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laurenjodi 's review for:
What Happens in London
by Julia Quinn
What Happens in London
3 Stars
Lady Olivia Bevelstoke is convinced that her seemingly innocuous neighbor is up to something nefarious for he spends far too much time pouring over the documents at his desk. Sir Harry Valentine works for the War Office as a translator, but due to his position in society has been assigned to watch Olivia as she has caught the eye of a Russian Prince, who may or may not have ties to Napoleon. With these two spying on each other at every turn, it is not surprising that sparks fly when they finally meet in person...
Ironically given the title, absolutely nothing actually happens in this book until the very end.
The story is mainly comprised of an endless series of conversations, at times witty and at others trivial, between the main characters. The small suspense subplot has potential, but rather than appearing at the start and building toward an exciting climax, it comes out of the blue and all the action is rather confusing with no backstory to support it.
Olivia and Harry have very little chemistry and their romance feels forced. Harry’s learned spy qualities are intriguing, however, they are completely underdeveloped and he would have been far more interesting were he a little less John Watson and a little more Jack Ryan. Olivia is a brainless busybody and aside for her beauty has nothing to recommend her as a heroine.
On a final note, although this is the 2nd book in the Bevelstoke trilogy, there is no connection between the stories and it can be read as a standalone. This is unfortunate as the first book was very engaging and an update on Miranda and Turner would have been welcome.
3 Stars
Lady Olivia Bevelstoke is convinced that her seemingly innocuous neighbor is up to something nefarious for he spends far too much time pouring over the documents at his desk. Sir Harry Valentine works for the War Office as a translator, but due to his position in society has been assigned to watch Olivia as she has caught the eye of a Russian Prince, who may or may not have ties to Napoleon. With these two spying on each other at every turn, it is not surprising that sparks fly when they finally meet in person...
Ironically given the title, absolutely nothing actually happens in this book until the very end.
The story is mainly comprised of an endless series of conversations, at times witty and at others trivial, between the main characters. The small suspense subplot has potential, but rather than appearing at the start and building toward an exciting climax, it comes out of the blue and all the action is rather confusing with no backstory to support it.
Olivia and Harry have very little chemistry and their romance feels forced. Harry’s learned spy qualities are intriguing, however, they are completely underdeveloped and he would have been far more interesting were he a little less John Watson and a little more Jack Ryan. Olivia is a brainless busybody and aside for her beauty has nothing to recommend her as a heroine.
On a final note, although this is the 2nd book in the Bevelstoke trilogy, there is no connection between the stories and it can be read as a standalone. This is unfortunate as the first book was very engaging and an update on Miranda and Turner would have been welcome.