Saturday, December 31, 2011

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation / Lauren Willig / 388 pages




This was a fun romance novel set in 1805 in France when Napoleon was in power. It is not heavy on history or accurate details, but has great banter between Amy and Richard (the purple gentian). If you like a fun romance set in a time period, this one is good. If details bother you such as Amy entering a secret, closed off room without a candle and being able to see (it would be dark), then this book will drive you crazy.


It was the author's first book and apparently sold well enough as she has several sequels. I listened to the audio of this and it was quite interesting and I love English and French accents. (a couple parts you don't really want to hear in company--it is a romance)


She did use the device of having a present day character who is a graduate student researching the material behind the "pink carnation". This did not really work for me. It was a parallel story which was unrealistic (she is just allowed to take the historical letters that should be archived to her apartment to read by the lady she has just met) and the parallel will be no doubt a romance with a descendent of Richard Selwick. I would have rather just had a straight novel about the purple gentian and pink carnation and those historical romance characters. On the whole, interesting book.

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