Prologue: A Bad Man hides a Secret Spy Thingy in a London home. Naturally, Harry must retrieve it.
Cut to the countryside, and start counting chestnuts.
Lady Cornelia (Nell) Dagenham is a young widow (1) who's never experienced true passion (2) but has two children and an overbearing father-in-law who exists to give Nell an excuse to go all drama queen whenever the story's starting to move.
Nell and her friends Aurelia and Livia plan a trip to London, only to be stymied by Nell's father-in-law. (He's a horribly unconvincing offstage villain.) In the nick of time, a great-aunt dies. Great-Auntie's will is full of ludicrous codicils (3), but leaves Livia that very same London house (4) that holds the Secret Spy Thingy. So the three young women take possession of the London house, unaware of the Thingy. Harry knows, though, and for a smart guy he makes a total hash of retrieving the Thingy.
Nothing. happens.
Nell isn't the most interesting character, but she shines at instantaneous dislike (5) and lying for no good reason (6). She and Harry keep up the empty hostilities, and for 100 pages nothing new happens. There's some posturing about society, being feisty (7), and illustrating the women's friendships. But no one does anything.Eventually Harry makes his move on the Secret Spy Thingy and the Untapped Well of Lurve. Nell's all for some lurving, until she remembers her father-in-law. She won't explain her situation, but she's sufficiently woebegone to worry Harry. Not to be outdone, Harry then recalls that he too has a secret sorrow (8).
The hero who drips
I like that Harry's a liar who screws Nell for his spying mission. I imagine most readers would agree more with Jane on this, but to me Harry's a better character because he sticks to his mission and doesn't get all emotional. Unfortunately, as soon as they hit the sheets, Harry starts acting gooey. He even does the Best Sex Ever routine (9): "You have unmanned me, sweetheart.... I had expected to enjoy myself, but not to be so transported." Ah well. Another case of glittery hooha.Harry also wins points with me later in the book by giving his men permission to kill Nell's cousin Nigel if necessary. It's not a "nice guy" move, but I like it. A lot. I like Harry's jerkiness because (a) Nigel's a twerp, and (b) Harry needs to show some spine. (My enjoyment of Harry's behavior is partly a measure of my boredom with these mealymouthed characters.)
I hate a hero who loses sight of his personal beliefs and goals because he's met a woman who may be The One. There goes everything that made him interesting and unique; now he's just another Fabio doll. Harry's a spy for the War Office; Nigel is helping out the bad guys. I'm glad Harry didn't second-guess himself because of Nell.
Almost as bad as the hero who folds is the hero who drips. He tries to cover up what he's doing, gets caught, and makes excuses. "I changed my mind the moment we met! But I still had to do it! I felt bad though, I swear!" Harry muddled through this scene OK, but I still wished he'd say, "Oh, get over yourself."
Proof positive
The ending is atrocious. Early in the book I'd wondered if I were being overly critical, but the dénouement proved me right and then some. There's a lot to sort out, but it's dead easy: Harry has a lightbulb moment. Both his Secret Sorrow and Nell's father-in-law can be nullified by getting married! I can't be the only reader who thought, Doh, this is great! If only they'd thought to get married... you know, back when they were thinking of getting married! *headdesk*The pity is, I love Regencies; I love spies (brainy man of action, rowr). I should have been an easy sell. But this was the most boring 474 pages I've read in a long time. And seriously, 474 pages for this? It should have been tightened up to half the length, and published as a Harlequin Regency.
Grade: D+
2 Comments:
I've been reading Feather for a while and love her. When she's good, she's really good(Vice, Venus, Vanity), but when she's bad, it's BAD(the Shadows trilogy, this book).
That's good to hear. It's frustrating when the writing is competent, but the story doesn't hang together or flow well. Like this author should be able to do much better, and her editor should have caught at least the more glaring problems.
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