I decided to read this one although I was left completely disappointed after finishing the 2nd book in this series, The Viscount Who Loved Me. But, I was pleasantly entertained as the majority of the book was basically a witty dialogue between the two heroes, Penelope and Colin....and thank God for that, as the moment their more intimate and romantic scenes started to appear, the novel began to go downhill.
I came to a conclusion after reading these two novels, Julia Quinn can really write a good and witty banter, BUT she is clueless where intense sexual/ passionate charged scenes are involved.
If we focus on this book, everything goes well until the heroes start to physically want each other, which in reality isn't the problem. The REAL problem is that Mrs. Quinn cannot put together an enjoyable and realistic passionate scene, I am not talking about EROTICA, I am talking about a basic sexual scene where we can actually "feel" what our heroes are feeling. This book as the previous one had an omniscient narrator, so we were supposed to see how both characters felt and reacted on different occasions. Generally, this was working well up to the point where the first kisses and more intimate encounters started to happen.
Once those started, we would only see, extensively so, how Colin was acting and feeling, and when it came to poor Penelope, we were given half of a paragraph. So, basically were told what was happening to Colin but nothing about Penelope, maybe she wanted us to imagine it...I don't know...but basically, it was implied that Penelope although present was rather impassive, just sitting there receiving Colin's attention without any real "response" from her part.
Even during two other scenes where we are told how Penelope felt and how she was ready to "claim" Colin in her turn, again the narration stops halfway, and again we transfer to the point of view of Colin, just seeing how he reacted and zero description about Penelope.
Did she kiss him back passionately? Did she feel pain when she lost her virginity? Did she explore his body as he did hers? What was she feeling during their first night together? We don't know because we are never told. We just know what happened to Colin who didn't feel obliged to tell us too many things about his partner.
I really wanted to see how the curious and innocent Penelope, who although was shy, explored her physical relationship with Colin, I wanted to see how she felt, the passion that was burning inside her. We were told over and over throughout the story how much she loved Colin and yet when it was time for us to see it happen, we were given just Colin's POV which really didn't mention Penelope's reactions at all.
In conclusion, this was the last book by this author I am gonna read, as I really liked the two heroes but in the end, Mrs. Quinn's narrative really ruined it for me.
However, I am definitely gonna watch the Netflix adaptation as those people really know how to make sparks fly!
Tara!
Comments