Do heroes have hairy moles? http://www.meredithduran.com/index.html
Well, what can I say... Wicked Becomes Her was an interesting book to read. I am a big fan of Meredith Duran's wonderful writing. Some of the writing in this book was so vivid you could smell it, especially when the characters journey to Paris. There must have been lots of research going on to make the time period in that particular place seem so alive.
I thought the verbal exchanges between Gwen and Alex were wonderful, witty, and at times I even chuckled at some of them. I was especially fond of all the inner workings that were rummaging around in their heads. And, I was really liking this story until we came to an embarrassing moment.
Let me stop and ramble about embarrassing moments in books and movies. I used to think it only happened to me, but I think that these little moments happen to others, too. Every once in a while, I will be reading or watching something and the character will do something that for some reason embarrasses me. I feel sorry for them and they are not even aware of it! For instance, a long long time ago I read a time travel book - I forget the name of it, but it was something about lightning striking. Anyway, this heroine is flung back into time and while there she belts out a country song in front of a room full of people. I was totally embarrassed... and there was a moment like that in this book, in which the heroine is singing from Carmen and invites the onlookers to join in. I thought the scene was silly and I was embarrassed, and that threw me out of the book.
And then there were all of the characters in the book that just went nowhere... There was Barrington, the sort-of villain and someone I thought might be in line for the hero spot in the next book... UNTIL it was revealed he had a mole with a hair coming out of it. Well, cross him off the list. And then it turned out he wasn't really a villain. Then there was Gwen's companion... went nowhere. The party at Barrington's... nowhere. The woman with the garter... nowhere. The peep holes... nowhere. The brother... Well, you get the idea. There were just too many nowhere's, to say nothing of the silly lie that Alex was keeping from Gwen... what was that all about?
I wish I could give this book two ratings - loved the first half, not so much the second, and it's really a shame because Meredith Duran is one of the better new writers around.
Time/Place: Victorian England
Rating:
/
Sensuality Rating: Warm
2 comments:
I was more or less the same way - liked the first half but not so much the second. I wasn't too keen on Alex either. In his head he was great but he almost was too little too late with finally treating Gwen well imho.
I also, and I shouldn't say it, but Duran's prose almost got in the way of the story. I felt like it was tripping me up and kept throwing me out of the book.
And what WAS is with the peepholes? lol
Yes, just one more thing that didn't go anywhere.
Post a Comment