2.0 out of 5 stars
Rushed Into Love?
Reviewed in the United States on 6 October 2019
I enjoyed the first book in this series much more than this one. This is only the second or third book I've read by this author. I stumbled across Sophie Jordan while waiting for some of my favorites to release their new books next year.
Overall, this book felt rushed to me. I was expecting a bit of light reading. It's not as if "childhood friends turned lovers" is the most original plot device in the historical romance genre. However, I felt like nothing was really resolved and those things that WERE resolved were reduced to a few sentences.
********SPOILER ALERT**********
We start off with an interesting idea. Girl loves boy, girl catches boy with a maid, girl draws a picture that makes boy a laughingstock, boy and girl become enemies.
Fast forward to adulthood. Boy and Girl become Man and Woman and constantly argue. No, really, constantly. They say hateful things to each other. Their interactions are the epitome of emotional and verbal abuse. Despite their hatred of one another, they desire each other. But they don't LIKE each other.
Our Hero is hard to like. There were times when I was reading this that all I could think was, "How old is he supposed to be?" I expected the scene with the widow to play out differently. But, instead of showing us a moment where Max can redeem himself, the author decided to show us just how shallow he really is. Instead of finding the fact that the widow would insult our heroine in such a nasty way disgusting, it was all about how her physical appearance after getting dunked in a pond cooled his ardour.
The heroine was very immature. I like my heroines strong and sassy, but Aurelia just came across as bitter and petulant. I think she was supposed to be "witty" but she was, as Max said, selfish. The entire book was all about how she didn't want to leave London and would just die if she couldn't leave her caricatures lying around at events to "shed light" on the atrocities committed within the ton. But, we never actually see the effect these drawings have on anyone except Max. Were people made aware of what was going on? There was never any mention of the drawings, except as concerned Max. So, then, what was the point?
The story ends with our Hero having an epiphany about how much he loves the heroine. There is no reason for this great change of heart. Sure, she leaves him, but she was only gone a few hours when he realized he loves her? Then, after years and years of convincing himself that he doesn't need or want love, he loves her so much that he just blurts it out as soon as he catches up to her? And, because he said he loves her, without any explanation for his cruel behavior or why he was so against love in the first place, she just accepts that he loves her and forgives him and they live happily ever after? I understand that authors have deadlines, but a book is supposed to be a marathon, not a sprint.
In addition, when did Aurelia's brother fall in love and get married? It wasn't mentioned that he was even courting anyone in the previous book. I'm assuming the next book will be about Aurelia's spurned Scottish suitor and his wife, as they got a mention in the Epilogue. And, Aurelia's mother, who was a very interesting character in the first book, is very two dimensional in this book. She basically made a cameo appearance and then disappeared almost completely from this one when she should have had MORE to do with this book than the previous one.
I only gave this book 2 stars because it's a continuation of the first book in this series. I didn't like Aurelia or Max. And, after this catastrophe, I doubt I'll be reading anymore books in the series. I feel as if I've avoided this author because I may have skimmed and disliked a previous book she wrote, but when I checked my library, nothing by Sophie Jordan was in it, so I'm assuming I may have read a paperback years ago. In any event, I'll save my future purchases for a different author.
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