Reviewed by Amanda on
Super glad I stuck with this series. Where the first two books felt awfully similar, this one suffered no such issues. Mostly because, as you find out within the first 25 pages (hence I don't consider it a spoiler), Jilly's already married. To someone else.
This is the second time I've seen that plot line played out, and I have to say, I liked it better in this book (even if, like the other, I thought it was very conveniently solved at the end). This is because Jilly's upfront with the reader about it. We know.
I've mentioned this in reviews before, and I'll mention it again: I much prefer knowing the characters' big, dark secrets from the beginning. In this case, knowing Jilly's already married offers an extra layer of tension between her and Arrow.
And where there's tension, there's a good story.
THAT SAID, it wasn't painfully clear exactly why Jilly left her husband. Was she unhappy? Did she just want something better? Was her husband cruel? Was it something more? I still don't know. And that's frustrating. I want to be behind the character 100%. Some menacing and fear surrounded the relationship with her husband, but it was vague.
Amanda doesn't like vague.
Amanda did like Arrow. (She also likes referring to herself in third person occasionally.) He was fun and charming. I liked that he liked Jilly being "unmanageable" (which, really, just means she was her own woman and you gotta respect a man who respects a woman).
And I can't end the review without mentioning Otis, Jilly's father's valet turned friend turned bookseller. And the bookstore itself! Otis lit up the pages (I'm trying out new descriptions -- yea or nay?) and often brought a good laugh with his dramatic ways.
Now to pick up the final book!
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 23 October, 2014: Finished reading
- 23 October, 2014: Reviewed