I've had a very unsatisfactory couple of weeks - I tried three books and quit halfway through each. I really need to find something good.
Emily and the Dark Angel by Jo Beverley
(1991, Regency) 2/13/05
Grade: 2.5
Practical spinster Emily Grantwich has taken over running the small family estate since her father was injured and her brother gone missing in the war. But when she is hit with perfumed powder, aimed at rake Piers Verderan, she finds her life turned upside-down. The more she is warned about the dangerous rake, the more attracted she becomes!
This was a frustrating book. I liked the characters, but they seemed to constantly be kept apart by misunderstandings and plain pig-headedness. The book seemed to be spinning in place instead of going anywhere. Although I’m not a huge Beverley fan, I usually like her Regencies well enough (I quite enjoyed Deirdre and Don Juan), but I couldn’t even finish this one.
I debated about how to grade this book, since there were good things about it. But since I finally gave up and didn't finish, I couldn't give it a higher grade.
The other two books I tried - and gave up on - were Bliss and Dance by Judy Cuevas. I've tried to get into her books several times, and it's hard to explain why they don't work for me. I read about 80 pages into Bliss and still didn't care what happened to the characters. I still felt like I was "slogging through" even after over 1/4 of the book - and didn't think it was worth continuing. It was especially disappointing because so many people, including many readers with similar tastes to mine, love her books. I really wanted to like them.
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3 comments:
I love BLISS and especially DANCE, but if they don't work for you, they don't work for you. I wouldn't worry about it, since you can't really change it. Maybe she is just not an author for you.
Have you tried THE PROPOSITION? I think it's her most accessible book, the one with the most likeable characters.
-- LFL
I still have The Proposition in my TBR. If I don't like that one, then I will give up on her.
There are many authors I don't like, but Ivory is one of the few that I keep trying despite my experiences. She seems like an author I would like, based on the descriptions of her books and the other readers who like her. It seems more puzzling than my not liking Suzanne Brockmann or Linda Howard.
I've had that happen to me too. There are authors whose books sound like I would love them but then I just don't, for various reasons. It's always frustrating because I want to find a new author to love.
Re. Ivory, I would say that if you don't find the characters in THE PROPOSITION likeable, you won't find any of her characters likeable. But that's okay. We can't all love every author out there.
-- LFL
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