wolfie0516 reviewed on
Helpful Score: 2
I really hate to write a bad review because what doesn't appeal to me, probably does appeal to someone else and who am I to judge? But this book had such glaring and appalling shortcomings that it was too hard to let it go without some comment. I also rely very much on people's reviews for books to determine what I'll read because I have so little time and there are so many great books out there to read. I rely on other people's info to help cull the selections for me. Hopefully my comments will help someone else who does the same as I.
The good things about the book were few and far between, but they were IMHO: First, a potentially good storyline of a brave and handsome duke-turned-spy who is assigned to protect a lovely, intelligent, and independent heiress who has been targeted for kidnapping by an enemy agent for her wealth. The Duke has to pretend to court her to get close enough to protect her. There's so much potential for them to get close and develop an interesting and deep relationship once they actually start spending time together. But instead, what happens is an instantaneous falling in love with one another completely apart from any substantial or intriguing dialogue between the two. I could believe their instant physical attraction to one another, but the dialogue never exists between them for there to be anything more than just the barest and most superficial of relationships. I never saw how her wittiness or intelligence or depth of character was established or revealed. As far as the Duke was concerned, there was also so much potential for a very colorful, bold, brave character with interesting background life experiences to draw us in, but that never really panned out either. Second positive point is her aunts. They are really cute, interesting characters, each with very different and unique personalities and roles to play. I enjoyed what little parts they played in the story. Which leads to a complaint, I would have liked for them to have had more involvement in the story since they were one of the few enjoyable parts.
The negatives were pervasive throughout the whole book. First of all, the editing was so horrible, I constantly had to work to keep straight or figure out what the author meant to say. I was willing to overlook this to some degree, but at some point, it was impossible to overlook and as I read other reviews about this book, that was something that was commented on by everyone else, so it wasn't just an issue to me. The second problem I had was as I mentioned before, I never became convinced of their "love" for one another. It was supposed to be a strong enough love that he was willing to sacrifice his career, which he lived for and truly loved, for her, and for her to be willing to give up her much desired independence and vow to never marry. One reviewer I read called it a "lukewarm passion", which I think is a perfect way to describe it. Isn't that an oxymoron - how can a passion which by definition is fervent be lukewarm which by definition mean without enthusiasm or fervor? Third complaint is how the story jumped randomly from scene to scene with no smooth or logical transitions. It felt like one scene was never completed or made sense before all of a sudden, it's over, and we've been transported to some random new scene that has no relation to what just almost happened and no closure was given. I kept thinking that there were missing pages or I had turned two pages over rather than to the next one. Fourth, I felt like the wording and phrasing of things was very cliche and that they were stuck into the story so they would fit into the prescribed template for historical romance novels. The overall delivery just fell short for me. Lastly, there were story points that never made sense to me. I still don't understand how kidnapping an heiress who is in charge of her own life and wealth is beneficial to the enemy. How do they plan to get her money or property? There's no one to ransom her to because she alone controls her wealth and possessions. Are they so assured they can force her to turn it all over to them? How can this happen when she would have to deal with solicitors and people she would be able to get help/rescue from? There's no leverage that I can think of they could hold over her head. There is no indication that they plan to harm her family or beloved horses or anything else, for that matter. Also, the enemy agent (Garenne) is a well-known enemy of the Duke and his co-agents. Garenne knows well that the Duke is an agent of the Crown because of their history together in past missions. So why doesn't Garenne just kill the Duke to get him out of the way? There is one somewhat direct attack in the park, and one indirect attempt (at the pub/inn) on the Duke's life, but he is constantly out in the open and unguarded so an agent as skilled and deadly as Garenne is described as being, should easily be able to stop him from successfully guarding and protecting the heroine. These are just two questions that come to mind, but they are points critical to the credibility of the whole premise of the story.
Again, I hate to give a bad review, but after reading 70% of the book, I couldn't finish it. I hate to do that. I always want to finish any book I start because after putting the effort to get as far as I do, I want to see it through, but I finally realized that it made no sense to take more time suffering through it when I have so many amazing and incredible books on my TBR shelf. Another positive though, I think the cover is gorgeous and did fit the description of the characters in the book (how often does that happen?). Good luck to any who decide to read it. Based on the PBS rating for it, it appears that some readers were able to get some enjoyment from it. I'm glad. I wish the best for authors in this genre because I really love it and hope for there to be many more published. For more and better (by which I mean, better articulated, not necessarily that give a positive rating) reviews than what I have given, a good place to go is goodreads.com. There were quite a few reviews written up for this book at that site and as I said, they were pretty complete and well written.
