Mini-Reviews! (Or all the guilty pleasures I've devoured lately)

During my hiatus from blogging, I've read several guilty pleasure books.  You know, those books that are so much fun, but you wouldn't want to read next to the person who brought Proust on the airplane (no really, there was a lady reading Proust on her way to Costa Rica). 

Since I have three books backed up on the review train, I thought I'd give them a very short review.  Hope you enjoy and I've tempted you enough to pick them up!

Guilty Pleasure Meter: 8/10
The Masque of the Black Tulip is the second in the Pink Carnation series. It follows the story of two side characters from the first novel, Henrietta and Miles. I found Henrietta a very refreshing change from Amy in the first novel.  She's more level headed and intelligent.  Miles is also very charming as the protective big brother figure that suddenly realizes that "Hen" is a woman.

I felt that Eloise (our modern heroine) was better drawn this time.  I'm starting to like her more as I read about her, although I still have a very hard time remembering her name.

The plot was fast paced and fun (although some parts were very predictable), and some new very intriguing characters were added (my eye's on you Lord Vaughn).  I started the next one as soon as I put this one down.

Guilty Pleasure Meter: 9/10
The Deception of the Emerald Ring is the third book in the Pink Carnation series.  I really enjoyed the different approach this book took.  Instead of a love connection, the main couple in the book is forced to marry, even though they don't love each other.  We see them struggle and fight between chemistry and terrible misconceptions about each other.

Letty is also rather refreshing.  Although she's given a great rack, she isn't considered a beauty by anyone.  She's too short, too plump, and too freckled.  She's also terrible at lying and intrigue. 

Some of the plot points seemed a little rushed or confusing at times, however it was still a great, fun read.  Thanks, Jamie, for turning me on to this series!

Guilty Pleasure Meter: 10/10
A Duke of Her Own is actually the last of the Desperate Duchess series. It was my randomly chosen romance novel for my 101 in 1001 challenge.  Based on the reviews from Amazon, it's the best of the series, so I'm glad I picked this one up.  I actually started reading it about 8 one night and finished it a few hours later. 

It's the perfect guilty pleasure book: great heroine (although the back of the book makes it a mystery as to who the heroine is, you know in the first chapter), a Byronic hero with a heart of gold, a standard romance plot with interesting variations, one or two steamy scenes, humor, and one or two scenes to make you tear up.

A fun, quick read, that's more regular novel than the cover would make you believe.

Review of The Secret History of the Pink Carnation

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation was recommended to me by my friend Jamie after I gave my review for Soulless.  It's a quick, fun read, and I'm already waiting for the second one from the library (excited, it's in transit)!

Plot 9/10
Eloise is a historian doing research in England for her dissertation.  She's focusing on three of the most famous English spies during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars: the Scarlet Pimpernel (real in the book's universe), the Purple Gentian, and the Pink Carnation.  No one has ever found out the identify of the P.C., but Eloise has a lead that could prove the clue to the mystery.

We also discover the story of the Purple Gentian in more detail through his alter ego Lord Richard Selwick and a young English girl Amy Balcourt.  Amy travels to France to live with her brother during a brief moment of peace between the English and the French.  It's been her life long desire to join the ranks of the Purple Gentian and help him avenge all the deaths during the revolution and depose Napoleon.  It's only once she gets to France that she starts to realize that perhaps the Purple Gentian could be more than a hero to her, he could be the love of her life.

The plot moves quickly and sweeps you along.  There's not a lot of exposition or background on the historic period, so if you're unfamiliar with Napoleon's reign in France, you might be a bit lost.  I felt that the modern sections were the weakest.  In all honesty, I wanted to skip those and go back to Amy and Richard's story.  There are some slight twists toward the end, but they come as no real surprise. Overall a pretty basic mistaken identity, defeat the bad-guy type of love story, but very enjoyable.

There were a couple of slight plot holes that I wish had been fleshed out more, but nothing major.



Characters 9/10
I really enjoyed the characterization of  the characters.  I loved Miss Gwen most, I think.  She's the chaperon Amy takes with her to France.  She's a tough bird that always surprises the reader and the characters with what she does next.

I didn't really care for Eloise.  She seemed a bit like a Mary Jane meets Bridgette Jones character.  But she wasn't in the boor for very long, so I could see how it would be hard to make her three dimensional. I also found her a bit dense, she was completely shocked by the twist at the end, even though it was pretty clearly foreshadowed.

Amy actually got on my nerves sometimes, but not because of the tunnel vision she had about her mission and the Purple Gentian.  She giggles and bounces.  A lot.  A whole lot.  To me that made her more of a little girl, and less of a woman to take seriously.  By the end she redeems herself, but she's still bouncing and giggling.


Writing Style 9/10
The writing style was very good.  I felt that Willig captured the feel of the time period, but also was able to make the characters better fit our modern sensibilities.  Too many times historical fiction just seems to plop modern characters in costume and never really makes them merge.

There's lots of humor and silliness, but it all makes sense in the context.  I don't think I would have liked it as much without the lighter touches.

The jumps back and forth between the time periods are easy to follow.  The modern is in first and the past is in third (we learn that Eloise is piecing the story together from letters and journals from all of the characters).  


Overall: Thumbs Up
I really enjoyed this.  It went by really quickly, just two days.  I could have easily made it one, but life got in the way.  I was really excited to see that there are several more already out in the series.  It seems that this is how it always goes with me, I'm always late on the bandwagon. But that does mean that I don't have to wait for the next book to come out!