K. M. Grant

On the cover of this book are reviews that state that this book is "sexy," "witty," and a "delicious romp." I couldn't disagree more. To me, this book is about ruin: the ruin of a girl's face, the ruin of the prospects of other girls by cruel intention, the ruin of yet another girl by her callous and selfish father. Unless you find intentional cruelty and harm to be sexy, I don't think you'll find anything particularly sexy about this story, not even the sex itself, which was mostly just show more hinted at and seemed to be largely tawdry and a bumbling, unsatisfying mess. There's nothing all that witty and it's not a romp. It's a dark tale filled with maliciousness and violence and pain, both physical and psychological. The writing is well-done, and some of the characters are interesting, while also being mostly unsympathetic. The story is tightly plotted, if somewhat predictable. The reason I didn't really like this book has nothing to do with the writing itself. If you like well-written dark tales of cruelty, revenge and the ruin of women, then you will enjoy this book. Me, not so much. show less

In 1794 London, four ambitious and wealthy (but untitled) fathers make a plan for their daughters to snare titled husbands. They will purchase a newfangled pianoforte, hire a teacher, and at the end of the year their daughters will play a concert for the appropriate bachelors. Once the instrument is purchased, all the involved parties assume they have the upper hand until the true extent of the manipulations come to light at the climactic concert.

This novel’s writing is made to savor show more slowly, but the plot is fast-paced. It’s as sharply funny as Austen, but its frank carnality most reminded me of The Crimson Petal and the White. The characters are interesting and well-developed, and the plot surprised me. I thoroughly enjoyed the book until the concert scene, which finished with such a massive and disappointing let-down that my star-rating dropped from five to three just for that. Consider yourself forewarned. show less

I pretty much avoid historical fiction and straight-up romances, so when I had to read Blue Flame, the first in this 13th century romance series, I was not happy. But I actually liked it because of the nuanced story and complex characters, so I didn't whine when I got the second one. This sequel deepens the relationship between the protagonists (Cathar Raimon and Catholic Yolanda, now separated by more than class and religion since Yolanda has been sent to Paris to marry another and Raimon show more is a fugitive) without minimizing the politics and religion of the time period. Side characters and antagonists get the same detailed treatment and, despite the fact that Cathars and Catholics are vilifying each other, none of the characters are one-note villains or heroes in this. The only thing I hate about this series is the awkward conceit of the land (the Amouroix) narrating in the first person; I could ignore it in the first one but it's more intrusive here and it makes me want to throw the book across the room. show less

I was so excited to get this book from the Early Reviewer program, and then it took me this long to read it (whoops), so I can hardly call this review Early any more, but let me tell you why:

I just. Didn't. Like it.

I can't tell if it's that there's far too much going on in the story (which there was) or if it was just a lack of a cohesive idea underpinning it all but it was tiresome to get through. It's taken me since April to get through the book because I kept picking it up and putting it show more down again for something different.

I won't rehash the plot (or rather, what's the plot claims to be), because that can read any number of other places. The basic conceit is hardly new: five nouveau riche girls are in need of husbands, with titles if possible. I suppose this is where one set of reviewers drew the Jane Austen parallel. The approach was what was supposed to set this novel apart: a "wicked...romp", a "fun, lascivious gambol", "rowdy, elegant and kick-ass".

I want to find every one of these reviewers and find out how dull their lives are that these were the words they chose. That, and to present them with both dictionary and thesaurus so that they might find better, more accurate descriptors. Of all the ones claiming it was witty, I can agree that were moments, single passages that caught my attention. Here and there in this 306-page novel, there were half a dozen pairs of sentences that caught me for a moment with the beauty of the writing.

The rest of it was simultaneously dull and jarring. Too much time was spent on minutiae and major plot points were rushed through. None of the characters were fully developed and most of all, I care not a bit about any of them. Nor did the author ever, EVER give me reason to. A physical deformity is not going to make me care, one way or the other. I don't give a damn who someone sleeps with so you're going to have to try harder than that, too.

This was an interesting idea poorly executed. With another round of hard edits, the deletion of secondary plotlines and a general splash of caffeine to the language, characters and story as a whole, it might be worth recommending. At least they could do enough to punch of the story to make it worth such an evocative title. show less