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★★★★★★★★★★ (8/10) for both
Since I read two books from the same series back to back, I decided it would make more sense to write one review about both instead a two individual ones, to keep from repeating myself unnecessarily.
I'm really impressed with Lauren Willig. The more books I read in her Pink Carnation series, the better I like them, and the more absorbed I get. The strangest part is that I seem to be reading them backwards (most recent to least recent) so I wonder a little bit if that means that her first novels were better, or if I'm just getting more wrapped up in the idea of the European flower-spy plots. Either way, both The Seduction of the Crimson Rose and The Temptation of the Night Jasmine were superb! Engaging from start to finish, and with twists that were genuinely surprising (especially in the case of Crimson Rose - hint hint).
As such, I'll star off with Crimson Rose. The entire book is based off the the point that the Black Tulip must be found, and killed, if possible, and the Pink Carnation has decided that Miss Mary Alsworthy would be the perfect bait. Mary, whose sister Letty recently wed Mary's would-be suitor, is recruited by Lord Vaughn to try to lure the Black Tulip out of hiding. Through their business relationship, Mary and Vaughn have wonderful bouts of verbal sparring (kudos to Willig for all the entertainment) which leave both wanting more than just words, but each unable to do anything about it. Their budding personal relationship was interesting to watch unfold. Weird, but interesting. Instead of the usual falling head over heels at first sight that usually happens in these types of novels, the two actually grow their love from seeds of mutual disdain. Mary knows Vaughn's reputation as a dissipated rake, while Vaughn knows Mary reputation as an almost ruined society beauty with manners to match. Neither personality is attractive to the other, but Vaughn and Mary are later drawn together by -- wait for it -- their intelligence. Vaughn admires Mary's ability to think and converse in the style he does, and Mary loves Vaughn for being everything that her typical suitor is not: brutally honest, insensitive, rude, and completely arrogant.
As for the rest of the book, which is equally engaging and fun, Willig throws in a very big plot twist at the end involving Jacobites (which I needed the historical note to figure out why Jacobites would be in a Napoleonic novel) that sent me reeling. Another interesting bit that continues throughout the novel is Mary's strained relationship with her sister and brother-in-law. I completely understand why she feels awkward. I know I would feel strange if my sister married the man that was supposed to marry me, but it's fun to see how they all cope. Willig also uses this as an opportunity to show what happens to women who don't or can't marry: after her sister's marriage, Mary is forced to depend on her for financial support, and her only way out would be a marriage of her own.
And of course, as Mary and Vaughn's relationship evolves, Eloise and Colin's own relationship buds and blooms. I missed the first novel in the series, so I've had to piece together what happened to bring these two together, but from what I've read so far, Willig wants it to work out between them. This time, Eloise and Colin survive yet another bout of doubt. Eloise, while doing research on Lord Vaughn meets Colin's sister's conniving ex-boyfriend, only to leave Colin with the suspicion that the ex and Eloise are in cahoots to get the Selwick papers. With a lovely date to follow...
On to The Temptation of the Night Jasmine. Here, there is no real mystery to solve. Robert, the Duke of Dovedale due to a familial technicality, has just returned from over ten years in India, to track down Wrothan, the man who killed Robert's commanding officer. Robert has sworn revenge, but the problem is that Wrothan has disappeared, and he can only assume that Wrothan has retreated back to England. However, Charlotte, daughter of the previous Duke who died when Charlotte was only nine years old, believes and hopes that Robert has finally come home to be the Duke that his title says he is. She has hopes to marry him -- partly because she remembers his kindness to her when her father died, and because she sees Robert as her knight in shining armor come to rescue her from her unloving grandmother. A hilarious train of mistaken ideas and false implications begins, that can only end with a proper explanation on both parts, but I loved reading all about it.
