Willy W. reviewed on 3/9/2011 + 503 more book reviews

Mixed. Book is well written, the story is compelling, the characters are interesting and mostly likable (although the hero becomes a complete jackass later in the story, imo never redeems himself). But the book is overly long. The main story doesn't really support a 400+ page book and I was getting tired of it about halfway through.

Throughout the book the author goes astray into the minds of secondary, tertiary, and even extremely minor characters. I think this is part of the storytelling about gossip and rumor - she's trying to show how it effects people. But as this is my first Eloisa James book, I can't say for sure that this isn't just James's writing style. If it is, I think it would be really really annoying.

I also quibble with the hero who was mostly sexy and lovable, but then she had him say some things to the heroine that I think were unforgivable. By the end of the book I didn't like him anymore and thought he didn't deserve to be forgiven or taken back. Who would ever trust someone like that?

However despite my complaints, I did like the story, I thought the details were interesting and I came to care about the side characters. I also found myself teared-up at the end, which doesn't happen very often. So I think this book is a keeper.

James is fairly thrifty with the love scenes and doesn't really spend much time on them. While she doesn't completely omit them, they're kind of glossed over.

3.5 stars

Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details