kikkrareads's review against another edition
Did not finish
I had read the previous books in this series and enjoyed the light hearted stories but this was dry and dreary. Both characters were so pompas and dull! I just couldn't finish it
I had read the previous books in this series and enjoyed the light hearted stories but this was dry and dreary. Both characters were so pompas and dull! I just couldn't finish it
athenaevarinya's review against another edition
3.0
I have to admit that I'm rather disappointed by this book which I had been looking forward to after reading the earlier books in the series. The innocent beginnings of romance that Julian and Melissa had in the earlier books had appealed to me and I was looking forward to having them meet again and watching that beginning evolve into something deeper and more scintillating. Unfortunately, the most interesting thing about this book was capturing the bad guy. The romance came off as stale, even the love scenes.
attytheresa's review
2.0
Really disappointing, and the very reason for high expectations when starting this contributed largely to my disappointment.
This was the long awaited consummation of Julian and Melissa's love story so sweetly started in Lady Osbaldestone's Christmas Chronicles when both were quite young. Yet because that young love was so pure and sweet, with a gentle parting, when they meet again here as full adults, never having fallen in love with others, there is no drama at all. Just a sense of instant closure. Even the introduction of a complex murder, blackmail, and succession plot aimed at Julien and his family does little to wake up this complacent story. Missing too were some of the special connections that lit up their youthful love, most specifically the melding of their voices in song.
I did however love the introduction of the ball of fluff puppy named Ulysses.
This was the long awaited consummation of Julian and Melissa's love story so sweetly started in Lady Osbaldestone's Christmas Chronicles when both were quite young. Yet because that young love was so pure and sweet, with a gentle parting, when they meet again here as full adults, never having fallen in love with others, there is no drama at all. Just a sense of instant closure. Even the introduction of a complex murder, blackmail, and succession plot aimed at Julien and his family does little to wake up this complacent story. Missing too were some of the special connections that lit up their youthful love, most specifically the melding of their voices in song.
I did however love the introduction of the ball of fluff puppy named Ulysses.
jksteach's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
I enjoyed learning what happens with Melissa and Julian's story, but this book is very, very different from the earlier four in the series. I didn’t care for the narrator either.
ssejig's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
We saw when Melissa and Julian met, she was fifteen and he was twenty-two. They recognized that they were meant for each other but they were both so young and the age gap was... ew. Now Melissa is twenty-three, about to be on the shelf, and Julian is thirty and has succeeded his father as earl. Neither believes the other to be unmarried. But they are. And they meet again at a ball. Well, Melissa is trying to avoid Julian by going out into the garden with a man she doesn't realize is his cousin, Gordon. Gordon, who needs money, decides that will be the time to try and take advantage of her but she saves herself and then Julian intervenes. When he intervenes, a torrid embrace occurs and the two are discovered. Well, an engagement is announced. But the two do something startling in a romance book and talk about it and decide to take the time of their engagement to decide whether they should actually suit. And that would be fine except someone just keeps trying to kill Julian. And trying to kill Julian. Then a little trying to kill Melissa. And then trying to kill Julian. There is Just So Much Attempted Killing. it was overly wrought. Otherwise, a normal story in the Lady Osbaldestone's Christmas Chronicles series, fast, fun, and fluffy.
attytheresa's review against another edition
2.0
Really disappointing, and the very reason for high expectations when starting this contributed largely to my disappointment.
This was the long awaited consummation of Julian and Melissa's love story so sweetly started in Lady Osbaldestone's Christmas Chronicles when both were quite young. Yet because that young love was so pure and sweet, with a gentle parting, when they meet again here as full adults, never having fallen in love with others, there is no drama at all. Just a sense of instant closure. Even the introduction of a complex murder, blackmail, and succession plot aimed at Julien and his family does little to wake up this complacent story. Missing too were some of the special connections that lit up their youthful love, most specifically the melding of their voices in song.
I did however love the introduction of the ball of fluff puppy named Ulysses.
This was the long awaited consummation of Julian and Melissa's love story so sweetly started in Lady Osbaldestone's Christmas Chronicles when both were quite young. Yet because that young love was so pure and sweet, with a gentle parting, when they meet again here as full adults, never having fallen in love with others, there is no drama at all. Just a sense of instant closure. Even the introduction of a complex murder, blackmail, and succession plot aimed at Julien and his family does little to wake up this complacent story. Missing too were some of the special connections that lit up their youthful love, most specifically the melding of their voices in song.
I did however love the introduction of the ball of fluff puppy named Ulysses.
ceng1018's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
3.0
Slow and kind of trite. Just ok read
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