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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
Really, this was so boring compared to the first book. And the two female protagonists become all obsessed with manners and being proper wives and so forth. And no real action happens until the very end. I found it disappointing.
The follow up to Sorcery and Cecelia, I enjoyed this book but not as much as the original. The authors again wrote the book with the narrative perspective alternating between Kate and Cecy. Because they are traveling together on a joint honeymoon, however, they don’t exchange letters. Rather, Kate rights in a journal and Cecy’s viewpoint comes from a deposition to several government agencies investigating a dangerous plot that the ladies and their husbands stumble upon in Europe.
I continue to enjoy all of the characters, though Kate & Thomas are my favorites. The authors create a wonderful sense of place as the ladies travel from England to Paris to Italy. I felt like when I opened my eyes I’d be in Italy. The young marriages of both unfold sweetly.
My biggest dislike is a matter of personal taste. I am not a huge fan of paranormal or fantasy and I found those elements tiresome in this story. So much of the plot revolves around magic, so it can’t be avoided I just felt like I was being hit over the head with it. Otherwise, I found the story enchanting.
I continue to enjoy all of the characters, though Kate & Thomas are my favorites. The authors create a wonderful sense of place as the ladies travel from England to Paris to Italy. I felt like when I opened my eyes I’d be in Italy. The young marriages of both unfold sweetly.
My biggest dislike is a matter of personal taste. I am not a huge fan of paranormal or fantasy and I found those elements tiresome in this story. So much of the plot revolves around magic, so it can’t be avoided I just felt like I was being hit over the head with it. Otherwise, I found the story enchanting.
Silly and charming, but not as silly or charming as the first. The letter game format worked really well when Cecelia and Kate were actually writing to each other, but when they're on the same trip, writing about basically the same events, the plot drags a little. Also, this might seem like a small quibble, but the choice to have Kate writing in a diary and Cecelia in a formal deposition seems to immediately set the reader up to favor Kate and Thomas (honeymoon! romance! obviously implied sex!) over Cecelia and James (this happened and then this happened and then this happened), which was a bummer. I'll be reading the third, but my hopes aren't too high.
As with the first book, this was a bit slow and slightly difficult to work through. The story won me over, though, and I powered through the boring bits.
One thing that really irritated me about this book was the fact that several parts of the story were repeated. It is told from the perspectives of two cousins, each taking a turn to fill in a part of their story. But when one ended and the next began, there was often a summarization of the chapter that had just ended, which was unnecessary and frankly annoying.
One thing that really irritated me about this book was the fact that several parts of the story were repeated. It is told from the perspectives of two cousins, each taking a turn to fill in a part of their story. But when one ended and the next began, there was often a summarization of the chapter that had just ended, which was unnecessary and frankly annoying.
I made some reading notes on the first part of the book, then I just read.
So, here are the notes for the first part, no comment about the rest of it :-D
Except that it is readable enough. I did finish it and started the next one.
I have huge problems with this.
The biggest problem I have is that upon marrying, Kate and Cecelia turn into spineless idiots and James and Thomas into pretentious a-holes. I can't separate these couples from each other. Nobody has a clear personality. And nobody has the personality they had in the previous book. I was ready to forgive and oversee a lot in the first book, but this one... *sigh*
Nobody writes a diary like that. Also, "you know how important the utmost secrecy is", and she goes and writes it word by word in her diary. That anyone could take and read.
I really wish they had skipped the epistolary style for this book.
Frankly, I'm p'd off with the knitting code. It feels like she stole it from me, and now I can't use it, even though we probably got it from the same sources :-D
Nevertheless, it might take only a couple of hours to learn to knit, but getting the equipment and materials in the middle of nowhere, not so easy. Learning to knit a code, not so easy. Learning to read a code, not so easy. Besides, it might seem like a good idea to use dropped stitches as code, but dropped stitches has the nasty tendency to not stay orderly dropped, and languages have the nasty tendency to form patterns... so if you have a pattern, people are starting to suspect things. If you have a group of people exchanging terribly badly knitted swatches, people are starting to suspect things. *sigh*
So, a good idea (absolutely amazingly great, because I got it, too :-D), but sloppily thought.
But, I suppose, most people don't know enough about knitting to see the weakness of it.
“They are fallen women, you mean? Soiled doves?” Cecy prompted. “I know just what you mean—”
too many things are arranged to work so tht they can tell the story. sloppy.
The bottle is obviously in Lady Sylvia's riticule and gets stolen. Of course. She wouldn't put it in her pocket. Yes, they had pockets. More than we do. But of course she wouldn't, because she needed to get it stolen.
Why would the French government (or Paris' government) hire an Englishman to be in charge of a major criminal investigation? Or anything? Especially just a few years after a war between France and England? And isn't it so wonderful he happens to be Thomas and James' old friend! *sigh*
And how can he just drag his two army buddies through a crime scene?
