I almost gave up on this book after the first chapter, due to the pacing of it. The way the author went about the setting of the stage felt a bit off for me and I didn’t think I would be able to get into it. I try to give books three chapters to get interesting though, so I pushed through and give it a chance. And it did pick up after that rough start.
Some of the characters seemed a bit unbelievable, even for a fiction book especially Cat the main one. I had a hard time believing a seventeen year old actually believed in vampires. Based on her upbringing, I was able to accept her naiveté and predisposition to always see the good in people. But the legitimate belief in all things supernatural was a bit much. Halfway through the book I was over that aspect of it.
I also found the Thorpe family to be completely exaggerated. Both Bella and Johnny were almost too obnoxiousness and selfish to be likeable at all. They were completely self-involved and overbearing and rude to everyone. I was glad when they ceased being in the story. I didn’t care too much what became of them after their true colors showed.
Nonetheless I enjoyed it for the most part once it picked up the pace. All the characters, aside from the Thorpes and the General, were delightful. It was an engaging read up until the last 20 pages. Then too much happened too quick. The only reason for this seemed to be to help the story come to an end. It felt forced as did the rushed resolution of the ‘romance’ between Henry and Cat. This was followed by a phoned in epilogue to serve as a wrap up for them and other characters.
At that point the story rushed to get to a resolution and I hate when books do that. And the epilogue seemed a quick way to tie up loose ends thought to still be there. And it just ended. No real resolution to anything except the asides mentioned there. Maybe the author intended this to serve as a lesson for Cat and the reader that in life sometimes things just happen. Real life is not fiction and vice versa. This seem especially true when you add it to the final line to the novel. But for me, a lot of buildup and a quick resolution is the difference in a four and three-star review for a book. Which is why even though I enjoyed roughly 90% of this book it only receives that amount.

This was Julia Quinn’s second book and suffice to say it reads like it. What I mean is not as well constructed as some of her later books so it was a bit more difficult to get through. That and you can tell it was written in the 90’s just by the general plot and devices that were the norm. I could go on and on about the arch of romance but that would be a blog post so we will just move on.
I've been a big fan of Quinn ever since I picked up my first Bridgerton book. Those are by far my favorites but I also enjoyed the others I have read, even if they were in smaller doses. I even enjoyed The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy which got a lot of her fans up in arms. This one let me with a general feeling of ‘meh’.
It wasn’t the worst romance novel I’ve ever read. But it also wasn’t the best. The hero and the heroine flip flopped way too much. I found John to be too broody and too much of a martyr. The self-hatred got to be a bit much as did the drunkenness. Could he have helped prevent the ‘incident’ in his past? Yes that goes without saying. But it wasn’t his fault and he carried too much guilt for that. Belle wasn’t too annoying nor was she too endearing. She was just “just”. Nothing amazing about her; she was just a generic heroine for me. A bit dense though especially when it came to her bad eye sight. I wanted to shake her and say "Put on some damn glasses woman!"
Another small bone of contention was that their romance seemed rushed. They meet twice and began to have feelings for each other. They 'courted' if you want to call it that. The wedding and how quick it happened was a crock to me so I agree with the anger on that. This was a period of time where every little girl dreamed of a large wedding. True they were mainly social affairs. But it was the one moment any girl, even the wallflower, was the center of attention. And Belle got screwed out of it when she deserved it. After being such a strong, unwavering woman for John (who didn’t always deserve it)? And staying after all the times he pushed her way (that was another song and dance that got real old real quick)? Yes. She deserved her moment in the eye of the ton and lost out. That was a bitter pill to swallow.
I also found it hard to believe that John didn’t have any idea of how as after him even before he was in town. That required almost too much disbelief. I know when the first shots fired but somehow it took three quarters of the book for it to sink into John. And then the ending? It was very rushed, very formulaic, a bit corny, and sorry to say, quite a bit sloppy. It read like what it was; a quick way to get to the HEA and get the bad guy out of the picture.
I know looking over this it seems like I hated the book but I didn’t. I think it is because I know it was her second published book, so she was a young and inexperienced writer still. There were a lot of bumps in this book but that is to be expected for a second novel. And her writing style has matured since. So I can read it appreciating it as where she started from to where she is now. Plus, and this is one of the main factors, it’s a product of its time. A lot of romance novels written in the 90s had this type of style and while it’s cringe worthy now, it was the way to write then.
It’s not a perma-delete book since I did pay for it. But it is also a not quite sure if I will ever re-read it all the way through. Nor do I want to read any others in that series. It just doesn’t linger with me like the Bridgertons or even the Smith-Smythe books do.