A Bit Dull and Lifeless

I enjoy historical romantic suspense, and I thought this book would be that from its description. However, while the book did have some intrigue at the end, there was really no truly suspenseful buildup to it; it actually felt out of place compared to the rest of the novel. I thought the beginning was strange, essentially having two scenes that set up part of the story but didn’t really feel a part of it. As I was reading, I felt like I was just waiting for something to happen; until the end, nothing much did. The children were darling, and their difficulty adjusting to a new life was understandable. The uncle’s interest in having a fully functional apple orchard and cider barn was mildly fascinating. But most of the scenes didn’t really seem to have any dramatic point. The book is listed as Christian, but nothing religious is really talked about until the end of the book when the governess’s sister is dying; it felt tacked on. I didn’t find the love story aspect believable either, and both seem to jump to conclusions without talking to each other, which is kind of annoying with full-grown adults. (It’s bad enough when ingenues act that way!) I wanted to like this story, but I felt like it just lacked in characterization and plot. And is it becoming a trope that any book that takes place in Cornwall during a historical era has to have something to do with smugglers?

Oh, Ick… on So Many Levels!

Oh, mercy, where do I start with what’s wrong with this book? I’ll start with a few simple things. There were issues with language. I thought all the characters sounded the same. Unfortunately, everyone’s language was incredibly stilted and somewhat pompous (not sounding like real speech or even the elevated type we like to see in historicals), and this bled into the narrative, non-dialogue portions of the book as well. The author misused several words, including the era-specific word of “nuncheon,” which is another way of saying the mid-day meal. In this book, she had the heroine call herself that as if it were a term meaning a silly person.

The book has an extended prologue that takes up nearly 10% of the book and details the time around the murder of the heroine’s father. Chapter one picks up ten years later, and the heroine still isn’t past all that transpired at that time. To bring us forward in time, the author does a lot of telling about what the previous ten years had been like. There had to have been a better way to accomplish this.

I didn’t like the hero—a requirement for me to like a romance—and I couldn’t understand why the heroine liked him either. He treated her terribly throughout the book. The author definitely should have mentioned in the blurb of the book that it contains elements of  what is politely termed in romance fiction as “domestic discipline” or “power exchange.” I never read books that have any aspect of that as I have zero interest in reading about any form of physical abuse (even adult spanking), sadism, or masochism. While some people like that in a book, a lot of us don’t, and it is considerate for an author to let us know so we can bypass books that won’t interest us.

I also thought that the book was a bit outlandish in its plotline. The book was far too melodramatic at times. The title of the book states that it is the author’s cut, and the blurb further states that the author has edited the book with modern sensibilities in mind. I find myself wondering what she adjusted to what she believes modern readers like (as if we were an amorphous mass that all liked or disliked the same thing). This book rubbed me wrong in so many ways; I cannot recommend it.

Regency Tale of Honor and Manners…Sigh!

This is the second Regency romance that I have read by this author, and I really like her style. She has a way of writing historical language that feels somewhat elevated but is still accessible and in no way stilted. From my vast reading in Regency, I think this is a hard balance to strike, but this author does it with flair. At first, the premise for this particular book seemed a little silly, until the day after the setup when you realize that the hero has regrets. The author has created an elaborate plot that focuses on honor and self-respect, mirroring some of the best of Regency in its play on manners. I absolutely adored both the hero and the heroine. The hero appears sometimes at war with himself; what is the meaning of honor and true love, and how does that mark him as a man when he acts on those principles? The heroine is sweet, so kind and compassionate despite being treated like a second-class citizen by just about everybody because she isn’t as beautiful as her younger sister. This hit all the right spots for a good Regency novel, and I ended up staying up way too late reading this book.

Stilted Language and Extreme Characters

I am a great lover of Regency romance, sometimes reading several in a day. I found this book to be off-putting right away. Within the first chapter, the author used several words completely wrong, and beyond that, the language was exceedingly stilted, as if she were trying to affect a heightened level of historical speech (as we like to see in historical romance) but missing the mark and sounding not remotely like true human speech. I thought the characterization was just odd. Both the hero and the heroine seem to be extreme people, like no one you would ever meet. Characters have to be relatable and believable, and these were neither. There were some bizarre hijinks throughout the book as well. It didn’t feel cohesive, like there was a master plot or plan. I just didn’t like it.