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A review by chels_ebooks
A Rose at Midnight by Anne Stuart
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I stand by my declaration that Anne Stuart villains are loquacious weirdos. They're very bad men who are absolutely going to tell you about how bad they are. In a book that deals with the aftereffects of the French Revolution, it's a bit funny that the most excess I found was in the villain, Nicholas's, elocution.
This is where you might think I would be yelling, "Show, don't tell!" but I cannot in good conscience critique an Anne Stuart book like that. I think the telling is fun and atmospheric. Her broody bad guys are so self-absorbed that they'll write their own diatribes on debauchery, and Anne Stuart does this so frequently that I associate this archetype with her. When I read The Duke's Wager earlier this year I divided the villains into two categories: The sneaky, lying marquis was John Malkovich in Dangerous Liaisons, and the duke, a boastful villain, was an Anne Stuart character.
The heroine, Ghislaine, escaped The Terror and is now working as a cook in her English friend's household. When her friend's cousin, Nicholas Blackthorne, comes to stay, Ghislaine recognizes him as the man she holds responsible for her traumatic French Revolution experience.
Nicholas had a chance to rescue her from France when Ghislaine was a teenager but he chose not to, and after years of suffering, Ghislaine tries to get her revenge in the form of poisoned food.
Obviously this doesn't work, and Nicholas kidnaps Ghislaine as punishment. His abuse of Ghislaine is very mild for a bodice ripper, but he does spend a lot of time opining. Nicholas and Ghislaine's emotions were all over the place and hard for me to track, so I wasn't extremely invested in their relationship.
This is where you might think I would be yelling, "Show, don't tell!" but I cannot in good conscience critique an Anne Stuart book like that. I think the telling is fun and atmospheric. Her broody bad guys are so self-absorbed that they'll write their own diatribes on debauchery, and Anne Stuart does this so frequently that I associate this archetype with her. When I read The Duke's Wager earlier this year I divided the villains into two categories: The sneaky, lying marquis was John Malkovich in Dangerous Liaisons, and the duke, a boastful villain, was an Anne Stuart character.
The heroine, Ghislaine, escaped The Terror and is now working as a cook in her English friend's household. When her friend's cousin, Nicholas Blackthorne, comes to stay, Ghislaine recognizes him as the man she holds responsible for her traumatic French Revolution experience.
Nicholas had a chance to rescue her from France when Ghislaine was a teenager but he chose not to, and after years of suffering, Ghislaine tries to get her revenge in the form of poisoned food.
Obviously this doesn't work, and Nicholas kidnaps Ghislaine as punishment. His abuse of Ghislaine is very mild for a bodice ripper, but he does spend a lot of time opining. Nicholas and Ghislaine's emotions were all over the place and hard for me to track, so I wasn't extremely invested in their relationship.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Violence