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A review by abbythompson
Un baiser diabolique by Liz Carlyle
3.0
It took me a while to figure out what bothered me about this book, but I think I finally put my finger on it. This is the first in the series where the characters changes aren't clearly motivated. Giles is a represeed political leader with no room in his life for anything else. Aubrey is a woman on the run, with dark secrets, who just wants to find some measure of safety and security for the child traveling with her. (Yeah, we've already seen Carlyle use that plot line before. See A Woman Scorned for another rendering of this theme.)
Aubrey's story was fine for me. I do think the conclusion came a little too late and was wrapped up awfully fast. It also seemed unlikely that NONE of the people from her past, who were so devoted to her then, tried to contact her at all to tell her things were safe. Anywho - tiny plot hole. Oh well.
What really kept me disconnected from this story was Giles. I really liked his character and how he was presented in the earlier books. His love for his "stepmother" was an interesting flaw. Giles' devotion to his political career, I thought, would provide ample opportunity to go interesting places with legal changes and challenges happening in London at the time. Perhaps Carlyle just didn't want to do the research, but once we are introduced to Giles and given a taste of what his job is like, he's shunted off to a crumbling castle in Somerset. Crumbling castle = romantic but uninteresting. Life of rising political star = interesting but unromantic.
Guess it's a good thing I'm taking a break from Carlyle for a while. I still love her characters and think her writing is top notch, but I think I've overdosed.
Aubrey's story was fine for me. I do think the conclusion came a little too late and was wrapped up awfully fast. It also seemed unlikely that NONE of the people from her past, who were so devoted to her then, tried to contact her at all to tell her things were safe. Anywho - tiny plot hole. Oh well.
What really kept me disconnected from this story was Giles. I really liked his character and how he was presented in the earlier books. His love for his "stepmother" was an interesting flaw. Giles' devotion to his political career, I thought, would provide ample opportunity to go interesting places with legal changes and challenges happening in London at the time. Perhaps Carlyle just didn't want to do the research, but once we are introduced to Giles and given a taste of what his job is like, he's shunted off to a crumbling castle in Somerset. Crumbling castle = romantic but uninteresting. Life of rising political star = interesting but unromantic.
Guess it's a good thing I'm taking a break from Carlyle for a while. I still love her characters and think her writing is top notch, but I think I've overdosed.