Gail mentally, emotionally, physically. He constantly throws her looks and her love for him in her face, mocks her, holds Petula up as the model for women. Gail takes it all because she loves him.

I understand putting up with things you do not like in a marriage, with putting your spouse before yourself, honoring and cherishing them. But I do not understand marrying a man who loves someone else, who thinks of you as third-rate, who has no respect for you and considers himself to be the be-all and end-all of men. Much less staying with a husband who throws you across the room for being disrespectful towards the woman he prefers to you.

It’s hard to believe this is love. Yvonne Whittal uses the same plot in House of Mirrors, where the H marries the h then dumps her to be with the OW. In that story the hero is selfish but never physically abusive and he clearly likes the heroine and finds her physically attractive. The heroine has self worth, blames him for her miscarriage and asks her sister not to mention his name. Later she realizes she loves H and forgives him when he humbly asks. That story felt real. The Odds Against does not. If I were Gail I’d shove Carl out the door of her sister’s house and sue him for divorce with an enormous settlement. I would not risk my heart and health to this man again.

Overall

The Odds Against has plenty of angst, misery, horrible hero scenes, vicious OW, pleasant scenery, all things that make a delightful Harlequin romance. Unfortunately the key ingredients that Harlequins need to be believable romances are missing. The heroine has little to no self-respect and Carl’s apology and grovel do not seem credible. The same hero who fondly believed he is so wonderful that Petula couldn’t let herself give in to the overwhelming emotions she had is now apologizing and planning to make it up to Gail? I doubt this will last more than a few days. In a week or two Carl will be right back with the cruel, condescending remarks and looking for Petula or a Petula-lookalike.

Still I have to give this story

3 Stars

simply for the angst and misery level. It is emotionally intense, although I don’t believe some of the feelings are real.

I got my copy of The Odds Against from Thriftbooks and you usually can find copies on Amazon, other used book sites and eBay. It is not available on Archive.org as of February 2023.

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