"To Love and To Cherish" begins Gaffney's "Wyckerly" Trilogy (followed by "To Have and To Hold" and "Forever and Ever") - I'm gonna go ahead and say it's the best without even reading the final installment. It has to be. The second novel with its depressing plot and jerk of a hero is one book I can't seem to get into, no matter how many people say they love it. The hero in "To Love and To Cherish" however, he's a fucking hero, man. I know I shouldn't curse while talking about a man of the cloth, but, Christian Morell, he's cool, he'd give me a pass. He's what romance readers call a Beta Hero, meaning he's the opposite of the Alpha Male - but he isn't weak, he shows his strengths through discipline and faith rather than arrogance or brutality. Christy is a good man with good intentions, but he doubts his calling and doubts he can live up to his father's reputation as the previous Vicar of Wyckerly. He is not truly tested however, until the new lord (and former childhood friend) Geoffrey Verlaine inherits and comes home to Wyckerly with a wife in tow.
Anne Verlaine is a complex and interesting heroine. She's unhappy but not a victim -she was raised on the continent by a bohemian father and has rather modern views on love and sexuality. We learn about Anne through her diary entries, in a slightly different style than any I can recall. Anne is funny, and sometimes cranky, and more than a little insecure with her position as lady of the manor. Christy is first and foremost a confidant, ally and friend. He fights his attraction to Anne, and she only indulges in hers secretly between the pages of her journal.
There were many points during the course of this book where I sat on the edge of my seat, lifted to emotional highs and terrified Gaffney would ruin the whole thing with a "big misunderstanding" of the lowest kind. She mostly succeeds - there is one issue I could have done without, and the tension between the H/H becomes nearly unbearable at its peak, but I choose to follow in Christy Morell's shining example and give Gaffney a pass. "To Love and To Cherish" features a a love story of real depth and a hero I won't soon forget.
