A Good Debutante's Guide to Ruin

Mediocre

Carmen Rose reads well, but everyone sound alike, both male and females. With a talented narrator "A Good Debutant's Guide to Ruin" could have been entertaining, but even the love scenes sounded like someone reading a recipe. The narrator sure makes a difference.

Historical romance is my genre of choice, but it took me 3 tries to finish "A Good Debutant's Guide to Ruin" -- I cannot recommend it.

13 of 13 people found this review helpful

Not a favorite

Not fantastic; not bad. Just an average book. The characters never grabbed me and the story was nothing special. It seems that I've read this story before by a different author(s?)

I've heard better narration from Carmen Rose. Not her best work.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Love this story

I always like things read by Carmen Rose but I especially liked this story but then I always like stories that have a hint of magic to them and that allow you to love all the characters.

Implausible heroine 's behavior but well written sex

Most romances are basically fairy stories, some more period accurate than others. I don't mind suspending the critical voice in my head that questions some of the actions of the plot and I definitely had to do that with this book. Still, the heroine was not a cookie cutter character and the Hero had a rather sad story that made him understandable. And the sex really was well written. I don't think the author used the word "laved" once.

too much internal monologues

Would you try another book from Sophie Jordan and/or Carmen Rose?

I really enjoy Carmen Rose. Every new book I listen to with her narration gets better and better. She has become one of my favourites.
I am still on the fence about sophie jordan. I think the set up for the next book in the series (Orealia and max) might be worth a try.. They have already had two memorable scenes in this book and I would like to read more.

Would you ever listen to anything by Sophie Jordan again?

I have listened to other SJ novels, but this one was approx 3 hours of dialogue and the rest was internal monologue. It was distracting when one of the characters says something..and then 5 minutes of narration later the second character responds. It made for a very disjointed flow. I sometimes had to pause/jump back to find the start of the conversation. 2 scenes were really drawn out and made me think..Filler!
The h/h 's first kiss: it took 20 minutes from start to finish. Just get on with it. I don't need to know how the caracters feel about the room/the carpet/the curtains etc. It just drags the plot down
There is another scene where the heroine has an internal monologue discussing the "types of smiles" of the hero. I am not sure why, as this does not move the plot or effect it in any real way. Again, just filler

What does Carmen Rose bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She is a very good narrator. She has the ability to bring nuances of voice so that every character sounds a little different.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I am not sure, as the plot was interesting and similar to the movie "clueless". IT would have to be more fast moving and with greater dialogue

Any additional comments?

I bought this as a credit and am glad only because if I had paid the book price I would have been furious. A great plot , but with too much ramblings to make the book worthwhile..

2 of 4 people found this review helpful

Enjoyed it!

Listened for Book Club (Audible)
Overall Rating: 4.00
Story Rating: 4.00
Character Rating: 4.00

Audio Rating: 4.00 (not part of the overall rating)

First Thought when Finished: A Good Debutante's Guide to Ruin by Sophie Jordan was emotional, fun, and delightful! I really enjoyed this and look forward to the rest of the series.

Audio Thoughts

Narrated By Carmen Rose / Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins


Carmen Rose did a pretty good job with A Good Debutante's Guide to Ruin. I really did love her female voices and her male voices were good too. Her pacing and emotion were good too.

Part of Read It, Rate It, File It, Done reviews

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Fun Historical Romance

3.5 stars.
When I saw A Good Debutante’s Guide to Ruin book come up as one of the book choices for book club, I was excited to read it. I’d already read Sophie Jordan’s YA Dystopian – Uninvited - and loved it, so I was curious to see how she did with this genre.

I was pleasantly surprised. Some authors I can only read in specific genres – but it looks like Sophie Jordan won’t be one of them. I didn’t love A Good Debutante’s Guide to Ruin as much as I did Uninvited, but I did really enjoy it.

For one, Sophie did a good job with historicizing her characters. As we talked about in book club, this was a world where women couldn’t do some things without men – and you really felt this. Rosalee – the main character – doesn’t want to be married off to just any man. She wants to fall in love and pick who she’ll marry – but she can’t just throw away society’s expectations.

