Helpful Score: 2
This book was very hard to get into. I kept setting it down and then forcing myself to pick it up later. I should have just stopped reading it, but I paid for it and kept hoping it would turn around and I'd get my money's worth.
So the book opens with Patrick and Anne showing up for a meeting with Queen Victoria. They have a past together and while Patrick would like nothing better than to be together again, Anne is very bitter about the past. Queen Victoria charges them with traveling to Scotland and investigating the rumors surrounding Patrick's uncle's death. They will be accompanied by Patrick's aunt, a loyal adviser to Victoria.
I found it rather ridiculous that an order from the queen was treated as a suggestion. It's decided that Patrick will masquerade as Anne's butler so he can unobtrusively gather information. He decides to treat his post as a joke (and no one seems to care) and make scenes and act in ways no servant possibly would. The fact that anyone believed his story for a second just made me believe that everyone in the book was beyond stupid. Anne was no better. Because she is bitter about her history with Patrick she takes a spiteful delight in making him perform menial tasks for her. I suppose it was meant to be funny, but I didn't think it succeeded.
Moving on to the topic of Anne and Patrick's history... What exactly was she bitter about? In all those flashbacks she never seemed unwilling. Even though both of them made mention of him being a scoundrel for seducing her, that's really not at all how it came across. Also, it was stated that he asked her to wait until he got back. She went along with her arranged marriage but blamed him it because he left, even though he asked her to wait for him. How does that make sense? Why did he humor her and let her be hateful to him throughout the whole book? I have never been so embarrassed for a character that I've read about. Even when she treated him horribly he just kept trying. He flat out admitted that he would go so far as to crawl for her. It was painful to read. Why did they even care about each other anymore? I never got much of a connection between them beyond sex, and even that didn't seem that convincing. I would have expected the flashbacks to be there to show us why the bond they used to have and why they fell in love. Nope, just sex scenes.
Not only was I dissatisfied with the relationship, I was dissatisfied with the murder plot too! The book moved beyond slapstick into farce with that. Who it turned out to be and why it happened and how everyone reacted when they found out was ridiculous. All that effort for that? I finished the book unsure what the point of it all was. I doubt I'll ever search out this author again. Her writing style is not to my taste.
So the book opens with Patrick and Anne showing up for a meeting with Queen Victoria. They have a past together and while Patrick would like nothing better than to be together again, Anne is very bitter about the past. Queen Victoria charges them with traveling to Scotland and investigating the rumors surrounding Patrick's uncle's death. They will be accompanied by Patrick's aunt, a loyal adviser to Victoria.
I found it rather ridiculous that an order from the queen was treated as a suggestion. It's decided that Patrick will masquerade as Anne's butler so he can unobtrusively gather information. He decides to treat his post as a joke (and no one seems to care) and make scenes and act in ways no servant possibly would. The fact that anyone believed his story for a second just made me believe that everyone in the book was beyond stupid. Anne was no better. Because she is bitter about her history with Patrick she takes a spiteful delight in making him perform menial tasks for her. I suppose it was meant to be funny, but I didn't think it succeeded.
Moving on to the topic of Anne and Patrick's history... What exactly was she bitter about? In all those flashbacks she never seemed unwilling. Even though both of them made mention of him being a scoundrel for seducing her, that's really not at all how it came across. Also, it was stated that he asked her to wait until he got back. She went along with her arranged marriage but blamed him it because he left, even though he asked her to wait for him. How does that make sense? Why did he humor her and let her be hateful to him throughout the whole book? I have never been so embarrassed for a character that I've read about. Even when she treated him horribly he just kept trying. He flat out admitted that he would go so far as to crawl for her. It was painful to read. Why did they even care about each other anymore? I never got much of a connection between them beyond sex, and even that didn't seem that convincing. I would have expected the flashbacks to be there to show us why the bond they used to have and why they fell in love. Nope, just sex scenes.
Not only was I dissatisfied with the relationship, I was dissatisfied with the murder plot too! The book moved beyond slapstick into farce with that. Who it turned out to be and why it happened and how everyone reacted when they found out was ridiculous. All that effort for that? I finished the book unsure what the point of it all was. I doubt I'll ever search out this author again. Her writing style is not to my taste.
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