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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
"The loss of hope versus the certainty of truth. It’s not an easy judgment to make.”
It had everything to be one of my favourite historical romances written for entertainment that I'd read this year but, at the last 20% of the book the ball hits the crossbar, and we never see the score. Or rather: we see it, but we (me) do not feel the euphoria of having finished it.
What I mean is that the beginning was it for me. The plot was on point, the main character's dynamic worked really well, there was a reason for things to be happening, and the characters were really smart despite making dubious decisions—at least they were aware of how suspicious the situations surrounding them seemed.
Spoiler
When Edward started to doubt this whole situation, I felt blessed. Cecilia was postponing her responsibility in telling the truth for too long and him having the possibility of discovering it by himself felt like poetic justice, even more, but then he started to be cruel and ignore her even in her pain and I started to wonder how the hell didn't see notice he had his memories back). The ending—which the chase and the romantic scene at the ship—wasn't as satisfying as I thought it would be because there were a lot of issues unsolved and the author decided to rush through that part.Spoiler
The fact that Edward didn't work through his trust issues and relied solely on the fact that he loved Cecilia even before the memory loss (which was really cute and well-planned in the story) was such an annoyance! No matter how cute the scene was if it left a bittersweet taste of—ok, they love each other, but do they trust each other? And the author wants to make that a happy ending? Hmmm... Let's say that, had it been a drama instead of a romance, that would make more sense.All in all, I admit that the only reasons why I enjoyed this reading were the cute moments between them and the fact that I've brainwashed myself to believe that the story was another one, one more developed.
lighthearted
medium-paced
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Prawdopodobnie czytałam to już 3 raz XD Ale lubię te książkę, odbiega trochę od standardowej fabuły… nawet uroniłam kilka łez. Ogólnie polecajka jeśli ktoś jest fanem bridgertonow bo to taki lekki prequel
Julia Quinn books are always a fun, quick read
I ate this up
Edward is a lover boy
I think I like this series better then the Bridgerton series
Excited to read the next book!
Edward is a lover boy
I think I like this series better then the Bridgerton series
Excited to read the next book!
This is fours stars but for a Julia Quinn novel not four stars in general??? So it’s a 3 but it’s p good. Brother’s best friend meets While You Were Sleeping meets found family. Love.
To explain my thoughts about this story I'll have to digress a bit and talk about my feelings about the 1995 movie "While You Were Sleeping." After all, the blurb for this book references that movie in a way. I love that movie. So much. The thought of a Julia Quinn historical loosely based on that story? Exciting. But here's the thing ... although I love that movie, there is one part of the movie that always makes me a little uncomfortable. Through most of the movie Lucy has been pretending to be the fiance of Peter, who is unconscious. She hangs out with his family and has all sorts of lovely experiences. But then Peter wakes up. And that's when I get a bit uncomfortable. Lucy isn't engaged to Peter, so Peter obviously has no memory of getting engaged to her. She allows him to think that he has amnesia. He proposes for real (for some ridiculous reason), and she heads off to be married to a guy she hardly knows. I really don't like that part of the movie because Lucy has an obligation to tell the truth once Peter wakes up. She should never have continued the lie once he woke up. But luckily, in the movie this uncomfortable part doesn't last very long. Lucy comes clean, and all is well ... eventually.
Unfortunately, this book is almost 90% of the uncomfortable parts of While You Were Sleeping without any of the good parts. Cecilia comes to a British encampment in New York in order to find her lost soldier brother, but instead she finds his best friend, Edward Rokesby, in a coma in an army hospital. She wants to help him, but they will only allow family members to be near him, so she yells out that he is his wife. Cecilia nurses Edward back to health. All is well. And then he wakes up.
... And that's when this story gets really uncomfortable for me. Cecilia LIES for almost this entire novel. It's not so bad while Edward is unconscious. Her lie is actually/probably saving his life because she is able to give him a level of care that he would not have gotten otherwise. But once he wakes up she has an obligation to be truthful. Maybe there was a reason for her to delay telling the truth for a little while as she continued to help Edward, but that moment was a short time. I might have even been able to handle her just withholding information for a bit of time as she continued to search for her missing brother. Maybe. But as soon as Edward is less frail and begins asking specific details about their marriage, Cecilia tells outright lies to his face. She allows him to believe that he is responsible for her. There is no way to write this story in a way that makes Cecilia's actions justifiable in any way. It ruins most of the story. How am I supposed to root for a relationship that is founded on a LIE? How am I supposed to see good in a character whose entire relationship with a man is created through deceit? There is no other way to look at it ... Cecilia is MANIPULATING Edward in his weakened state. Sure, I get that she feels bad about it. I get that she wishes she wasn't doing this. I get that she says that she truly cares for him. And yet through her actions Cecilia demonstrates a serious lack of respect for Edward and his character. After creating the situation that she creates, there is no other way that this novel would end. Edward was going to marry Cecilia. He would do it out of honor since her reputation would be compromised due to her actions and them living together for months as a married couple. I know that the ending of the novel tries to make it seem as if Edward had motives driven more by true love, but I was having a hard time feeling it since I had spent the last 90% of the novel watching him being LIED to by this woman he supposedly loves. Does he even really know her at all?