By playing by the rules, Sophie created a much more complex character. Rosalee is strong and resourceful, but she has to figure out how to use the structures around her to get what she wants. And along the way, she makes some risqué decisions that could get her into lots of trouble – and that make the story that much more fun for us.

A Good Debutante’s Guide to Ruin did have a potentially oogey point – Rosalee falling in love with her step-brother Declan. So, it didn’t bother me at all. Part of me thinks that Game of Thrones has just desensitized me to this taboo – but more likely its the way Sophie paints their relationship. First of all – they’re step siblings. Secondly, though they did play together as kids, they haven’t seen each other in years. This is not a close sibling relationship. So it worked.

Although the plot was somewhat predictable, there were some unexpected twists for me. Rosalee’s mom is a definite wildcard in the story – and though I wasn’t thrilled by her role (why do parents have to suck so often?) – her involvement keeps you on your toes.

I’m really looking forward to seeing this series develop, since I suspect we’ll be getting the stories of some of the other characters – one in particular I’m already predicting her story – and I’m really curious about the identity of another woman. I’ll definitely continue listening to it, as Carmen Rose did a great job with both the female and male voices. I thought the personalities really came to life the way she voiced them and I hope she’ll continue narrating.

I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys a fun historical romance with a bit of steam and a couple twists to keep you on your toes.

When is the next book coming out?

The heroine, Rosalie, gets dropped off at her stepbrother's, Declan the Duke of Banbury's, house when no one collects her from her boarding school even two years after her graduation. Rosalie has always loved her step-brother and now sees what power and a title has done to change him to a cold and unkind man. Declan on the other hand is not at all happy with having the daughter of his hated step-mother under his roof but sees no other way out of this situation but to marry her off as quickly as possible. Trying to get ride of his Rosalie as quickly as possible, the Duke settles a very large dowry on her. In order to keep propriety, Declan asks his aunt and cousin to move in with them. This ignites a great friendship between the two ladies that later aids her in exploring fun in a manner she would have never dared to undertake had it not been for Declan's cousin and that is where the love story begins...

This was a wonderful lovely story but the suspense just added so much more to this historical romance. Truly enjoyable read if you can get beyond the mind ramblings of the main characters in the book, especially at the beginning. That always exhausts me about any book and this one had it's fair share. However, that being said I still very much enjoyed the story and thanks to S Jordan, I was able to really feel Sophie's pain and anguish as well as her joy. This book develops Declan's character as well but Rosalie's was much more in depth. Can't wait for the next book in the series on Audible.

4 of 9 people found this review helpful

Hot! Romantic! Sweet! Sexy! & Suspenseful!

Wow! I have a new favorite author! Bought this book because I loved how Carmen Rose sounded in another story. My only question is why haven't I heard of her before? This book has it all from innocence to erotic. I won't spoil it, just buy this one, you won't be disappointed. I'm checking to see what else Ms. Sophie Jordan has to buy. Loved it!!!

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Not finishing..

This was very disappointed up until 30%. Declan nor Rosalie had any thoughts whatsoever about each other, no want, not the least bit of attraction, no desire, no nothing. Then, all of a sudden he’s erect and having sexual thoughts about her? I can’t read books like that! Either have sexual tension or don’t have sex. Don’t just suddenly desire someone out of the blue and then plop a sex scene in somewhere. This book has 390 pages, and one reviewer said it had one and a half sex scenes, that’s a lot of reading of angst and misunderstandings and nothing going on. It’s time for historical romance writers to add some suspense or mystery or spies, or something, to their long boring books. BUT, that’s just my opinion.

I’m giving it 3 stars because I’m not going to finish it and I want to be fair to the author. Unlike some reviewers I can't give 1 star to a book I'm not finishing.

As to the narration: Carmen Rose is just a terrible reader. She never does any kind of emotion, no laughter, no crying, no nothing, AND she sounds robotic. I don’t think I could listen to CR again. I hate when all voices sound exactly the same. How she got 4 and 5 stars is beyond me. How can a man sounding like a woman be worth 5 stars?

0 of 2 people found this review helpful