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wendysimon's review against another edition
4.0
This book was a mystery surrounding the Book of Secrets of the Vanza society. Edison is trying to find the book for his mentor and ends up taking Emma on as an associate because she is susceptible to one of the recipes from the book that has been deciphered. Through a maze of murders, romance, and mystery, the book is found to be destroyed and Edison is betrayed by his mentor. At the end, all is resolved and Edison and Emma marry...happily ever after.
donnaslair's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
As others have noted, the first two books in the ‘Vanza’ series, this being the second, have titles that would imply they are closely related (‘With This Ring’ / ‘I Thee Wed’). In fact, they are not. Further, the title of this book, while admittedly vague, doesn’t really have much to do with the book. Yes, two people do get married during the course of the narrative, or at least plan to, but that’s hardly distinctive in the genre.
By contrast, I enjoyed the personalities of the hero/heroine in ‘With This Ring’ a bit more. They were fun characters and had some depth. With ‘I Thee Wed’, I never really developed an attachment to either of the main characters…they seemed somewhat stiff and not fully fleshed out.
At a high level, the plot didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. I’ll try to summarize without spoilers: A mystical society on a faraway island has created a potion that allows one to cheat at cards. The society which developed the formula is exclusively male, but the potion only works when ingested by a woman. The formula (encrypted so no one can read it) is the subject of much searching and murdering.
Despite this improbable central theme, Ms. Quick’s excellent dialog and descriptions make it an enjoyable read, and I’m definitely going to look for the next in the series.
As others have noted, the first two books in the ‘Vanza’ series, this being the second, have titles that would imply they are closely related (‘With This Ring’ / ‘I Thee Wed’). In fact, they are not. Further, the title of this book, while admittedly vague, doesn’t really have much to do with the book. Yes, two people do get married during the course of the narrative, or at least plan to, but that’s hardly distinctive in the genre.
By contrast, I enjoyed the personalities of the hero/heroine in ‘With This Ring’ a bit more. They were fun characters and had some depth. With ‘I Thee Wed’, I never really developed an attachment to either of the main characters…they seemed somewhat stiff and not fully fleshed out.
At a high level, the plot didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. I’ll try to summarize without spoilers: A mystical society on a faraway island has created a potion that allows one to cheat at cards. The society which developed the formula is exclusively male, but the potion only works when ingested by a woman. The formula (encrypted so no one can read it) is the subject of much searching and murdering.
Despite this improbable central theme, Ms. Quick’s excellent dialog and descriptions make it an enjoyable read, and I’m definitely going to look for the next in the series.
sallysimply's review against another edition
4.0
Of all the random books I've stumbled upon this fall, this might be my favorite. It's charming, funny, and absolutely delightful.