Wrothan, on the other hand, took some more effort to find. Robert has to covertly enlist the help of Lord Staines in order to gain entrance to the Hellfire club: a clandestine group of lordlings whose meetings tend to start with opium and end with an orgy (it's their idea of exotic rebellion and sin). The Duke is not keen on joining this club, but sees it as his only means to find Wrothan, who was a friend to nearly every member of the club. His plan works, but Robert finds out that Wrothan's treachery goes much deeper than a single murder, and the mystery I expected to find comes out at the end, with me wondering who the mysterious Frenchman really is and what he wants.
Meanwhile, our academic Eloise falls under the impression, on a visit to Selwick Hall, that Colin is secretly a spy, after a series of half-heard remarks, unforgivably early phone calls from Dubai, and bits of torn paper on the floor of Colin's study. The truth is much funnier and makes more sense than Eloise's assumptions, but her mental journey from initial ideas about Colin as a spy to her relief when she hears the truth from Colin herself, makes me think that what you read (whether history or fiction) tends to color your ideas about the world. Eloise, whose dissertation about spies left espionage on the brain, made an erroneous conclusion because she thought it would be slightly interesting if the family who began a school of spies, would keep spying as a family tradition as well.
I'll leave the rest for you to read, because these books are too much fun to spoil by all of the little details, but I do believe that I'll be reading the rest of this series (which I think I've said before), hopefully starting with The Secret History of the Pink Carnation! Thank you Lauren Willig for deciding to be an author!
★★★★★★★★★★ (9/10)
Spoilers ahead! I couldn't find a way to not write about them. :)
Without a doubt, Crown Duel is one my my favorite weekend reads. It's such an engaging novel that I just zoom straight through it because I don't want to stop until it ends, and even then, I always wish that there would be a sequel or something so that I could just keep reading. I can't quite pinpoint what is so fantastic about this novel, but I think it has something to do with the fact that it has a little bit of everything: rebellion, magic, love, misunderstandings, mystery, war, peace, silliness, parties, friendship.
One of the situations that drives this novel is the comic/tragic misunderstandings between the heroine, Meliara, and a reputed Court dandy, the Marquis of Shevraeth. They get off on the wrong foot (to put it mildly), and are at odds with each other almost the entire time. It's amusing to watch their verbal forays, especially when I know what each is thinking while they do not. Most of their inability to reconcile is due to pure stubbornness and a fear of being mistaken or rejected. Neither one wants to say something that might potentially embarrass either of them.
As a heroine, Meliara is a wonderful character. She is intelligent, proud, clever, and faithful to her ideals. She is a countess (sharing the rule of her county with her brother), but she is not ashamed to admit that she grew up barefoot and running around with the village children. She is devoted to her people, and puts herself in danger in order to help them. Yet, she's also extremely brave for going to a place she'd sworn never to go: the Court of Remalna. She'd been prejudiced against court life early on by her mother, and refuses to visit even after she and her brother Bran, with a lot of help from the Marquis, are victorious against the tyrant king, Galdran. Somehow, she finds the courage to face her fears, and does pretty well. She becomes popular, partially because of her "rustic" nature, and enjoys the friendship and help of her future sister-in-law, who assists her in adapting to the customs of the court. Meliara is just an amazing person, who I'd be friends with, if she weren't fictional.
One more thing I love about the novel, as I do with any good fantasy world, is how vivid the culture, customs, and landscapes are. Every detail is very consistent, and I enjoy immersing myself in the world of Remalna. There are the Hill Folk, with whom the kingdom has a pact against chopping down the special colored trees, who are neither human nor tree, but provide a type of protection and support to whoever honors their pact. Meliara is one of those, and she has a strong connection with the Hill Folk, more so than anyone else she knows. There is also the court, which changes midway through from treacherous and shallow, to fair-minded and pleasant. The former is mostly seen as memory through things mentioned by characters like Bran's fiancee Nimiar. The latter is what Meliara encounters, and although there is still a good amount of intrigue (what court doesn't have intrigue?), this court is something that Meliara can deal with.
