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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
delightful read, March 26, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Minx (Mass Market Paperback)
I've read all of Julia Quinn's novels except "Everything But the Moon". I thought nothing could top the Bridgerton series, but I seriously, seriously, seriously enjoyed this book. "Splendid", "Dancing at Midnight", and "Minx" are connected through the characters, but in my opinion "Minx" is the best of the three. It follows the story of the orphaned Ms. Henrietta Barrett who by a twist of fate ends up as Dunford's ward. Henry's a spunky girl and quickly has Dunford's character tied up in knots. There are a lot of hilarious situations and heartwarming moments, although, like another reviewer mentioned, the whole thing with Dunford's mistress could have been avoided, but I guess Quinn wanted a keener emotional arc in her story, thus this segment in the novel. "Minx" is only as wonderful if you have read the previous stories of Alex and Emma, and John and Belle. It's heart-warming to revisit old friends from other novels, something that Ms. Quinn does frequently in her novels. I highly recommend this book,as well as the rest of Ms. Quinn's work. She combines wit and humor with sensuality and sweet romantic moments. Her characters are believable, and British aficionados will enjoy the Shakespearean and literature of the time references.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny and Enduring, You Won't Want to Put it Down!, April 10, 2002
This review is from: Minx (Mass Market Paperback)
I'm not quite so sure that I would agree with anyone that the last 50 pages were unnesessary. I personally enjoyed the book in it's entirety. I look at it this way, you wouldn't believe the stupid things that my husband and I find to argue about and how personally we can take things sometimes. If we had been using half the sense our mothers gave us when we were born, we would have never gotten ourselves into such messes in the first place. Like: "I actually believed that spam email was from another woman!" (This has acutally happened before!!) And my husband would really believe "that annonomous 'someone has a crush on you' was from my boyfriend I keep stashed away under the bed!" (This too has happened to us.) So, to be honest, I related Dunford's and Henry's feelings during the conflict of the last 50 pages. I thought it brought added excitement to the book personally. As always Julia Quinn has brought her readers a wonderful book that will have you smiling and giggling for days after you've read the last page. Her stories are so enduring and funny, you can't help but remember each character as if you really know them and share their dreams, passions, pain, sorrow and laughter. Another MUST read... thanks Julia!
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A pleasant regency, May 28, 2005
This review is from: Minx (Mass Market Paperback)
MINX by Julia Quinn
May 28, 2005
MINX by Julia Quinn tells the story of Henrietta Barrett, known to most as Henry. In her early twenties, Henry runs the farm she grew up on, an estate known as Stannage Park in Cornwall England. It is 1816, and she is awaiting the appearance of the new Lord Stannage, a man by the name of William Dunford. He was a distant relative to the late Lord Stannage, and had inherited the estate. Henry's plan was to make life so miserable for Dunford that he would not want to stay on the farm or have anything to do with it. Henry's fear was that she would lose her home and would be living on the streets. She loved this farm more than anything else in the world, and would do anything to keep it.
The first part of the book is filled with stunts that Henry pulls to make Dunford want to go back to the city. She puts Dunford through many tests, including making him get up at 5:30 in the morning to start work on the farm and telling him that all they will eat for their noon meal is porridge. But nothing seems to scare him off. Instead, the two become friends, and then one day Dunford decides to take Henry into town (London) and have her see a different type of life. He wants to see her in pretty dresses, not in her mannish outfits she wears on the farm. He is also slowly growing fond of her, and is afraid to admit that he may have feelings for her.
MINX takes the Eliza Doolittle theme, as is somewhat common among these historical novels, and Henry blossoms under the tutelage of Dunford's London friends. Everyone notices that Henry and Dunford have feelings for each other, but the two of them do not want to acknowledge it. When Dunford learns that he is now Henry's guardian, he isn't sure that it's even appropriate for him to have any romantic feelings for her. In the meantime, Henry is the hit of London and is quite a success. She has become a lady.
I'm giving MINX by Julia Quinn three stars. Although over all it was an enjoyable book, I felt the book went a bit too long, and could have been cut shorter. The "happy ending" took forever to come, and I was ready for the book to be over before the actual last page. The characters however were well written, and while the theme has been done before (Eliza Doolittle), the story line was amusing. On the other hand, I didn't buy into how fast Henry and Dunford become good friends. It didn't make sense to me that she would even care for him, since they were from different worlds.
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