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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Fun cast of characters. Took a little while to get going and sort out all of relationships but then I enjoyed it. Hang in there past the first third.
As Always RJ has the Shakespeare references. I feel like there may have been some Midsummer's night dream in here or is it Much Ado about Nothing ?? In addition to R&J.
As Always RJ has the Shakespeare references. I feel like there may have been some Midsummer's night dream in here or is it Much Ado about Nothing ?? In addition to R&J.
Not too keen on Esme's and Sebastian's story as I was with the secondary characters.
http://imaromancereader.blogspot.com/2006/08/wild-pursuit.html
Well this was a long and painful ride... Thankfully I could listen to the audiobook, and the fact it was part of a bookclub read gave me the strength to get through it.
Seriously, why so many characters and POV? I was so sure the story was all about Esmee and her gardener/marquess. Even if I haven't read the two previous books, and witness her all journey with her late husband, I rooted for her from the first page. I can't say the same about the suppose MCs who were so difficult to connect with in comparaison. Their only good scenes involved the goat. But I couln't seriously see how his feelings for her were more than mer lust. And also she was an interesting and strong female character, we didn't had enough info about her, appart her interest for naughty poetry.
I like that our two lead ladies are two experience women, who know their worth and how to seduce men. But I also struggled with how men and the other ladies view them for this very reason, as they are constantly degraded for expressing openly their desire and sicking for it. When men are glorified doing the exact same thing. The double standard is appalling, and sadly it's still the same in the 21th century. The book didn't age well in that aspect.
Seriously, why so many characters and POV? I was so sure the story was all about Esmee and her gardener/marquess. Even if I haven't read the two previous books, and witness her all journey with her late husband, I rooted for her from the first page. I can't say the same about the suppose MCs who were so difficult to connect with in comparaison. Their only good scenes involved the goat. But I couln't seriously see how his feelings for her were more than mer lust. And also she was an interesting and strong female character, we didn't had enough info about her, appart her interest for naughty poetry.
I like that our two lead ladies are two experience women, who know their worth and how to seduce men. But I also struggled with how men and the other ladies view them for this very reason, as they are constantly degraded for expressing openly their desire and sicking for it. When men are glorified doing the exact same thing. The double standard is appalling, and sadly it's still the same in the 21th century. The book didn't age well in that aspect.
As it turns out, Esme gets half a book to herself and her naughty gardener (she's been slumming a la DH Lawrence, though we are thankfully spared ridiculous sentiments about naming body parts). She and Bonnington provide half the romantic intrigue in the book while Bea and Stephen have the other half (and then the foursome becomes entangled due to everyone's inability to be honest about their feelings and Esme's mommy issues - her mother is dreadful).
I do have to agree with Bea on the subject of Helene - if I had a husband who enticed me to elope then ran about installing an appalling number of mistresses in my household I'd stab him with a fork/take to blunt objects, too. Helene is a rather pitiable character but a bit tiresome since this has been a third book with her as a side character and she's made little to no progress with that reprobate husband of hers (although I think they suffer from some of the same bedroom issues as Poppy and Fletch from the Desperate Duchesses series).
I do have to agree with Bea on the subject of Helene - if I had a husband who enticed me to elope then ran about installing an appalling number of mistresses in my household I'd stab him with a fork/take to blunt objects, too. Helene is a rather pitiable character but a bit tiresome since this has been a third book with her as a side character and she's made little to no progress with that reprobate husband of hers (although I think they suffer from some of the same bedroom issues as Poppy and Fletch from the Desperate Duchesses series).
I like how we are getting 2 stories in 1 in these books.
Another Shakespeare-influenced story from James.
I enjoyed this fast moving hate-to-love romance with its many characters and interwoven storylines. We see a number of different women with strong personalities throughout this story and the common thread, aside from romance, is the strength of female friendship.
It is not unusual in this genre to find significant age differences between MCs, however, there is something of a twenty year age gap in this one, which kept me from giving it a 4 star as it was a bit much for my liking. Particularly as our male MC is identified as not particularly attractive or interesting by multiple invested females, and yet is still swarmed.
The writing, however, was as witty and clever as usual, with great world building and layered characters who show development and depth.
All in all, a bit of fun wrapped up with Shakespearean madness and that typical James touch.
I enjoyed this fast moving hate-to-love romance with its many characters and interwoven storylines. We see a number of different women with strong personalities throughout this story and the common thread, aside from romance, is the strength of female friendship.
