Customer Reviews

Minx

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

My book reading buddy LOVED this book and I think this is probably the only book we haven't had an agreement on.

Anyway, "Henry" drove me nuts!! While I am all for the un-ladylike heroine that becomes a lady, I just couldn't get into Henry's character...she was to overbearing and a bitch and very unlikable to me. I stopped reading the book when I kept finding myself wishing she would get the boot off the estate. I don't know, I didn't feel the chemistry and didn't understand how Dunford could keep Henry around when it was with-in his rights to send her packing...yes this is a romance novel, but I really wonder if I would have liked the story better if she had gotten the boot.

Anyway, I'm a big Julia Quinn fan and looking forward to the next novel she will publish, but I can't recommend this book, especially since I couldn't finish it.

Such a fun, truly enjoyable book to read!! All of Ms. Quinn's novels are heavenly to read, easy to follow, full of delightful dialogue and wonderful,dreamy characters! I loved Henry's spunk!! I would much rather read any of Julia Quinn's novels than watch anything on tv. This novel was GREAT!

This book opens with a solid romance story. Gaiety and revelry develop into a delightful, humorous adventure. Our hero, the notorious London rake, Lord William Dunford, has inherited a prime piece of English property from a distant relative. Upon his arrival, he discovers the precocious, hoydenish Henrietta "Henry" Barrett. Only to find this little woman has maintained his estate quite successfully. The playful banter between our soon-to-be lovers is delightful. Usually, Julia Quinn draws her female characters as strong, capable woman and here is no exception, Henrietta is an enchanting young woman. Quinn's hero, Dunford, is a babe -- strong, caring -- a woman's fantasy. Sadly, all good things end. Our smoldering couple should have stayed on the estate.

Quinn changes the location and we adjourn into old London Town. A city filled with manipulators, schemers, and gossips. This move brings the novel's fun to an end. The innocence falls apart, to the reader's disappointment. Our happy friends begin to mistrust and misunderstand each other. Yes, I realize doubt and delusion are par for the course in romance reading, but the author is guilty of dangling this frustration too long. Quinn misplaced the merriment and the words became work.

Grace Atkinson, Ontario - Canada.

This book, the last of the series (Splendid, Dancing at Midnight), is an enjoyable read. Dunford and Henry (Henrietta) are wonderful together. I totally agree with some of the reviewers that the last 50 pages could have been skipped. I thought that the character of Hen, rather innocent from the start, turned out quite differently at the end of the book. The friends of Dunford are funny and entertaining. Minx is a nice, lovely read but is not as good as Splendid, but still a MUST read.

This book was a wonderful read. Henry is such a strong character that doesn't like being told what to do. It was so interesting to read about how pig headed Dunford was being. I rather liked all of the teasing that his friends gave him. The only thing was that I felt Henry should have been more trusting of Dunford, then the last 50 pages could have been avoided. They had so much trouble getting together that to have yet another problem put in their path was almost an over-kill. Still, the book was very good and a delight to read.

I bought this book with the new cover -- it's the blue one. The cover is so beautiful. However, the book itself is way more beautiful! I'm really glad that Quinn changed the cover of Minx because I probably wouldn't have bought this book in it's original cover. (I stay away from historical romances with half naked people on the cover. I commute every day to my college and read in the bus or I'll get bored staring out the window for 40 minutes. I just wouldn't want to read a book in the bus with a half naked people on its cover.) Anyway, if you don't see this book with its new cover, you still have got to buy this book with the original cover. It is FABULOUS! I think that all romances should have good covers because covers with half naked people make some romance readers not read the book -- then they miss out on such a beautiful book like this!!! Sorry, if this part of my review is unhelpful, but I've really got to say this because so many romances out there have "bad" covers and I stay away from them. People should definitely not stay away from this book just because of its original cover.

This book made me laugh, cry, and smile. The characters were so descriptively written and well developed. It was like you really knew these people in real life. I read the reviews here and a lot of people said that the last 50 pages weren't neccessary. I totally disagree -- if not for the last pages, the book would not have included an obstacle for the couple. EVERY romance has to have a struggle between the hero and heroine or else the romance novel would be either: 1)boring, 2) cheesy and unrealistic, or 3) filled with nothing but sex. This book is the book that has now made me a huge fan of Julia Quinn!

I never really saw Dunford as a "rake". Henry was a little bit annoying. Overall only a passable read. I have probably read way too many romance novels. I probably would have like this one if it was one of the first that I had read. Since it's not, I was bored during parts of it.