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georgiewhoissarahdrew 's review for:
The Sinner
by Madeline Hunter
This began brilliantly, with a urgent scene of menace and discovery that had me reeled in immediately. Both MCs were set up strongly, and I read on breathlessly to discover whether Dante could possibly escape his baying creditors, and Fleur her wicked step-father. That led convincingly into their engagement-of-convenience. Great stuff.
And then... Well, I've been puzzling about that. Why did the book lose me after that, when there are still interesting plot points to come? I think it's because neither H nor h were really very sympathetic. Perhaps if I'd read the earlier books in the series, I'd be rooting more for Dante: he's certainly very charming (whch is as much of a compliment as my grandmother's saying of a girl she disliked, "well, she does have nice hands"). He got himself into debt by gambling, and after his marriage is still clearly tempted by that life, even he pulls back a little. Is it enough of a virtue for a hero that he "isn't quite as shallow as he was before"? Don't think so. He's patient with Fleur, which is, to be fair, a considerable point in his favour. Still not quite enough for me to get behind him.
Fleur is possibly one of the most irritating heroines I have come across. She has both A Secret, and A Secret Fear. And, boy, do we know about them! Well, no -- we don't actually. We hear about them: she's forever holding Dante off using one or the other. I came across a wonderful Victorian word once - "to irp" - which means (of a woman) to look scathingly at a man over one shoulder while lifting one's chin proudly. Fleur irps. A lot. But she doesn't tell Dante why and she doesn't tell us why. And by halfway through the book, if I had heard one more time that she had A (secret) Secret, I would have screamed. Screamed, I tell you. I won't make fun of her Secret Fear (which is a not unreasonable one) although I think, in fact, Madeline Hunter allows it to come across as if she is making a mountain out of a molehill. Overall, she's a self-righteous unlikeable prig. But she does have nice hands.
The plot(s) - there are a number, which felt as if they might have been seeded in earlier books. Which is a way of saying, I suppose, that they didn't quite work on their own.
I've read a few Madeline Hunters, both hits and misses. The characterisation in this, and the flabby plot lines make it a miss, but that's to underplay Hunter's undoubted ability to set a scene and - in spite of my reservations - to keep the pace going so that I read to the end.
And then... Well, I've been puzzling about that. Why did the book lose me after that, when there are still interesting plot points to come? I think it's because neither H nor h were really very sympathetic. Perhaps if I'd read the earlier books in the series, I'd be rooting more for Dante: he's certainly very charming (whch is as much of a compliment as my grandmother's saying of a girl she disliked, "well, she does have nice hands"). He got himself into debt by gambling, and after his marriage is still clearly tempted by that life, even he pulls back a little. Is it enough of a virtue for a hero that he "isn't quite as shallow as he was before"? Don't think so. He's patient with Fleur, which is, to be fair, a considerable point in his favour. Still not quite enough for me to get behind him.
Fleur is possibly one of the most irritating heroines I have come across. She has both A Secret, and A Secret Fear. And, boy, do we know about them! Well, no -- we don't actually. We hear about them: she's forever holding Dante off using one or the other. I came across a wonderful Victorian word once - "to irp" - which means (of a woman) to look scathingly at a man over one shoulder while lifting one's chin proudly. Fleur irps. A lot. But she doesn't tell Dante why and she doesn't tell us why. And by halfway through the book, if I had heard one more time that she had A (secret) Secret, I would have screamed. Screamed, I tell you. I won't make fun of her Secret Fear (which is a not unreasonable one) although I think, in fact, Madeline Hunter allows it to come across as if she is making a mountain out of a molehill. Overall, she's a self-righteous unlikeable prig. But she does have nice hands.
The plot(s) - there are a number, which felt as if they might have been seeded in earlier books. Which is a way of saying, I suppose, that they didn't quite work on their own.
I've read a few Madeline Hunters, both hits and misses. The characterisation in this, and the flabby plot lines make it a miss, but that's to underplay Hunter's undoubted ability to set a scene and - in spite of my reservations - to keep the pace going so that I read to the end.