Honoria Smythe-Smith is:
A) a really bad violinistMarcus Holroyd is:
A) the Earl of ChatterisTogether they:
A) eat quite a bit of chocolate cakeIt's Julia Quinn at her best, so you know the answer is...
D) all of the above
©2011 Julie Cotler Pottinger (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers
"Well below par"
Good things first. Rosalyn Landor brilliantly reads this novel. She skips from being a 6 year old little girl to a stuffy butler to several disperate women. What a pity she had such poor material. I have really liked many of Julia Quinn's novels but the last few have been disappointing. Listening to this one on my ipod as I walked must have made passers-by stare at my eye-rolling, groans and sighs. (Just like Heaven? More like the other place!) Honoria, the heroine and Marcus the hero were uninspiring characters I thought. But oh the dialogue ... it went on forever. And getting nowhere. Just planning a lunch took many (boring) minutes. The story is fairly linear - girl knows boy all her life, thinks of him as brother until he is at death's door when they both make discovery that lurve has entered the building. I skimmed a lot so forgive me if there are gaps but read Julia Quinn's earlier novels and miss this one. (By the way I added one of the stars because I hope for better things from JQ)