The Secret History of the Pink Carnation
2 journalers for this copy...
From Publishers Weekly
The French eventually unmasked the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian, famed spies in the Napoleonic wars, but as Harvard graduate student Eloise Kelly discovers at the start of this breezy historical romance, the identity of the Pink Carnation remains a mystery. Working in London on her history dissertation, Eloise gets access to a trunk of papers and documents from the early 19th century. She dives into this treasure trove, and suddenly the reader is plunged into a novel within a novel, told from the viewpoint of Amy Balcourt. Amy, exiled to rural England with her mother, now wants to avenge, with the help of her cousin Jane, her father's death at the hands of the French. She hopes to be in league with the Scarlet Pimpernel, who heroically tried to save her father. Willig, a Harvard graduate student herself, does a good job painting a picture of the tumultuous era. She also makes the sparks fly between Amy and the Purple Gentian, a dashing English nobleman in charge of Egyptian antiquities for Bonaparte. But when the Pink Carnation's identity is finally revealed after many obvious clues, the reader wonders why it took Eloise so long to get it. More critically, Eloise's appearances come to seem like awkward intrusions into Amy's - and the Pink Carnation's - more intriguing story.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The French eventually unmasked the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian, famed spies in the Napoleonic wars, but as Harvard graduate student Eloise Kelly discovers at the start of this breezy historical romance, the identity of the Pink Carnation remains a mystery. Working in London on her history dissertation, Eloise gets access to a trunk of papers and documents from the early 19th century. She dives into this treasure trove, and suddenly the reader is plunged into a novel within a novel, told from the viewpoint of Amy Balcourt. Amy, exiled to rural England with her mother, now wants to avenge, with the help of her cousin Jane, her father's death at the hands of the French. She hopes to be in league with the Scarlet Pimpernel, who heroically tried to save her father. Willig, a Harvard graduate student herself, does a good job painting a picture of the tumultuous era. She also makes the sparks fly between Amy and the Purple Gentian, a dashing English nobleman in charge of Egyptian antiquities for Bonaparte. But when the Pink Carnation's identity is finally revealed after many obvious clues, the reader wonders why it took Eloise so long to get it. More critically, Eloise's appearances come to seem like awkward intrusions into Amy's - and the Pink Carnation's - more intriguing story.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
started reading 4/11/07.
Amazon's comment that Eloise's story, and her intrusion into the narrative of the Pink Carnation's history, doesn't help the book is dead on. Call me weird, but while I definitely enjoy the romantic historical fiction (but not so much the historical romance...) I have never developed a taste for chick lit, and the juxtaposition of the two writing styles was jarring and disrupted the story's flow for me. Plus, I've had it to here with to-die-for boots and designer label name-dropping, which Eloise and her friends employ with great relish.
As for Amy and Richard, and the romance of Napoleon's Paris, etc. It's OK. They're amusing. I admit, I skim the smutty parts because they bore me. But it's fun to fantasize about spies running around Paris with flower names.
The book is fun, but it's not a re-read. The characters are lacking in dimension, and the plot twists are predictable. The mystery of the Pink Carnation? Well, there isn't one. But the book certainly amused me and I would not rule out reading the next volume (just to see where it goes, of course!) so it must not be too bad.
As for Amy and Richard, and the romance of Napoleon's Paris, etc. It's OK. They're amusing. I admit, I skim the smutty parts because they bore me. But it's fun to fantasize about spies running around Paris with flower names.
The book is fun, but it's not a re-read. The characters are lacking in dimension, and the plot twists are predictable. The mystery of the Pink Carnation? Well, there isn't one. But the book certainly amused me and I would not rule out reading the next volume (just to see where it goes, of course!) so it must not be too bad.
Journal Entry 4 by k00kaburra at By Mail in RABCK, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases on Sunday, May 20, 2007
Released 16 yrs ago (5/20/2007 UTC) at By Mail in RABCK, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
sent to Ana Oliveira of Prior Velho, Portugal to fulfill a request on Bookmooch.com.
sent to Ana Oliveira of Prior Velho, Portugal to fulfill a request on Bookmooch.com.
It arrived today. Thanks for sending this book! :-)