Note: The Crown Duel that I read was "originally published as two novels Crown Duel and Court Duel." As I discovered upon reading the author's note, when published as two novels, the character and place names are different to try to place the novel in another of Smith's worlds. So, if you read this and the names I mention don't match, this is the reason. Which is a good excuse to get this double version: you don't have to stop to change books!
I just have to say it again: Love it! It's perfect becuase I can have danger, rebellion, and near tragedy in the morning, and intrigue, love, and happiness by dinner. I enjoy reading this book so much that I think I'm going to need a new copy after a few more reads.
★★★★★★★★★★ (6/10)
I am an avid Jane Austen fan, and I am not afraid to admit it. I'm the type of person whose copy of Pride and Prejudice falls open to the most awkward, embarrassing, fantastic proposal scene in literary history. So, naturally, I like to read about the author, and see how her life is different and similar to the lives of the characters in her novels. I thought Just Jane would be a good addition to my knowledge collection of the life of one of my favorite authors, and for the most part, it was.
Just Jane is written in a quasi-diary fashion, where everything is told from Jane's point of view, and each "event" only takes a day or so, or else, Jane is recapping what's been happening while she's talking about the current situation. I liked this format because it didn't include dates, so the novel just flowed from one event in Austen's life to another, just like it did in her real life. As far as I can tell, the author, Moser, tried to be as factual as possible, while taking artistic license with conversational details, and I appreciate her honesty. It's just a pity that so many of Austen's letters were burned after her death, or the world would know so much more about her, despite Austen's claim that she wanted to remain unknown.
What made Just Jane slightly difficult to read was the speed. I felt like it just dragged on and on without going anywhere. I could put down this book in the middle of a sentence and not feel bad about it. Usually I try to finish a paragraph, if not a chapter, when I know I have to stop reading, but with this novel, I put it down because I wanted to stop reading. I needed mental breaks to wake myself up and hope for the story to get to something more interesting, something more than just Jane's unhappiness that she's been separated from her sister again. I understand that these occurrences would have been saddening for her, but I do wish that Moser could have kept them to a minimum for the novel's sake.
However, the content of the novel is wonderful. Going in, I knew that Jane was very close to her only sister, Cassandra, but Moser was able to convey just how deep their relationship was, and how Cassandra and Jane practically were two halves of a whole. There is a comment made that a man would have to marry them both to get a complete wife, and I think that's exactly how the two sisters would have seen it as well. The relationships between Jane and her various family members are just as complicated as the relationship between the characters in her books. Jane Austen is not nearly so ashamed of her parents as Lizzy and Jane Bennet, but she does notice all her brothers' flaws, as well as feeling the pain of not being able to control her own life, since she must do as her father bids her.
The things that seems most depressing is Jane's love life. Her "romance" with Tom Lefroy doesn't seem nearly as involved as it does in the film "Becoming Jane." Yes, I know it's a film, and films are not known for their adherence to truth, but I thought that maybe there was a little truth in it. From what Moser explains in her notes at the end of the novel, there was nothing serious between Jane and Tom. She liked him, but she never truly expected to marry him when she thought about it. Even sadder is that there was a budding romance between her and a young man after her family moved to Bath, but he was killed in an accident before the two young people even got a chance to know one another. It seems as though Jane and Cassandra were destined to remain single; a force of nature couldn't get them married because, had they married, Jane would not have published her books, and Cassandra would not have been there to support and encourage her. Sad or not, Jane's devotion to her sister, and her desire to not marry without love are the reasons the world has novels from Jane Austen's brilliant mind.
I couldn't believe how long it took me to read Just Jane, since I've read other histories of her (including this great little book called "101 Things You Didn't Know About Jane Austen" by Patrice Hannon), and I've never been quite as bored I as was reading Just Jane. This is not to say that it was not a good book; I'm just warning you that it will take a while, and you should take frequent breaks for naps.
