its perfect.frustratingg when hes pigheaded towards end but guess that leads into the drama of him realising she's actually pefect =)

This is the story of innocent and open Alexandra, who winds up rescuing Jordan, a cynical duke from highwaymen who were about to kill him and in doing so winds up compromised by him. He marries her because he thinks she's something of a cute kid and he likes talking to her, but his plans are to leave her on a backwater estate while he enjoys himself in London and will only visit occasionally because he needs heirs. Alexandra is unaware of his intentions but has fallen in love with him, but disaster strikes only days after the wedding when he's kidnapped and impressed into the royal navy.

He is found too late because the ship he was on was destroyed and no one survived.

While Alexandra mourns him and tries to shape herself into the lady of quality his grandmother assures her he wanted, she finds out the true character of her husband a year later when she is the laughing stock of the ton for her devotion and ignorance of her husband. His cousin sets her straight on exactly what kind of man she had married. Telling her how he'd planned to pack her away and also how he'd been to visit his mistress the same day that he'd disappeared, which was true. In turn, she hardens her heart and sets to make it all seem a joke so she can be accepted into society.

Meanwhile, Jordan has actually survived and is held a prisoner of the French, he manages to escape and gets back to england only to have to break up the wedding of his wife and his cousin. He is upset because it was his thoughts of her that had gotten him through, even though he could only, at this point, remember the color of her eyes. But he finds that she's blossomed into a beautiful young woman and sets out to make her want to belong to him.


I didn't really like this book. I've read plenty of Judith McNaught books that I loved and even liked and some that I didn't particularly care for that I still thought were better. It took me a while to pinpoint the reason for my not liking it but I finally figured it out.

Jordan is supposed to be a cynical man who believes that 'no where lies a woman true and fair' but instead he only comes across as shallow and self centered. There was never a moment in the book where he felt the slightest bit of remorse or guilt about any of his actions, and he had plenty of things to regret.

Then we have Alexandra, she started out as such a great character, but she flopped in the end. Through the entire book she forced herself into the mold of whatever anyone else wanted her to be. She was a tomboy for her father who would have rather she'd been a boy since she wasn't pretty, and she later became a society miss for her husband because she was told that's what he wanted. She wasn't happy but she did it anyway because that's what he wanted. Not even at the end of the book did she ever decide to stop living her life by what other people want and start living the way she wanted.


Since neither of the main characters had any personal growth, the book wound up being a complete flop for me.

The first book that I read from Judith McNaught was called "Whitney, My Love", and I really enjoyed it. I have since read many of her books. My favorite one being a book called "Perfect".

I don't read Judith McNaught's books anymore, because there is one theme that repeats throughout every single one of her books, that ruins them for me now.

In each and every book, the man comes to some wrong conclusion about his woman, that she has in some way wronged him, and his fury is so powerful, unreasonable and blind, that no one can get through to him to get him to see the truth of what really happened, and even his closest friends and family are terrified of his anger and are afraid to bring her name up in his presence.

Reading this scenario once was fine, it was very emotional and you could really see that behind his rage was a deep well of pain (blah, blah, blah).

But seriously, in EVERY single one of her stories? It's literally the same scene repeated in every book. Even the book "Until You" with Stephen Westmoreland, who is the brother of the Duke in "Whitney My Love", (and who, incidently, sympathizes with and assists Whitney when she is trying to get her husband to forgive her for whatever imagined crime she supposedly committed)reacts exactly the same way when he thinks the girl he is in love with has tricked him about her identity.

It's not that the men don't usually have some legitimate reason to be distrusting or angry, but it's the fact that each and every one of her male characters reacts in exactly the same way. It's so annoying to me that she thinks the all Romantic Heros would be so supremely angry and unreasonable (and somehow always terrifyingly powerful in their rage) for often not very good reasons, without even stopping for one second to hear any kind of explanations from the women that they supposedly love.

I know that individually, Judith McNaughts books are good, but I just can't stand the reaccurring theme anymore. Not all men react that way. Mary Jo Putney writes some very emotional stories and none of the men freak out over some imagined wrong at the drop of the hat. I wish Judith McNaught would put a little more realistic behavior in her male characters.

For some reason, I had a few issues with SW. It's still one of the better written historical romances and there really isn't anyone better at it then JM. I think I had some issues with the storyline when Jordan returns to Alex. And the murder plot, really shallow. That's probably why I can't give it a 5 star. To me something wasn't quite right about the story but it's good for it's genre.

This is the first Judith Mcnaught book i have read and i am so glad i did. I've already got some of her other books on hold at the library now!

Something Wonderful was just such a lovely, entertaining read that when i finished it this morning i couldn't help but smile. Alex may seem to some to be a bit of a 'goodie goodie' but rather than making me cringe or roll my eyes at her character i liked her and i think her character worked perfectly with Jordan's - who is so cynical and bitter to begin with, but changes over time. All in all i loved this book and would recommend it to anyone! It reminded me a lot of 'the secret pearl' by mary balogh (another absolute classic! recommend that one too) because the development between the two main characters is so heart warming and sweet.

as an extra i just want to say that sometimes the amazon reviews here are really WRONG! and it pisses me off when people base their review on the 'tapes' of books. They complain about how the "voice of blah blah blah was all wrong" etc. I dont think, firstly that we should be reviewing tape recordings when the item is a BOOK (not a tape) and i also think that these people should actually just read the damn book if they hated the voices SO much, because it just seems lazy! there is NOTHING like reading a great book and finishing it with a smile (like something wonderful)

All in all i absolutetly loved this book and highly recommend it!