It is not unusual in this genre to find significant age differences between MCs, however, there is something of a twenty year age gap in this one, which kept me from giving it a 4 star as it was a bit much for my liking. Particularly as our male MC is identified as not particularly attractive or interesting by multiple invested females, and yet is still swarmed.
The writing, however, was as witty and clever as usual, with great world building and layered characters who show development and depth.
All in all, a bit of fun wrapped up with Shakespearean madness and that typical James touch.
There's one thing you can say for Eloisa James. Her heroines are very sex-positive. A Wild Pursuit is another novel in the Duchess Quartet full of extremely horny people being extremely horny for one another. Not only that, they are very shameless about their desires. This is of course not a bad thing! I appreciate heroines who know what they want and who go after it. If you get nothing out of this book, at least know that there will be a lot of lusty scenes.
The chemistry between the characters is very clear and very strong, but the characterizations of them individually is on the weaker side, in my opinion. Beatrix Lennox has fallen into scandal on accident, and after being treated horribly by society, she decides to embrace the identity she's been given. This would seem like a show, except that Beatrix has actually taken lovers! She knows what she's about, and it's fun to read about someone so genuine. The only thing that was odd about her is that, as soon as she meets Helene, they begin discussing Helene's very private marriage, which would never ever happen in the Regency era. The conversation was so risqué (no one would even talk about it among strangers today) that it completely broke the immersion for me.
Unfortunately, everyone else in the book was faker than a set of boobs in Orange County, CA. Stephen Fairfax-Lacy constantly moralizes about how women are so much prettier without makeup and that Beatrix shouldn't put on airs. Because apparently being confident in one's sexuality isn't sexy to men and so must be an act. He's only satisfied after he does some mental gymnastics that makes her out to be a virgin of pleasure because he must be the only man to really satisfy her. Blegh!
Then, there's Esme who flirts with every man in sight, even when her best friends call dibs. She's the type of person no woman wants to be friends with because she will flirt with your partner no matter what and then will act astonished when you get mad at her. She's supposed to grow in this novel by realizing that "respectability" isn't all it's cracked up to be and to follow her heart. Except she experiences no consequences, so she still gets her reputation restored to her, even when she marries ol' Judge Frollo.
Aside from Beatrix and Helene, who had a bigger part in this novel, this story was a bore and another tale where women "must" want families and children, "must" look a certain way to be desirable (which is either innocent sexy or oozing sex without even trying), and they "must belong" to only one man to be truly fulfilled in life. I don't recommend this book to anyone unless you're a completionist like myself.
The chemistry between the characters is very clear and very strong, but the characterizations of them individually is on the weaker side, in my opinion. Beatrix Lennox has fallen into scandal on accident, and after being treated horribly by society, she decides to embrace the identity she's been given. This would seem like a show, except that Beatrix has actually taken lovers! She knows what she's about, and it's fun to read about someone so genuine. The only thing that was odd about her is that, as soon as she meets Helene, they begin discussing Helene's very private marriage, which would never ever happen in the Regency era. The conversation was so risqué (no one would even talk about it among strangers today) that it completely broke the immersion for me.
Unfortunately, everyone else in the book was faker than a set of boobs in Orange County, CA. Stephen Fairfax-Lacy constantly moralizes about how women are so much prettier without makeup and that Beatrix shouldn't put on airs. Because apparently being confident in one's sexuality isn't sexy to men and so must be an act. He's only satisfied after he does some mental gymnastics that makes her out to be a virgin of pleasure because he must be the only man to really satisfy her. Blegh!
Then, there's Esme who flirts with every man in sight, even when her best friends call dibs. She's the type of person no woman wants to be friends with because she will flirt with your partner no matter what and then will act astonished when you get mad at her. She's supposed to grow in this novel by realizing that "respectability" isn't all it's cracked up to be and to follow her heart. Except she experiences no consequences, so she still gets her reputation restored to her, even when she marries ol' Judge Frollo.
Aside from Beatrix and Helene, who had a bigger part in this novel, this story was a bore and another tale where women "must" want families and children, "must" look a certain way to be desirable (which is either innocent sexy or oozing sex without even trying), and they "must belong" to only one man to be truly fulfilled in life. I don't recommend this book to anyone unless you're a completionist like myself.
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes