I love the vast majority of Sloane Kennedy's works, but this one unfortunately ended up squicking me hardcore. Our ids usually align pretty well, but I love the vast majority of Sloane Kennedy's works, but this one unfortunately ended up squicking me hardcore. Our ids usually align pretty well, but on this one they rapidly diverged far enough that I was just reading it and wincing for the majority. Silver needs to be having serious therapy, not banging anybody. Leave the poor boy alone!...more
I'm not used to disliking heroines in romance novels. How does this work???I'm not used to disliking heroines in romance novels. How does this work???...more
I was really looking forward to this book. I'd seen great reviews of it, and was very interested in learning more about Caroline and the Underwhelming
I was really looking forward to this book. I'd seen great reviews of it, and was very interested in learning more about Caroline and the world she lived in. I was expecting great things.
Instead I got... This. I learned basically nothing new from this, which is disappointing because I by no means consider myself an expert on the period. Several very key events were glossed over very quickly, and there was very little analysis of the key events that were examined. At least, I assume there wasn't. The writing was so florid and over the top that I found it hard to extract any details.
My biggest complaint, though, is that this book is... Kinda sexist. By which I mean that the author can't go 5 pages without mentioning Caroline's breasts. I'm not one to insist on the respect of historical figures, most of them are ridiculous and all of them are beyond caring, but this just skeeved me the hell out. Caroline was an incredibly smart woman who achieved a lot, and here she's often reduced to the sacks of flesh that happen to be attached to her front.
I mean, I finished this book - which is something - but I didn't enjoy doing it....more
It's rare that a book actually repulses me, but this one managed to make me throw it aside in disgust. A rare feat!
I really enjoyed the firsDNF at 50%
It's rare that a book actually repulses me, but this one managed to make me throw it aside in disgust. A rare feat!
I really enjoyed the first one in the series, so was excited to pick up the second one and return to the world. The first one had a few problems with how it treated women, as I recall, but overall it was very enjoyable and I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt!
I shouldn't have given it the benefit of the doubt. I should've burnt it while invoking the ghost of Mary Wollstonecraft, that's what I should've done. The book starts with Felix ogling one of his employees and making an offer of prostitution to her, and only gets worse from there. By the time he attempts to sexually assault a woman at the 50% mark I was done. I don't want to read about this disgusting excuse for a human being solving crimes, I want to read about him becoming the victim of them.
Starts off nice and creepy, and then very quickly takes a nosedive into WHAT. And not just a nosedive into WHAT, but also a nosedive into unlikeable cStarts off nice and creepy, and then very quickly takes a nosedive into WHAT. And not just a nosedive into WHAT, but also a nosedive into unlikeable characters and confusingly used tropes and the kind of sexism that would've made me throw the book across the room if I hadn't been reading it on my kindle. Definitely not something that I enjoyed, at ALL....more
To be fair to this book, it wasn't ever really going to be a book that suited me. To be fair to me, that was not at all clear from the blurb.
I just...To be fair to this book, it wasn't ever really going to be a book that suited me. To be fair to me, that was not at all clear from the blurb.
I just... Ended up really disliking this book on a profound level. The heroine had had her spine surgically removed ("I'm in love with a guy who I've just had a one night stand with!" girl, no), the hero had likewise had his brain surgically removed and together they seemed to be setting up Bad Decisions LTD. I mean, you have 11 adopted kids between you and you immediately start talking about trying for another one? Seriously?? I have never believed so strongly in the overthrow of the useless aristocracy.
I know a lot of people love this series, but this first book was kinda a hard miss for me. I didn't really like the hero (who was a jerk) or the heroiI know a lot of people love this series, but this first book was kinda a hard miss for me. I didn't really like the hero (who was a jerk) or the heroine (who was a snob), I didn't really care about their romance as a result and it all just seemed a bit slow and dull to me. I think that maybe I just need to start making more of an effort to avoid alpha heroes, they never quite seem to agree with me.
I DID, however, absolutely adore the other Wallflowers so I'm probably going to give the second book a try and see how it goes....more
I really wanted to like this series, I liked the first half of the first one and I'm always looking for more fifThis... Was an insipid mess of a book.
I really wanted to like this series, I liked the first half of the first one and I'm always looking for more fifteen-book epics to get invested in, but I think I just have to admit defeat here. Because I really didn't like this book. Really, really didn't like this book. The hero and heroine were both boring at best, the setting had basically nothing interesting about it (I have no objections to the shared Regencyverse, but at least do something a bit different with it) and the writing never seemed to get to any kind of point.
I'm also fairly annoyed at the "consensual BDSM is for bad and damaged people!!!" undertone that ran through this book. It's not even my kink, but come on.
Initially I thought that I liked this book a fair amount, but the more I thought about it the more it annoyed me to the point where I'm sitting here nInitially I thought that I liked this book a fair amount, but the more I thought about it the more it annoyed me to the point where I'm sitting here now and gritting my teeth at the thought of it. The love triangle was both tiresome and barely built up ("I love Harry!" WHY DO YOU LOVE HARRY HE'S A GODDAMN DWEEB), a large stretch of the book was just depressing (one of the main characters, the less interesting one, spends at least 60-75% of the book pining over Harry the dweeb), the heroine's transformation from spineless wonder to sex kitten was weirdly unheralded at BEST ("We've hit the 75% mark so I guess I'm having a sexual awakening now!") and... Look, I'm just really tired of heroes knowing their heroines minds for them (JUST LET GROWN WOMEN DECIDE THINGS FOR THEMSELVES WITHOUT BEING A SMUG ASSHOLE ABOUT IT FFS).
I'm awarding this two stars because at least the author has finally learned to write in paragraphs and I did (mostly) like the hero and heroine, but really I'm just disappointed. The first three Pennyroyal Green books were really strong to me, but these last two have been a conga-line of bad decisions....more
"This was a woman who knew her mind!" Says the hero, a man who needs to own his foot fetish already, about a heroine who manages to change her mind ro"This was a woman who knew her mind!" Says the hero, a man who needs to own his foot fetish already, about a heroine who manages to change her mind roughly forty times per hour.
Badly written, badly researched and badly presented. There wasn't a single footnote in the entire thing, sources are important if This was a bad book.
Badly written, badly researched and badly presented. There wasn't a single footnote in the entire thing, sources are important if you're writing history!, and the bibliography at the end was a page and a half long. A page and a half long! I've written 3000 word essays with bibliographies longer than that. My dissertation, 10000 words and 70 odd pages, had a bibliography 4 times as long and still got (rightfully) criticised for not showing more research!
Granted, this book wasn't aimed at me. I'm an occasional drinker at most, while the author obviously loves gin with a passion that can best be called admirable. But I picked up this book because it promised history, and was annoyed when instead it only contained a lot of gushing about a drink with some anecdotes vaguely thrown in. If you want to write a book about how much you enjoy drinking, then by all means go ahead and have fun with it! But don't present it as a deep and historical look at London, that only leaves everybody feeling a bit disappointed.
(Also, jesus christ stop telling negative stories about sex workers with zero analysis. One can be excused, by the sixth I was starting to suspect a vendetta.)...more
I didn't review this? I thought I had reviewed this, huh.
Okay, then: this book holds the record as probably the worst thing that I've ever read. It waI didn't review this? I thought I had reviewed this, huh.
Okay, then: this book holds the record as probably the worst thing that I've ever read. It was intolerable on basically every level, and I am still seething over it just over a month later....more
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