Julia Quinn: What Happens in London

What Happens in London: C
Olivia Bevelstoke & Hero (Harry Valentine)
sequel to The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever

When Olivia Bevelstoke is told that her new neighbor may have killed his fiancee, she doesn't believe it for a second, but, still, how can she help spying on him, just to be sure? So she stakes out a spot near her bedroom window, cleverly concealed by curtains, watches, and waits . . . and discovers a most intriguing man, who is definitely up to something.

Sir Harry Valentine works for the boring branch of the War Office, translating documents vital to national security. He's not a spy, but he's had all the training, and when a gorgeous blonde begins to watch him from her window, he is instantly suspicious. But just when he decides that she's nothing more than an annoyingly nosy debutante, he discovers that she might be engaged to a foreign prince, who might be plotting against England. And when Harry is roped into spying on Olivia, he discovers that he might be falling for her himself . . .

I happen to think What Happens in London is a very average book. It has average characters with average writing, with an average... well, average everything. The characters are so forgettable, I've actually forgotten the hero's name. This almost never happens... well, unless the characters are forgettable.

I do remember Olivia Bevelstoke as the heroine. She's pretty and as as a pretty girl in London during the regency times, she has to hide the fact that she has a brain. But she meets the unnamed hero (all right, I'll look up his name for you..!) in a very unsmart, albeit funny, manner: hearing rumors that hero might be a psychopathic killer prompts her to spy on him when he moves in next to her.

He catches her spying on him, they are acquainted, and then somehow, he ends up being her bodyguard. The details are failing me, but something about one of Olivia's suitors (a Russian prince!) being suspicious... in any case, they're around each other all the time and the flames of passion ignite!

Other than the entertaining way in which she spies on hero, I can't remember any significant things about the story... other than the fact that Olivia and hero's sex scene (you know, that ultimate, cataclysmic scene in which both realize they've found the love of each others' lives because of the amazing sex and etc) is the worst sex scene I've ever read. It's worse than an unwritten sex scene (in which you imagine hero and heroine has a soul-shattering moment) and this scene, readers, was so laughable and uncool, I promptly forgot why I found it so horrible; I'm only left with the thought of, 'Worst sex scene ever!!'

I think this is a good place to say that I'm not a huge fan of Ms. Quinn's writing style.
She aims for the cutesy, witty, intelligent style that is lacking in details (of all kinds, including characters, plot, setting...) and fails to be humorous. It just... tries too hard? is unfunny? witty but not really witty? If paired with a decent plot (I did enjoy her The Lost Duke of Wyndham and Mr. Cavendish, I Presume though it had the same unfunny writing style) I think the book is enjoyable enough, but without it, the book is just an average read.

With that, I'll end this very average book review.

Oh! While searching for the book's synopsis, Amazon tells me hero's name is Mr. Harry Valentine. Ah yes... Harry Valentine...

Julia Quinn: The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever

The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever: C-
Miranda Cheever & Nigel Bevelstoke, Viscount Turner

At the age of ten, Miranda Cheever showed no signs of Great Beauty. And even at ten, Miranda learned to accept the expectations society held for her--until the afternoon when Nigel Bevelstoke, the handsome and dashing Viscount Turner, solemnly kissed her hand and promised her that one day she would grow into herself, that one day she would be as beautiful as she already was smart.

And even at ten, Miranda knew she would love him forever.

This was the most disappointing read, and I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why this book won the 2007 Best Regency Historical Romance in the Romance Writers of America's annual RITA Awards. (But then again, I don't understand how JQ won it for her novel, On the Way to the Wedding because that one wasn't too great either...)



The breakdown of the story, short and un-sweet. Miranda Cheever writes in her diary every day. (I like that. Yay, journals!) She is not a Great Beauty. She accepts this. She meets Nigel Bevelstoke, older brother of her best friend...and she falls in looove.

Years later, Nigel has gone through a nasty marriage and is now a widow. His wife was a total loser, cuckolder, and what-not. Unsurprisingly, he's grown bitter.

He sees Miranda when she hangs out with her still-best friend, Olivia. He doesn't really notice her, but she's having heart palpitations from being in his presence.

And then one day he notices her.
And then he marries her because ...hm, I can't remember the reason.
But then after the marriage - they have great sex.
And then some more time passes, and she's about to give birth and is having complications. (She might die)
He realizes he loves her... *yawn*


Definitely not one of JQ's best novels. Not very interesting and not too romantic. No post-reading obsession of the book. In fact, I do believe I read this book in September... and a mere three months later, I fail to remember the details. This usually never happens to me. (Perhaps the tears of boredom made the words blurry to me - too blurry for me to remember...?)

With that said, I shall leave with the unanswerable question: since TSDOMMC won the 2007 RITA..... are the RITA awards rigged?

Think about it.

Julia Quinn: Mr. Cavendish, I Presume

Mr. Cavendish, I Presume: B
Amelia Willoughby & Thomas Cavendish

Amelia Willoughby has been engaged to the Duke of Wyndham for as long as she can remember. Literally. A mere six months old when the contracts were signed, she has spent the rest of her life waiting. And waiting. And waiting . . . for Thomas Cavendish, the oh-so-lofty duke, to finally get around to marrying her. But as she watches him from afar, she has a sneaking suspicion that he never thinks about her at all . . .

