Can't Make It To The End

Many readers are tired of Regency London, but I still find it an interesting setting, if the author can make the characters worth reading about.

Deceived by Nicola Cornick
(2006, Regency Historical) 6/8/07
Grade: 4

Desperate to escape her late husband’s death, Isabella looks for a husband in Fleet prison - and finds her former lover, who she left at the altar 12 years earlier. Marcus sees a chance for revenge, but he can’t deny the attraction between them. The more he gets to know Isabella again, the more he finds his anger softening into love.

This book started off with a bang. The characters were strong and well matched, and I loved their sparking back-and-forth arguments. The author focuses on the interactions between the characters, and I settled in for an enjoyable read. Unfortunately, the second half of the book lost the sparkle of the first. First, the characters were separated (emotionally) by misunderstandings, then they abruptly made up and the story shifted focus to the external plot. It wasn’t a total loss, the characters were still interesting, but it didn’t deliver on the wit and character development of the first half of the book.

It's always disappointing when a book starts off at the highest level, but then can't sustain that quality through to the end. Even if the book is still pretty good, it's hard not to be disappointed.