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Good Writing, Bad Story

Revisado: 01-08-23

The writing was professional and polished, but the story was uneven and the heroine obnoxious.

21 and the girl knows EVERYTHING. This sounds normal enough, except we are supposed to believe that our girl actually *is* right about everything. Much of her dialogue centers around setting other people to rights, especially older folks who represent the repressive establishment. I lost count of how many sentences she started with, "Actually,..." She suffers no consequences for this, except universal admiration. (Everyone telling her how great she was got old as well. Not sure who the author was trying to convince with that.)

Lots of interesting plot ideas that were cobbled together in a way that didn't quite work. I am the sort who hard commits to books once I've started them, so I was prepared to go with it, but, by the end, it was just too much. At some point, I felt like even the author gave up on trying to make it make sense. (Zero effort went toward making the final "twist" believable.)

But the writing is really quite good. The story had a great sense of time and place, & the characters were well drawn, even if they were difficult to "spend time with". This was my first Rhys Bowen novel, but I'll give her another read based on the strength of the writing alone.

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Silly & Over the Top

Revisado: 01-04-23

Convoluted, fantastical suspense novel that reads like a cheap romance. If you're in the mood for far-fetched drama w/ absurd, inconsistent, & unbelievable characters, this might be the book for you!

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Modern Values in a Historic Setting

Revisado: 01-02-23

The writing is able, as is the narration, but there isn't even a touch of realism to the story. A modern, empowered heroine strains against the rigors of a small-minded society & everyone loves her for it. Blah, blah. Mystery is fine, if uninspired. Characters are shallow. Minimal descriptions of what might have been interesting settings. Very pert. Very preppy. Not terribly interesting.

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Stealth Abridged Version

Revisado: 01-01-23

This book was recommended to me, & I was looking forward to "reading" it. The writing & narration are more than competent, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. By the end, I had decided my friend was wrong, & this was just a superficial treatment of what should have been an epic tale. When my friend was baffled by my complaints about how huge events were glossed over, I decided to go back to Audible and read the description -- sure enough, this is an abridged version. Its being abridged is not shown on the cover, nor is it listed with the title. & because I was reading it on recommendation, I skipped the description and missed this important info. As a result, I can't rate the story or writing of the actual book fairly, but this version of it is definitely a miss.

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The best Heyer I've read so far!

Revisado: 11-11-19

And I've been tearing through them lately. I've finished almost a dozen in half as many months.

Venetia was a great read, as was the Grand Sophie, but this one takes the prize. It's light and sweet and funny but so interesting and human that you're compelled to put off chores and work and sleep to find out what happens next.

It's hard to talk plot w/o giving too much away, but this book does the unexpected. You think you know where it's going -- and have a lot of fun wishing it in that direction -- until you suddenly realize you no longer want it to go that way. It manipulated my emotions masterfully. And the characters are so loveable, I was genuinely sorry when it ended.

This has joined the ranks of my favorite feel-good books of all time. I can't recommend it highly enough.

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