I'm all about the Historical Fiction with a dash of romance. Bookworm, aspiring writer and closet romantic (ssh, don't tell anyone!) In mid-thirties, and work for a large entertainment chain in the UK. Worryingly, I am considering purchasing a third Kindle to feed my book habit. 'Tis very possible that I read far too much!
To be honest, I wasn't sure if I liked it because not a great deal actually happened? It felt like the beginning of a story rather than a finished novella and so it was a bit frustrating.
I can't help thinking that the book actually got a lot more interesting once the later spy arc started. That's what sparked my interest. I wish more of the book has been about that rather than going on about Victoria's rumoured love affairs. I also found interesting that she was involved with Karim as that has been relatively hushed up in comparison to her relationship with John Brown.
I think I really just wasn't the target audience for this book. It was engaging enough and it passed the time but I didn't really like the characters all that much, I was exasperated by the love triangle and Sophie was a bit of a special snowflake for my taste.
I was really hoping that I would enjoy reading this compilation of Jeeves stories, unfortunately I didn't realise that half of the stories didn't feature them :(
I feel like I have to give two marks: one for the story and one for the presentation.
Rounded up from 1.5 stars
I had to knock off a star off my rating because the lead character was one of the most irritating heroines I have come across in a long time. She was so inconsiderate of anyone else, so rude and trouble-making that frankly it was a chore reading this book which was a great shame as I love this time period and am very interested in it.I have literally just stared this up and have little idea what I am doing. After several years on GR I have decided to start for pastures new but the thought of starting from the beginning is rather daunting.
Frankly, I didn't like it as much as 'Beauty'. Still a solid 3 star book though
I really appreciated the Restoration England setting in an age of wall to wall boring regency romance. There so needs to be more restoration romance, I would be totally here for that. Charles II was a character in this and I actually enjoyed him slightly more than the main couple who's big misunderstandings drove me nuts after a while. On the whole I enjoyed it.
I altered the rating I was going to give this book upon reflection because the twist at the end really irritated me.
On the whole I enjoyed it. The book had enough intrigue to keep me interested. Now I just have to wait for the next in the series and perhaps to do some reading around the time period as I think it would have helped.
Tbh I enjoyed the historical detail and thought it read as more of a historical fiction than a romance novel but I didn't really like Simon or Alinor that much. I found Alinor very irritating at times they were constantly arguing about atupid things and then making up, there was a big age gap between the two which personally didn't work for me (but that's a personal quirk)In the end I just didn't really believe that they actually liked each other that much.
I'm currently re reading this and I love it. Apparently it's part of a series which I have to track down.
One of my favourite books of all time. I love the prose and the castrati interest me so much . As a singer and a musician the book appealed to me so much.
