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lurker_stalker's review
2.0
I wanted to like this book but I couldn't. The characters fall in love after about a minute. The constant internal debate of the main character was maddening and, honestly, I didn't like anyone in the book.
The chase and fighting scenes were the only thing that I enjoyed. This may have been able to be a pretty good short story with a lot of editing but, for me, it didn't work on any level.
The chase and fighting scenes were the only thing that I enjoyed. This may have been able to be a pretty good short story with a lot of editing but, for me, it didn't work on any level.
quillyreads's review
I just can’t vibe with it. It isn’t particularly well written. It has the potential for a bodice ripping romance but instead it’s a strange rushed beginning and then no further development. And not in a will they won’t they way.
hrjones's review
2.0
Mask of the Highwaywoman by Niamh Murphy aims to be a fast-paced romantic thriller punctuated not simply by double-crosses but triple and even quadruple crosses. It doesn’t successfully achieve that goal, unfortunately. Evelyn Thackeray is traveling to visit friends in advance of her upcoming marriage to a business associate of her widowed father when a band of highwaymen--and one highwaywoman--stops the coach she’s traveling in. Robbed of her money and a locket that Evelyn risked the anger of the highwaymen to try to keep, she’s now stranded penniless in a village, offering to work at an inn in exchange for a room for the night...and then Bess, the highwaywoman, climbs through her window out of the darkness.
The story uses a collection of popular highwayman story tropes: the soft-hearted thief, the keepsake stolen and then returned as an excuse to meet again, the sudden inexplicable attraction to an outlaw. It tries to add in the sort of off-balance, constant shifts of loyalty and reliability that make Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith such a roller coaster ride. But Murphy’s story never managed to make any of the scenarios plausible enough that it seemed reasonable to me for Evelyn to buy into them.
Evelyn and Bess’s relationship flips regularly between love at first sight and reflexive assumptions of betrayal the moment anything goes awry. Evelyn never seems to settle into a fixed character, but wavers between several personalities, none of them particularly likeable. Rather than a coherent plot, we get a sequence of dramatic emotional scenes linked by a repetitive string of chases and escapes. Much like a “Perils of Pauline” serial, every chapter seems to end with Evelyn either knocked unconscious, fainting, or metaphorically falling off a cliff.
A brief literary reference suggests that the story is set in the mid 18th century, which would have been hard to guess from the fairly generic descriptions of the countryside and everyday culture. There were various plot points that felt at odds with the setting, but it seems unfair to judge the story as serious history rather than an entertaining romp. I just wish it had been more entertaining.
The story uses a collection of popular highwayman story tropes: the soft-hearted thief, the keepsake stolen and then returned as an excuse to meet again, the sudden inexplicable attraction to an outlaw. It tries to add in the sort of off-balance, constant shifts of loyalty and reliability that make Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith such a roller coaster ride. But Murphy’s story never managed to make any of the scenarios plausible enough that it seemed reasonable to me for Evelyn to buy into them.
Evelyn and Bess’s relationship flips regularly between love at first sight and reflexive assumptions of betrayal the moment anything goes awry. Evelyn never seems to settle into a fixed character, but wavers between several personalities, none of them particularly likeable. Rather than a coherent plot, we get a sequence of dramatic emotional scenes linked by a repetitive string of chases and escapes. Much like a “Perils of Pauline” serial, every chapter seems to end with Evelyn either knocked unconscious, fainting, or metaphorically falling off a cliff.
A brief literary reference suggests that the story is set in the mid 18th century, which would have been hard to guess from the fairly generic descriptions of the countryside and everyday culture. There were various plot points that felt at odds with the setting, but it seems unfair to judge the story as serious history rather than an entertaining romp. I just wish it had been more entertaining.
bookishcapybara's review
2.0
This was...okay. I really wanted to like it more than I did, but the copy I received was full to bursting with errors that the most inept spell-check should have caught. Coupled with the constant, repetitive perceived betrayals and the heroine’s maddening flip-flopping trust issues, not to mention a distinct lack of the promised swashbuckling, it was just a disappointment.
heresthepencil's review
1.0
1.5 ☆
it reads more like a (boring) report than an actual novella & so it makes connecting to the characters or even just understanding their motifs absolutely impossible. plus the plot makes like..... no sense tbh
it's gay tho
it reads more like a (boring) report than an actual novella & so it makes connecting to the characters or even just understanding their motifs absolutely impossible. plus the plot makes like..... no sense tbh
it's gay tho
ebutton11's review
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
wreathedinviolets's review
4.0
A f/f story inspired by The Highwayman!! I came into this book with excitement and it lived up to my expectations. If I'm being picky, the ups and downs between the girls was a little whiplash-y but the happy ending outweighed any negativity. Ultimately, this is the good-feels historical romance we all need in our lives.
wickedregal's review
3.0
Okay so... I love this author's works but this one... well, not so much. It started out well enough and I thought, "this is going to be great, I'm loving this.". Then... it seemed to fall apart for me. It became overly convoluted and I was having a lot of wtf moments with it. I thought a couple of times if I should just quit it but then I was determined to get through it. Then it just became entertaining to me to see what crazy thing was going to happen next and just roll with it for what it was.
Again, I have loved quite a few of this author's other works so I will just chalk it up to the fact that they can't all be winners. :)
Again, I have loved quite a few of this author's other works so I will just chalk it up to the fact that they can't all be winners. :)
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