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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Consequences of Sin Can Be Pleasurable, February 15, 2007
"Consequences of Sin" is a wonderful read that kept me up all night. There is no easy way to categorize this book which is both a satisfying mystery and a historically true romance. The author, Clare Langley-Hawthorne, understands the complexity of divided loyalties. Her heroine, Ursula Marlow, is an Oxford graduate, a rich heiress, and an aspiring suffragette living in Edwardian England. She is a young woman who must deal with a world where the rigid societal hierarchies based on class, wealth, and gender are only beginning to be questioned. The death of her friend's lesbian lover not only sets up the plot of this fascinating mystery, but details the choices that a young spirited woman must make as she leaves a cosseted world of privilege. This is an immensely satisfying book where love, commitment, and passion must all be weighed against the strict conventions of a country that has yet to be touched by the upheavals of the First World War.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
It could have been so much better, April 20, 2008
This review is from: Consequences of Sin (Mass Market Paperback)
I guess I must have missed buying a copy dusted with the 'good review' hypnosis powder, because unlike the other reviewers I believe this thing is a stinker. It's written as if the author's only contact with the word 'research' is reading Barbara Cartland and Georgette Heyer. The plot is good, that's the only thing that kept me reading, but the characters are cardboard. You just want to reach out and slap the heroine who is alternatively passive and aggressive, then smart and stupid, by turns. During the first chapter I thought this book was just a slow building parody of the woman detective romance novel, but in Chap 2 I realized the author was trying to write a serious book. If she had spent some time reading P.G. Wodehouse or Elizabeth Peters (Barbara Merz) and applied their over the top technique to her writing, this thing could have been a delightful romp. As it is, it's painful to read more than one or two pages at a time. Awful, awful, awful writing.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a very engaging read, March 13, 2007
Given that this debut novel and first installment in a series by Clare Langeley- Hawthorne features an Oxford educated young woman of the money classes, who is also a suffragette, comparisons are bound to be made between this new series and Gillian Linscott's excellent Nell Bray series. Being a fervent fan of the Nell Bray series, and given that I really enjoyed "Consequences of Sin" my verdict is that while there are more differences than similarities between the two series, there is much to enjoy about "Consequences of Sin" and that there is much about Ursula Marlow that Nell Bray fans will approve of and take to.
While Ursula Marlow's father, the self-made industrialist wants his only daughter to marry well and settle down, Oxford educated Ursula (who also happens to be a suffragette) wants to decide her own fate, without any parental pressures. And when a fellow suffragette, Winifred Stanford-Jones, and close friend finds herself accused of murder, Ursula decides to do all in her power to help Winifred, much to her father's dismay. And when in the course of her investigations, Ursula discovers that Winifred may be taking the fall for some kind of vendetta against her father and his business associates, Ursula's resolve to discover the truth and absolve Winifred only strengthens. If only she can get her father and his lawyer, the maddening Lord Wortham, to see that she is no longer a child to be placated and soothed...
Like the other reviewers, I stayed up all night to finish this book. "Consequences of Sin" may not be the most suspenseful read of the month, but the author has cleverly layered her book with enough intriguing plot twists to keep things humming and interesting, and so kept me happily ensnared till the very last page. Add the absorbing storyline to the book's taking and engaging heroine, and you have a novel that pleases on every level. So that while "Consequences of Sin" did not quite compare vintage Nell Bray novel, "Consequences of Sin" still was a very good read, and I for one, am eagerly looking forward to the next installment in this series.
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