Customer Reviews

The Valentine's Day Ball (A Zebra Holiday Regency Romance)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book started out to be a fun, intelligent, and romantic read, but about half way through the story the writing took a downward turn--It became a dragging and tedious read, which cost one star. The heroine also changed from a intelligent and mature woman to a gloomy, cynical person with a temperament to trust and distrust wrong people--another star off.

Granted, other characters were fine and sensibly written (although I'm not sure I would be so steadfastly in love with Miss Jane, if I were the hero), and the plot did has its twist and turns, but with the speed the story was unfolding, it certainly made me restless. I think the whole book probably could be shortened from 320 pages to 250 pages, and skip the France escapade. Extra pages doesn't necessarily mean better story.

How many books are there that can brag about being two people's reason for addiction to a genre? Well, this book is given that honor. My younger sister and I were both suffering from a Dickensian gloom when we spied this book at a book sale. Throwing caution to the wind, we swooped it up, took it home, and were utterly entranced. The lovely romance is at the same time sweet, exciting, and utterly charming. And there is also the added bonus of several appropriate quotations from Oliver Goldsmith's play "She Stoops to Conquer", which prompted us to devour that as well. So here we have a book that prompted two people to inhale not one, but TWO genres: 18th century theatre and Regency romance. What more could one want?