And what does any of these people have to do with any of this? I would make Lady Sylvia have a visit by a very distinguished and sharp French gentleman who tells her in no uncertain terms to back off French business and if she won't, she and her family will be kindly but determinedly escorted back to Calais and a ship with all their belongings to never be welcome in France again. Wars have started for less interference.
I don't get the logic. Why would they be upset because he hired a bodyguard? Why would he try to pass the bodyguard as a valet? Why not both? I mean THEY WERE ALMOST KILLED JUST A LITTLE WHILE AGO!
It's so prejudiced. Stereotypical. It's like reading Katy's trip to Europe all over again. Puke.
"If we looked like something the cat dragged in, it must have been a very undiscriminating cat, indeed."
LOL
So, here are the notes for the first part, no comment about the rest of it :-D
Except that it is readable enough. I did finish it and started the next one.
I have huge problems with this.
The biggest problem I have is that upon marrying, Kate and Cecelia turn into spineless idiots and James and Thomas into pretentious a-holes. I can't separate these couples from each other. Nobody has a clear personality. And nobody has the personality they had in the previous book. I was ready to forgive and oversee a lot in the first book, but this one... *sigh*
Nobody writes a diary like that. Also, "you know how important the utmost secrecy is", and she goes and writes it word by word in her diary. That anyone could take and read.
I really wish they had skipped the epistolary style for this book.
Frankly, I'm p'd off with the knitting code. It feels like she stole it from me, and now I can't use it, even though we probably got it from the same sources :-D
Nevertheless, it might take only a couple of hours to learn to knit, but getting the equipment and materials in the middle of nowhere, not so easy. Learning to knit a code, not so easy. Learning to read a code, not so easy. Besides, it might seem like a good idea to use dropped stitches as code, but dropped stitches has the nasty tendency to not stay orderly dropped, and languages have the nasty tendency to form patterns... so if you have a pattern, people are starting to suspect things. If you have a group of people exchanging terribly badly knitted swatches, people are starting to suspect things. *sigh*
So, a good idea (absolutely amazingly great, because I got it, too :-D), but sloppily thought.
But, I suppose, most people don't know enough about knitting to see the weakness of it.
“They are fallen women, you mean? Soiled doves?” Cecy prompted. “I know just what you mean—”
too many things are arranged to work so tht they can tell the story. sloppy.
The bottle is obviously in Lady Sylvia's riticule and gets stolen. Of course. She wouldn't put it in her pocket. Yes, they had pockets. More than we do. But of course she wouldn't, because she needed to get it stolen.
Why would the French government (or Paris' government) hire an Englishman to be in charge of a major criminal investigation? Or anything? Especially just a few years after a war between France and England? And isn't it so wonderful he happens to be Thomas and James' old friend! *sigh*
And how can he just drag his two army buddies through a crime scene?
And what does any of these people have to do with any of this? I would make Lady Sylvia have a visit by a very distinguished and sharp French gentleman who tells her in no uncertain terms to back off French business and if she won't, she and her family will be kindly but determinedly escorted back to Calais and a ship with all their belongings to never be welcome in France again. Wars have started for less interference.
I don't get the logic. Why would they be upset because he hired a bodyguard? Why would he try to pass the bodyguard as a valet? Why not both? I mean THEY WERE ALMOST KILLED JUST A LITTLE WHILE AGO!
It's so prejudiced. Stereotypical. It's like reading Katy's trip to Europe all over again. Puke.
"If we looked like something the cat dragged in, it must have been a very undiscriminating cat, indeed."
LOL
The entire reading experience of this book can be summed up in this one word: meh. I was very disappointed to learn that this book was not written in the letter format of the first, but it soon became apparent that both Cecy and Kate were contributing to the story, so I started to read anyway. The only reason I made it all the way to the end of this book was that it has same characters I loved from the first one. The fact that Kate and Cecy were not writing to each other changed the personality of the narrative, which completely lacked spice. In Kate's writings there was an occasional glimpse of the humor I had come to expect of the last book, but writing a journal is far different from writing a letter. Their travels through Europe were not very detailed in description, so I did not get the old-world-y feeling that I think was intended. I would have liked more of an actual tour of the places they were staying and what there was to see, but for people who were pretending to be tourists, they didn't do anything very touristy. Was I entertained? Enough to finish the book. Why did I give this book three stars? Because the ending was decent enough and the next book is back in letter form, so I have high hopes to the conclusion of this series.
A follow up to Sorcery and Cecelia... The girls are on their honeymoons and having a lovely adventure. It's not quite the same as having a letter game and it seems a little harder to tell them apart at times. It's all fun and fluff, though the paternalistic nature of their marriages is a bit creepy but true to the story. I enjoyed it, but not as much as the first one. (December 16, 2004)
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
I liked this one, but not as much as the first book. The letter format really made the first book magical. In this case, it read as it affected to be: two accounts of the same events from different perspectives. It was interesting, but that emotional pull from the first two books just wasn't as strong this time. I still enjoy the characters though, so I'm looking forward to the last book.
Kate was a bit of a wet blanket this time round, which was really irritating as three quarters of the book was from her perspective, instead of 50/50 between her and Cecy.