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A review by sammishgirl
The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown by Karen Hawkins, Mia Ryan, Suzanne Enoch, Julia Quinn
3.0
I really enjoyed the second half of this book, but if I hadn't known there was a Julia Quinn story waiting for me at the end, I might not have finished it after reading the first two.
I was over halfway through Suzanne Enoch's story when I realized that I truly did not care if the two main characters ended up together or not. I didn't particularly care for either one. Anne was a bit of a spoiled brat, and her guy wasn't particularly interesting, either. I just didn't care about them.
I liked the idea of Karen Hawkins story, but the execution left me cold. Liza is described at the beginning as being incredibly practical and rational, but that's all lip service and she is never actually portrayed as such. Instead she spends the book talking about shoes and shopping, and trying to convince herself to marry someone she doesn't particularly like, just so she's not alone. That doesn't sound ruthlessly logical to me. And I didn't particularly like Royce, either. It's typical for romance heroes to have been playboys (or rogues or rakes or whatever) in their past, but Royce just took it too far. He had only a vague memory of someone he'd spent a week sleeping with only a month ago?? I have absolutely no faith that he would be happy to remain faithful to Liza for the rest of their lives. Also, given the time period, he is without doubt riddled with STDs.
Mia Ryan's story was the first one that I actually liked. I found it interesting to read romance story with hero who had the challenges this one did. (Side note: there were just too darn many names to keep track of, particularly when all of the men had several that they went by. This is fine in a full length story, but in a short story, it was just too much. Therefore I can remember some of the women's names, and two guys, but that's it.) The romance was sweet, and I was rooting for them to get together.
Julia Quinn's story was, of course, my favorite. (I picked up this book to read because it's one of only 3 JQ books I haven't read yet.) Well written, sweet, interesting characters, made me smile. That's really all I ask for out of a romance story!
I was over halfway through Suzanne Enoch's story when I realized that I truly did not care if the two main characters ended up together or not. I didn't particularly care for either one. Anne was a bit of a spoiled brat, and her guy wasn't particularly interesting, either. I just didn't care about them.
I liked the idea of Karen Hawkins story, but the execution left me cold. Liza is described at the beginning as being incredibly practical and rational, but that's all lip service and she is never actually portrayed as such. Instead she spends the book talking about shoes and shopping, and trying to convince herself to marry someone she doesn't particularly like, just so she's not alone. That doesn't sound ruthlessly logical to me. And I didn't particularly like Royce, either. It's typical for romance heroes to have been playboys (or rogues or rakes or whatever) in their past, but Royce just took it too far. He had only a vague memory of someone he'd spent a week sleeping with only a month ago?? I have absolutely no faith that he would be happy to remain faithful to Liza for the rest of their lives. Also, given the time period, he is without doubt riddled with STDs.
Mia Ryan's story was the first one that I actually liked. I found it interesting to read romance story with hero who had the challenges this one did. (Side note: there were just too darn many names to keep track of, particularly when all of the men had several that they went by. This is fine in a full length story, but in a short story, it was just too much. Therefore I can remember some of the women's names, and two guys, but that's it.) The romance was sweet, and I was rooting for them to get together.
Julia Quinn's story was, of course, my favorite. (I picked up this book to read because it's one of only 3 JQ books I haven't read yet.) Well written, sweet, interesting characters, made me smile. That's really all I ask for out of a romance story!