Olga J. (bolgai) reviewed on 3/22/2011 + 109 more book reviews

Eloise is a history student from Harvard spending a year in England doing research on English spies in France in the 19th century. She has a quest - to find information on the mysterious Pink Carnation, whose true identity was never revealed. Her last desperate effort to find something, anything, produces surprising and fascinating results as well as may be a possibility of a romance.

If you are anything like me you'll enjoy this book. Ms. Willig blends historical romance and chick lit to create a page-turner of a story with fun characters and a mystery. I laughed out loud too many times to count and while the leads were an absolute delight the secondary characters kept stealing the spotlight. I did have trouble getting into the story but the pace picked up in the second third so I'm not complaining too much. Another thing that didn't always work for me is the language - it didn't really fit the Napoleonic era. I kept being distracted by modern turns of phrase and American spelling although the characters were all English.
All in all this is a delightful read that did a wonderful job of distracting me from the tedium of the never-ending dishes-laundry-work rotation and put me in a good mood. I look forward to reading the next volume in the series!

Read my other reviews at bibliophilescorner.blogspot.com

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