That leads to a big problem of this story ... a lack of chemistry between Edward and Cecilia. They are thrown together already married(ish), so very little time is spent with these two characters getting to know each other. They both seem to say that they already know each other so much and have fallen in love through a few letters shared as Cecilia wrote to her brother, but even the snippets shared at the beginning of each chapter did little to show any growth of feelings between the two. Edward keeps thinking of how upright and trustworthy Cecilia is, but it's hard to get on board with that after reading about all of her deception involving him. I felt like both of these people needed to spend A LOT more time getting to know each other after Edward regains his memory before they head into any sort of HEA ending.
But this is Julia Quinn, and I do so love her writing. She manages to take a story that I would have HATED if written by another less capable author and actually make me care about the characters enough to continue until the end. I was happy for the HEA ending. I REALLY wish that there was more time with the Rokesby family. The story suffered because so much time was focused on Cecilia and Edward without any strong secondary characters to bolster the plot. I ended up liking the book well enough, but it is probably my least favorite Julia Quinn novel to date.
And another cliff hanger ending? Really? What has Andrew been doing? Not a fan of these sorts of endings when there is a plan for a year between stories. Not fair to loyal readers, I'd say.
Three stars for this one.
Unfortunately, this book is almost 90% of the uncomfortable parts of While You Were Sleeping without any of the good parts. Cecilia comes to a British encampment in New York in order to find her lost soldier brother, but instead she finds his best friend, Edward Rokesby, in a coma in an army hospital. She wants to help him, but they will only allow family members to be near him, so she yells out that he is his wife. Cecilia nurses Edward back to health. All is well. And then he wakes up.
... And that's when this story gets really uncomfortable for me. Cecilia LIES for almost this entire novel. It's not so bad while Edward is unconscious. Her lie is actually/probably saving his life because she is able to give him a level of care that he would not have gotten otherwise. But once he wakes up she has an obligation to be truthful. Maybe there was a reason for her to delay telling the truth for a little while as she continued to help Edward, but that moment was a short time. I might have even been able to handle her just withholding information for a bit of time as she continued to search for her missing brother. Maybe. But as soon as Edward is less frail and begins asking specific details about their marriage, Cecilia tells outright lies to his face. She allows him to believe that he is responsible for her. There is no way to write this story in a way that makes Cecilia's actions justifiable in any way. It ruins most of the story. How am I supposed to root for a relationship that is founded on a LIE? How am I supposed to see good in a character whose entire relationship with a man is created through deceit? There is no other way to look at it ... Cecilia is MANIPULATING Edward in his weakened state. Sure, I get that she feels bad about it. I get that she wishes she wasn't doing this. I get that she says that she truly cares for him. And yet through her actions Cecilia demonstrates a serious lack of respect for Edward and his character. After creating the situation that she creates, there is no other way that this novel would end. Edward was going to marry Cecilia. He would do it out of honor since her reputation would be compromised due to her actions and them living together for months as a married couple. I know that the ending of the novel tries to make it seem as if Edward had motives driven more by true love, but I was having a hard time feeling it since I had spent the last 90% of the novel watching him being LIED to by this woman he supposedly loves. Does he even really know her at all?
That leads to a big problem of this story ... a lack of chemistry between Edward and Cecilia. They are thrown together already married(ish), so very little time is spent with these two characters getting to know each other. They both seem to say that they already know each other so much and have fallen in love through a few letters shared as Cecilia wrote to her brother, but even the snippets shared at the beginning of each chapter did little to show any growth of feelings between the two. Edward keeps thinking of how upright and trustworthy Cecilia is, but it's hard to get on board with that after reading about all of her deception involving him. I felt like both of these people needed to spend A LOT more time getting to know each other after Edward regains his memory before they head into any sort of HEA ending.
But this is Julia Quinn, and I do so love her writing. She manages to take a story that I would have HATED if written by another less capable author and actually make me care about the characters enough to continue until the end. I was happy for the HEA ending. I REALLY wish that there was more time with the Rokesby family. The story suffered because so much time was focused on Cecilia and Edward without any strong secondary characters to bolster the plot. I ended up liking the book well enough, but it is probably my least favorite Julia Quinn novel to date.
And another cliff hanger ending? Really? What has Andrew been doing? Not a fan of these sorts of endings when there is a plan for a year between stories. Not fair to loyal readers, I'd say.
Three stars for this one.