Karen R. - , reviewed All Afternoon with a Scandalous Marquess (Lords of Vice, Bk 5) on + 71 more book reviews
This should have been a five-star book, as Hawkins' writings always are. I liked the characters and the story. All the Lords of Vice books have unusual heroines and this one was no exception. The disappointment came at the end of the book where the reader felt as though details were missing! You are left wondering what was omitted that you needed to know. Suddenly, the denouement is happening in a rush to the finish leaving a vague sense of something missing. Well worth the read, just not up to Hawkins' usual standard
Sara P. (sarap) -
I would have given this book 3.5 stars until the very end.
It feels like there were 2 or 3 chapters left out of the end of the book. One of the central conflicts in the book was apparently resolved without any explanation at all. None. I truly feel as if there is some content missing from the book, I've never read one where 1. there is a central conflict that drives one of the characters and 2. everything is different and apparently resolved without explanation when you turn the page.
Specifically, here is what's missing:
1. The scene where the hero realizes he loves the heroine.
2. The scene where the heroine realizes she loves the hero.
3. The scene where the hero and heroine decide what to do about it.
4. The scene where anybody at all deals with the villain (yes, the villain just disappears from the story for no reason, never to be mentioned again)
5. The scene where anybody at all questions why the "maybe/maybe-not" villain allows something to happen (yup, another completely unresolved thread).
6. The scene where the heroine resolves one of the driving conflicts of the book (not with the villain).
I don't think these problems are actually due to bad writing ... because these things just aren't addressed at all. It's really more like chapters got left out of the book. I went back and checked the page numbering and chapter numbering to see if there was a mis-print or something (apparently not from what I could tell) so I think the problem happened when the book was typeset. Somehow some of it got left out and they didn't catch the mistake.
It's not even as if the author left some open ended scenes that you can guess are going to be addressed in the next book in the series. Nope. Nothing like that in this book.
It feels like there were 2 or 3 chapters left out of the end of the book. One of the central conflicts in the book was apparently resolved without any explanation at all. None. I truly feel as if there is some content missing from the book, I've never read one where 1. there is a central conflict that drives one of the characters and 2. everything is different and apparently resolved without explanation when you turn the page.
Specifically, here is what's missing:
1. The scene where the hero realizes he loves the heroine.
2. The scene where the heroine realizes she loves the hero.
3. The scene where the hero and heroine decide what to do about it.
4. The scene where anybody at all deals with the villain (yes, the villain just disappears from the story for no reason, never to be mentioned again)
5. The scene where anybody at all questions why the "maybe/maybe-not" villain allows something to happen (yup, another completely unresolved thread).
6. The scene where the heroine resolves one of the driving conflicts of the book (not with the villain).
I don't think these problems are actually due to bad writing ... because these things just aren't addressed at all. It's really more like chapters got left out of the book. I went back and checked the page numbering and chapter numbering to see if there was a mis-print or something (apparently not from what I could tell) so I think the problem happened when the book was typeset. Somehow some of it got left out and they didn't catch the mistake.
It's not even as if the author left some open ended scenes that you can guess are going to be addressed in the next book in the series. Nope. Nothing like that in this book.