The good things about the book were few and far between, but they were IMHO: First, a potentially good storyline of a brave and handsome duke-turned-spy who is assigned to protect a lovely, intelligent, and independent heiress who has been targeted for kidnapping by an enemy agent for her wealth. The Duke has to pretend to court her to get close enough to protect her. There's so much potential for them to get close and develop an interesting and deep relationship once they actually start spending time together. But instead, what happens is an instantaneous falling in love with one another completely apart from any substantial or intriguing dialogue between the two. I could believe their instant physical attraction to one another, but the dialogue never exists between them for there to be anything more than just the barest and most superficial of relationships. I never saw how her wittiness or intelligence or depth of character was established or revealed. As far as the Duke was concerned, there was also so much potential for a very colorful, bold, brave character with interesting background life experiences to draw us in, but that never really panned out either. Second positive point is her aunts. They are really cute, interesting characters, each with very different and unique personalities and roles to play. I enjoyed what little parts they played in the story. Which leads to a complaint, I would have liked for them to have had more involvement in the story since they were one of the few enjoyable parts.
The negatives were pervasive throughout the whole book. First of all, the editing was so horrible, I constantly had to work to keep straight or figure out what the author meant to say. I was willing to overlook this to some degree, but at some point, it was impossible to overlook and as I read other reviews about this book, that was something that was commented on by everyone else, so it wasn't just an issue to me. The second problem I had was as I mentioned before, I never became convinced of their "love" for one another. It was supposed to be a strong enough love that he was willing to sacrifice his career, which he lived for and truly loved, for her, and for her to be willing to give up her much desired independence and vow to never marry. One reviewer I read called it a "lukewarm passion", which I think is a perfect way to describe it. Isn't that an oxymoron - how can a passion which by definition is fervent be lukewarm which by definition mean without enthusiasm or fervor? Third complaint is how the story jumped randomly from scene to scene with no smooth or logical transitions. It felt like one scene was never completed or made sense before all of a sudden, it's over, and we've been transported to some random new scene that has no relation to what just almost happened and no closure was given. I kept thinking that there were missing pages or I had turned two pages over rather than to the next one. Fourth, I felt like the wording and phrasing of things was very cliche and that they were stuck into the story so they would fit into the prescribed template for historical romance novels. The overall delivery just fell short for me. Lastly, there were story points that never made sense to me. I still don't understand how kidnapping an heiress who is in charge of her own life and wealth is beneficial to the enemy. How do they plan to get her money or property? There's no one to ransom her to because she alone controls her wealth and possessions. Are they so assured they can force her to turn it all over to them? How can this happen when she would have to deal with solicitors and people she would be able to get help/rescue from? There's no leverage that I can think of they could hold over her head. There is no indication that they plan to harm her family or beloved horses or anything else, for that matter. Also, the enemy agent (Garenne) is a well-known enemy of the Duke and his co-agents. Garenne knows well that the Duke is an agent of the Crown because of their history together in past missions. So why doesn't Garenne just kill the Duke to get him out of the way? There is one somewhat direct attack in the park, and one indirect attempt (at the pub/inn) on the Duke's life, but he is constantly out in the open and unguarded so an agent as skilled and deadly as Garenne is described as being, should easily be able to stop him from successfully guarding and protecting the heroine. These are just two questions that come to mind, but they are points critical to the credibility of the whole premise of the story.
Again, I hate to give a bad review, but after reading 70% of the book, I couldn't finish it. I hate to do that. I always want to finish any book I start because after putting the effort to get as far as I do, I want to see it through, but I finally realized that it made no sense to take more time suffering through it when I have so many amazing and incredible books on my TBR shelf. Another positive though, I think the cover is gorgeous and did fit the description of the characters in the book (how often does that happen?). Good luck to any who decide to read it. Based on the PBS rating for it, it appears that some readers were able to get some enjoyment from it. I'm glad. I wish the best for authors in this genre because I really love it and hope for there to be many more published. For more and better (by which I mean, better articulated, not necessarily that give a positive rating) reviews than what I have given, a good place to go is goodreads.com. There were quite a few reviews written up for this book at that site and as I said, they were pretty complete and well written.
