Pamela Hartshorne

Its been a while since I picked up a harlequin romance title by an author I wasn't previously exposed to. However I'm kind of a sucker for ordinary girls who swap with their royal friends (or royal look-a-likes or twins swapping lives or anything in that brand of romance actually) and Borders had both books in the duology for 50% so...

I was pleasantly surprised! While I still kind of grew exasperated by the sheer amount of miscommunication that occurred between the leads, I enjoyed watching as Caro got practically an entire country to adjust their way of thinking just by being eccentric and personable. I take issue with the cover, its pretty, but rather bland and does nothing for either character (it doesn't show Caro's luscious curves or her unique style of dressing for starters). That's par for the course in Harlequins isn't it though?

As I said earlier the miscommunication issues vexed me, there were several times I really wanted to just ask why neither thought to just say something. Some of the walls built between them felt very artificial and a little silly (Philippe's constant criticisms about Caro's outfits, or Caro's rather reckless penchant for ignoring what Philippe told her), but it was amusing to watch Philippe's obvious deep feelings for Caro and her pragmatic approach. It was usually Caro who had to remind Philippe that he had to step back and remember it was a temporary gig and Philippe who made (silent) plans for their future.

You can't tell from the cover picture, but Caro has 'luscious' curves and though its never explicitly stated more of an 'average' woman sized figure I'm guessing. I liked that she dressed how she liked--in vintage clothing mainly that was a little offbeat, but had emotional significance to her usually.

While some of Caro's backstory was a bit spotty and if looked at too closely a bit implausible to boot, I thought the genuine affection she and Lotty felt for each other was an endearing piece of the story.

The companion book to this, The Secret Princess, parallels the timeline during Ordinary as Caro and Philippe begin their charade and it quickly becomes something more. Throughout the novel there are email exchanges between Caro and Lotty that give us a little bit about what's happening with Lotty, but surprisingly the end of this book does not ruin the end of that book.… (altro)

Truth be told I have a sincere soft spot for many of the late 80's/early 90's Harlequin titles. I grew up on those as a young teen. Even now, as I prefer historical romance or paranormal romance, I have at least a dozen of my favorites from Harlequin that still please me. I only recently began reading Hart and since I saw this as my used bookstore I decided to pick it up.

Admittedly I had to first put aside the eye-rolling at the male lead (Kier's) preponderance with posturing and acting like the female lead (Penelope called Poppy) didn't affect him. Anyone with half a brain could see that a normally placid, professional man who suddenly becomes prickly and irritated when a certain female around is obviously having some sort of big feelings for her. It also helps to ignore how passive Poppy tended to be.

In short this was, while not being one of my favorite Old School Romances, definitely was in my top twenty-five percentile. There were definite moments when Poppy was sassy and gave Kier back as good as she got and it was with some relief that at the end Kier isn't asking Poppy to give up what she is good at.

I am seeing a definite trend in some of Hart's characters thought; she seems to like writing about the off-beat sorts who march to their own drummer and make people's lives a little brighter just by being themselves.… (altro)

Set in the 1590’s London the story is told from the very different view points of 2 women, Mary and Cat, once like sisters but now accomplices to the murder of Cats husband and worlds apart until fate brings them back together changing their lives yet agin.

There is a lot of attention to detail in the descriptions of the streets of London and the parlours of the upper class, there is one part that especially stands out for me for the authenticity and that was the preparations that the household went to for a grand party. The food made me feel a wee bit queasy! Roasted Porpoise!! Yuck! I’d never heard that one before, mind you I did have a bit of a blonde moment and for some reason I thought that was a hedgehog!! The only explanation i can offer in my defence was that it was about 4am and I’d had no sleep! 🙂

Anyway, after googling roast porpoise I now know that is a type of whale that looks similar to a dolphin. And who said reading fiction novels can’t be educational!

As for the 2 protagonists they are both fascinating and a little bit sinister in their own individual and combined personalities. A psychiatrist would have a field day with these 2. The story line with the curse is threaded throughout the entire story along with an old wooden doll that’s plain creepy!

This book offers so much as well as being a historical novel, there is elements of romance, mystery, thriller, crime and even a twist of the paranormal. So all in all this will definitely appeal to a wide variety of audience.

I think House of Shadows is still my favourite of Pamela Hartshorne’s novels but this one is almost up there with it. If you have read her previous books then you will enjoy this one and it is most certainly one to look out for.

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely positively YES!

One to put on everyone’s TBR list!… (altro)