Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm not going to summarize this book, others have done so better. This story was light reading and had a good concept, but did not measure up to the calibre of other published Regency romances. The main characters lacked a spark in their romance that other romance writers are able to show better, including in the sex scenes. I had a hard time trying to stay engaged enough to finish reading the book. I am assuming this is the writer's first novel and it was largely unedited. The title of my post shows only three of the modern day expressions that were riddled through this book. "10 minutes of his life he'd never get back," "plead the fifth," "higher than a kite," "set him up," "snap out of it," were a few more I wrote down. I counted a dozen before I was 20% through. This would be okay if this book was a comedy set in the US anywhere after 1990, but it is a drama set in Regency England. There were also typos, run-on or incomplete sentences, out-of-place or missing words, improper verb tenses, and spelling mistakes, that an editor should have caught. There are several scenes with good descriptions, especially the gaudy townhouse. There was some attention to Regency correctness in details such as games, furnishings, and the gentlemens' grand tour, but there were errors in Regency etiquette, such as letter-writing between a couple not related or engaged, hand-kissing as a casual greeting, and errors in facts, such as the British Museum, and fashion: one could not wear her mother's old dress without days of major re-working. The older styles had fully fitted bodices and bustles; Regency dress had empire waistlines and no sleeves for evening wear, thus no trim at the wrists; a corset would always have been worn and would have accentuated her breasts leaving no room to "stuff." Other readers have complained about the rumination in the book, but I thought there was a good balance of dialogue, thoughts, and description, and the author did a good job of changing different points of view from the two main characters. There are several very good dramatic themes in this book: the reference to the language of roses, and the mystery behind Andrew's mother, among others. I also liked the humour around the gift of a picture from the townhouse. The author was over-the-top in many areas: she was terribly unkind to Lady Olivia, using descriptions of her that were downright nasty and unecessary as we already knew her role was to try to be a usurper. She also used words like shrieked which were over-the-top for the context. Her villain was perfect though. I think this book was overpriced for its quality; I have read a lot of 99cent Regency romances that were better. I will not be reading any more books by Rose Gordon.