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cjgwilliams's review against another edition
3.0
I love Julia Quinn. Her books are full of fun and humor. This one was okay, not one of my favorites. I found myself rolling my eyes and Richard and thinking oh get ON with it and tell her the truth for heaven's sake. But the thing that really surprised me was how much I loathed his sister Fleur. I have never really loathed a character in a Julia Quinn book before so it was a bit of a surprise. She was obnoxious, annoying and worst of all just stupid. Iris, the main character was great, I love how the Smythe-Smith girls hate the musicale as much as the rest of us. But really, Iris was the highlight of the book.
neveroutofbooks's review against another edition
3.0
It started off how I like her books, then it went bad. Real bad. Not what I usually get from this author.
cellassis's review against another edition
3.0
Une très bonne surprise ! Je ne m'attendais pas à ce que le livre parte dans cette direction, et j'ai été agréablement surprise par l'originalité de l'autrice. Les personnages sont vraiment attachés, bien que pas assez développés à mon gout. Je pense que l'histoire manquait un peu de développement, notemment concernant la deuxième partie : les révélations importantes ne se produisent qu'aux deux tiers du livre, et j'ai eu l'impression que l'autrice s'est rendue compte un peu tard qu'elle n'avait plus que quelques chapitres pour boucler son histoire.
Pour être honnête, je trouve cela dommage car le matériau de base est vraiment excellent, et pose des questions, notamment sur la place des femmes à cette époque, qui ne sont pas toujours posées dans ce type de romans, et que j'ai vraiment apprécié voir étudiées.
Pour être honnête, je trouve cela dommage car le matériau de base est vraiment excellent, et pose des questions, notamment sur la place des femmes à cette époque, qui ne sont pas toujours posées dans ce type de romans, et que j'ai vraiment apprécié voir étudiées.
believe033's review against another edition
emotional
funny
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
annagwill's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
ashleydwilliamson's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
allhallowsbecca's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
kcbatts's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Pregnancy
Minor: Death of parent
courtknee_bee's review against another edition
2.0
2 stars
Look, I know what I'm getting when I pick up a Julia Quinn book - or any racy regency romance, really. So my rating for this book is already on a sliding scale. I'll give a steamy romance 5 stars if I loved it, even if, from a literary stand-point, I know it's trash. Even with that in mind, this really is just a 2 star book.
The big 'twist' that we're kept in the dark for the entire book is painfully obvious. Even before we met all the characters, I'd already figured out what Richard's secret was and why he needed to marry Iris. The fact that Quinn pretends the reader has no idea really lowers the quality of this book. It would have worked better if Quinn was just up front and clued the reader into the secret rather than dance around and "hint" at it. I also wasn't super into our hero, Richard. I think what he did (his big secret) was REALLY selfish. I wasn't able to forgive him as quickly as other characters seemed to do.
That said, my favorite part of this book was our heroine, Iris. She's certainly one of Quinn's better heroines because she's just so darn sensible. I like that she was perceptive and didn't dither around like some romance heroines. She was smart enough to try and think of other solutions. Also, her rage/anger was totally justified, and I'm glad she stuck by that for a while.
So yeah, not one of Quinn's better books. For better reads by Julia Quinn, try [b:An Offer From a Gentleman|9408584|An Offer From a Gentleman (Bridgertons, #3)|Julia Quinn|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346380157s/9408584.jpg|846764], [b:A Night Like This|12925200|A Night Like This (Smythe-Smith Quartet, #2)|Julia Quinn|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1326735102s/12925200.jpg|17868608], or [b:On the Way to the Wedding|110388|On the Way to the Wedding (Bridgertons, #8)|Julia Quinn|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1368840197s/110388.jpg|1981453].
Look, I know what I'm getting when I pick up a Julia Quinn book - or any racy regency romance, really. So my rating for this book is already on a sliding scale. I'll give a steamy romance 5 stars if I loved it, even if, from a literary stand-point, I know it's trash. Even with that in mind, this really is just a 2 star book.
The big 'twist' that we're kept in the dark for the entire book is painfully obvious. Even before we met all the characters, I'd already figured out what Richard's secret was and why he needed to marry Iris. The fact that Quinn pretends the reader has no idea really lowers the quality of this book. It would have worked better if Quinn was just up front and clued the reader into the secret rather than dance around and "hint" at it. I also wasn't super into our hero, Richard. I think what he did (his big secret) was REALLY selfish. I wasn't able to forgive him as quickly as other characters seemed to do.
That said, my favorite part of this book was our heroine, Iris. She's certainly one of Quinn's better heroines because she's just so darn sensible. I like that she was perceptive and didn't dither around like some romance heroines. She was smart enough to try and think of other solutions. Also, her rage/anger was totally justified, and I'm glad she stuck by that for a while.
So yeah, not one of Quinn's better books. For better reads by Julia Quinn, try [b:An Offer From a Gentleman|9408584|An Offer From a Gentleman (Bridgertons, #3)|Julia Quinn|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346380157s/9408584.jpg|846764], [b:A Night Like This|12925200|A Night Like This (Smythe-Smith Quartet, #2)|Julia Quinn|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1326735102s/12925200.jpg|17868608], or [b:On the Way to the Wedding|110388|On the Way to the Wedding (Bridgertons, #8)|Julia Quinn|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1368840197s/110388.jpg|1981453].