Reviews

The Secret Diaries Of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn

kirstenrose22's review against another edition

4.0

Sometimes I just want to read a silly romance novel - but so many of them are filled with dumb people doing dumb things, and I can't deal with it and have to throw the book violently across the room..... This is not one of those. It was pleasant - perhaps not amazing - and fun. Good characters, and enough snark flowing back and forth that it kept me interested and amused. Not quite up to Georgette Heyer or Jennifer Crusie levels of Witty Banter, but you can't have everything.

bez9918's review against another edition

2.0

I don’t know which put the nail in the coffin on my dislike, but it could’ve been the fact that her pregnancies were the only thing to move this man to action, or the continued reference to her falling in love with him as a child while he was an adult, or the unbridled and purposeful selfishness of the love interest, or the childish aggression shown by both characters. No matter which did it in for me, this truly felt like a story of unrequited love that was met with obligation till the end. There’s a single line that Turner says that tries to reconcile the fact that he was loving what she did for him and not her, but a single line doesn’t resolve an entire book filled with that. In the end, it didn’t feel like love and that isn’t what I read romances for.

higgy's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

librarianinperiwinkle's review against another edition

2.0

Julia Quinn is one of my favorite romance authors, but this is not my favorite of her books. I've now read it twice because I couldn't remember what happened in it/wasn't sure I'd read it before. I had. It just wasn't that great. I liked that the heroine, Miranda, wasn't ravishingly beautiful, for a change. And there are some funny moments. But the hero, Turner, takes a ridiculous amount of time to realize he loves his wife, and in the meantime, he makes her miserable. Frankly, I found Turner to be irritating and thought Miranda really could have done better for herself.

This is the first book in the new Bevelstoke series, and the next book, What Happens in London, is one of my new favorites. Read that one instead of this one!

Typically Quinn writes books with both story and character doorways, but in this case, I don't think the characters are quite well-written enough to justify a character doorway label. However, I would say setting is a secondary doorway since it's an historical romance.

sara_ohne_h's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

4.0

Fand die Story eigentlich ganz süß. Find's immer bisschen komisch wenn sie sich schon früher kennen also als sie ein Kind war und dann die Schwärmerei so weiter geht.

Dann fand ich's so krass dass er nicht sagen konnte dass er sie liebt obwohls halt obvi so war aber das kann ich eigentlich noch verstehen

. Ich mochte es außerdem voll, dass man noch ein bisschen Ehe der beiden mitbekommen hat und das Buch nicht einfach geendet hat als wie verheiratet waren. Das zusammen kommen und wie sich das alles aufgebaut hat war halt auch wieder top. Und natürlich hab ich's schnell durchgelesen. Ich lieb die Frau einfach, was soll ich sagen.

kuraias's review against another edition

4.0

Now here's a protagonist who is smart, witty, and stands up for herself. I pretty much fell in love with Miranda - when I think I was supposed to fall in love with Turner. I'm not so sure what I think about him. While I do see why she loves him, some aspects of him are not really that likable.

Spoiler

Yes, she does want to be kissed by him, but their first kiss as a whole felt a lot more like an assault to me than like a consentual love scene. Later scenes make up for this to some extent, but I couldn't quite forgive Turner for this. He also tends to be quite patronising. Eugh.

One of my favourite scenes was the one in which Miranda walks by a bookshop and sees this beautiful edition of a book she likes. It's love at first sight so she enters the shop and wants to buy it. The shopkeeper all but physically kicks her out because it's a gentlemen's bookshop, and the literature is not suited for women (I hated him as much as Miranda did, and so will you). She fights for her right to buy it

Spoiler

and even comes back later with Turner - resulting in a broken shopkeeper nose but no book for her. Finally, Turner gives it to her as a present to make up for not being able to say "I love you". I found that to be a rather weak ending.

The end was pretty weak. A couple of pages more would have been a very good idea here since the story felt a bit squeezed and rushed. I was pretty close to taking two stars, since it was also entirely foreseeable and stereotypical.

Spoiler

She almost dies during childbirth and that's when he finally realises that yes, he loves her. And from that point onward it's suddenly the easiest thing to say. Quinn's (and Turner's) claim that it was the baby that made him realise was not very convincing.

However, the book overall was entertaining enough to make me read it within less than two days, so I decided on four rather than three stars.

ladychubbyberry's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted slow-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

3.5

gidelmondes1's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

victoriarose12's review against another edition

funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

acesarrows's review against another edition

2.0

Closer to 1.5 stars.

On a re-read I really didn't enjoy this all that much. It's cute, yes, but also utterly ridiculous. Turner is kind of a jerk, and Miranda is also a bit of a twit. I suppose on that alone they deserve each other.

Still - a classic JQ novel, and one I wouldn't hesitate to recommend for those who like light and frothy romance novels.