It's true. He doesn't. Thomas rather likes having a fiancée—all the better to keep the husband-hunters at bay—and he does intend to marry her . . . eventually. But just when he begins to realize that his bride might be something more than convenient, Thomas's world is rocked by the arrival of his long-lost cousin, who may or may not be the true Duke of Wyndham. And if Thomas is not the duke, then he's not engaged to Amelia. Which is the cruelest joke of all, because this arrogant and illustrious duke has made the mistake of falling in love . . . with his own fiancée! (amazon)

This highly anticipated novel from Julia Quinn satisfied, buuuuuut it could have been better.

I know, I'm a brat. (I almost said the other 'b' word. By 'other b word' I meant boob. LOL.) I whine about how the book takes forever to be released, how I have to wait at the library, how I want to read it RIGHT NOW, and then.. I read it and am cavalier about it.

What can I say?
I'm high maintenance.

Anyway, I don't think I loved this novel as much because it was taking in the same time as the first novel was. I knew this. But in all honesty, I read that novel months ago (okay, maybe one. I have notoriously awful memory.) and I couldn't really remember the specifics of what was happening.

So when sly glances were cast from Grace to Thomas to Jack to Amelia, I couldn't remember why. Why was Grace looking so flustered again? Did she kiss Jack? Did she have some special moment with Thomas? What what what?

And knowing that something was happening that had been explained before but being unable to remember what it was just sucked.

Also, there wasn't the element of surprise... not that I was expecting it, but at the same time, the book wasn't filled with newness as all new novels do. It was a little more disappointing than I would have assumed.

However, Thomas proved to be a very loyal hero.
And Amelia? Nothing spectacular. Something like, she's unique and somewhat witty and ...uh... she's pretty and hm, very cordial and...

I liked the scene where Thomas and Amelia were truly able to connect with each other (in the atlas room! Aw.)

I can't seem to remember why I can't really remember the ending/ epilogue of the story, so I'm thinking it didn't make a huge impression on me, other than the expected sighs of "aw, they got together!"

So. Read this. It's cute - I think. I don't remember crying tears of boredom.
But, as with most other Julia Quinn novels, it's-a nothing too extraordinary.

PS, atrocious cover. Slightly better than The Lost Duke of Wyndham but that's not saying much because the raptor-esque model on the cover frightened the heeby jeeby out of me.

Julia Quinn: The Lost Duke of Wyndham

The Lost Duke of Wyndham: A
Grace Eversleigh & Jack Cavendish-Audley

I had a really good time reading this one, which, in all honesty, was surprising to me. After the eight Bridgerton novels which ranged from great to not-so-great with the majority being in the slightly-less-than-average range (two great and the rest, I don’t really recall), I expected this one to be equally as average.

Plus the real model (Ewa da Cruz) on the cover mildly freaks me out. (I said it before, but she looks like a raptor.)

To my great surprise, Ms. Quinn introduces a really unique storyline with intriguing characters.

Grace Eversleigh is the companion to the dowager Duchess of Wyndham, a very crusty, cranky, viciously mean and very proper old woman. She acts like she doesn’t have a heart… and it is speculated that she just might not be in the possession of one. But Grace hasn’t had a choice; when her parents passed away and her slimy cousin came to the possession of her home, she was given the option of either marrying the slimebag or dealing with the crusty dowager.

She chooses the dowager.

It is on the way home from a ball (not a wedding, thank the heavens) that their coach is pulled over by highway men – a really handsome (Grace thinks he’s handsome from the bottom half of his masked face) and witty highwayman. To her surprise, he kisses her. On the lips! (Oh, how scandalous!) And then the dowager recognizes – and insists – that the highwayman is her long-lost grandson… and quite possibly the next Duke of Wyndham. This is a problem given that the Duke of Wyndham already exists.

The highwayman Jack Audley is brought to the Wyndham castle to solve the very fascinating mystery of who the real Duke of Wyndham is.

While Jack stays with Grace and the dowager duchess, he falls more and more for the real Grace – the witty and slightly sarcastic woman who keeps herself carefully masked for the dowager’s pleasure.

Now, I am normally not fond of fall-in-love-within-two-weeks type stories, but for some reason, I really liked this one. Ms. Quinn made it work and it clicked with me!

Reaaaaaad it. It’s gooooood.

I’m superbly excited for its sequel: Mr. Cavendish, I Presume. I want it now! Now! Now!

Cover talk

I have to tell you a secret: I'm a complete judger of books by their cover.

Maybe not so much with romance because romance novels have covers that are all relatively the same - bodice rippers; woman and man leaning in to each other about to kiss, but not really; no head but body + gown of woman...

And seeing that I've read romances for a good seven years, the covers come together and become a little blurry. The flower covers mean that they were published a long time ago, the books in the nineties were most commonly the bodice rippers, then there were the seductive-pose covers between male and female. Currently, the trend seems to be "clinch" covers (which sucks, by the way) and holograms with nifty shininess.

However, I was appropriately horrified when I saw the cover to Julia Quinn's next release - The Lost Duke of Wyndham.

Ew!!

Full, very realistic faces of male and female!

And it makes it worse that I don't find either to be very attractive; it's meddling with my creative visualization skills!

What's going on in the mind of the (presumed) heroine? She looks like a raptor! I'd be very scared if I was the dude with longish hair and ripped shirt.
I am fully aware that many authors have no say in their covers, and that one has to be a huge household author (James Patterson, Nora Roberts...) in order for their words to have any clout.

So, my question is: Publishers, what on earth were you thinking? The cover is neither romantic nor is it attractive. C'mon, people! Work with me here!