Don't be fooled by the cover: this book is a romance novel pretending to be historical fiction. I was completely shocked when the first sex scene started (in a small boat on a river which was currently being rowed by someone else! I kept thinking I had missed something and the rower had left the boat, but no). Along with the requisite sex, there are also the requisite shallow protagonists. I kept thinking there must be more to the characters (because I was duped by the cover!), but they really a...

AMAZING.....BLOODY HILARIOUS.....SMART....WITH THE PERFECT AMOUNT OF SMUT, MAKING THIS BOOK A DEFINATE KEEPER...I ADORED this book... The author had me sold on the rest of the series and any of her future contributions to the book addict cause, within the few pages of the prologue.. A combination of Julia Quinn's wit, and C.S. Harris and Deanna Raybourn's sleuth story talent all rolled up with what is obviously, and originally 100% Lauren Willig...The characters we're real, perfectly flawed and

I really enjoyed this book. It was humorous and cute. This book follows Amy, a wannabe spy adventurer, who tries to join The Purple Gentian's spy network against France shortly after the French Revolution. Of course nothing goes smoothly for the slightly dizzy heroine. The author combines historical fiction with fun chick lit, mostly focusing on Amy's romance with the Purple Gentian. I like both types of work so I enjoyed the combination.I read some reviews of this book on Amazon and found peopl...

Good storyAs most people know, I'm not a big historical fan but I did enjoy this book. I may continue with the voters in this series to find out what else happens.

Choosing a light read is a tricky business. It's like icing on a cake - too little, and all you have is cake; too much, and you're overwhelmed with fluff and sugar. I picked up this book because I wanted to read something with no murders in it, and besides, Napoleonic spy capers with women! Fun stuff! Surely this was the right amount of icing. I was even willing to overlook the fact that the contemporary heroine, Eloise, was the type that knew what brand her boots were and just had to mention it...

a) Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis) b) Pink Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus) a) Purple Gentian (Gentiana verna)d) Pink Champagne! ☺a) b) [image error]c) d)[image error]★★★★✩ This is a review of the audiobook, narrated by Kate Reading, who did a wonderful job on this charming intro to the Pink Carnation series. I cannot recall hearing her before; but, luckily she reads the rest of the audio series as well, so I certainly look forward to listening to her.I guess you could call this one an

Cait suggested rereading these maybe and it was a GREAT idea, because it was exactly the level of engagement my brain wanted. This book has always been a hard one to evaluate for me because it's the book where Willig thought she was writing a historical romance vs what she was actually writing, which was basically women's historical fiction. You particularly see that on the back half of the novel, imo, which is where the book falls apart a bit for me--I had been reading along thinking I am usual...

This book is hard to categorize, but it's a lot of fun. Eloise Kelly is a klutzy, directionally challenged graduate student in history (not like anybody I know) who is trying to discover the identity of the Pink Carnation, a spy in the mode of the Scarlet Pimpernel. The key, she believes, may lie in Selwick Hall, the estate of another aristocratic spy, the Purple Gentian, aka Richard Selwick. When Mrs. Selwick-Alderly grants her access to a box full of family papers, letters and journals dating

Bored, bored, bored! 25%

This is what I get for being lulled into a false sense of security by a nice cover and an interesting premise. This book promised to be a historical fiction with a bit of mystery thrown in. Instead, it turned out to be a banal bodice-ripping generically bad Regency romance novel. I could deal with the fact that the “modern” parts of the book were completely unnecessary. I could even deal with the fact that the way people spoke/acted in the 19th century parts and the modern parts were exactly the...

I would rather like my two hours back that I spent on this book. It's not that it was bad, rather, it had an intriguing premise, but the past/future aspects were poorly merged, the part of the story set in present day was absolutely unsatisfying and the Georgian smut felt out of place, perhaps because of the highly formal nature she tried to give the characters.The lesson to be learned there is you can't do Pride and Prejudice with an R rating.

I was bitterly disappointed in this book. Given the quality hard cover, the lovely cover art and the blurb, I was expecting something that strives to be Heyer or Austen. I would have been happy with something that fell along the lines of Tasha Alexander or Deanna Raybourne. Heck, I would counted myself lucky if the book had been vaguely reminiscent of Mary Balogh or Julia Quinn. Instead I got something that fell far short of all of those.Instead of sparkling wit of Heyer and the mannered prose o...

This book was crap. It was just complete and total crap. The thing that made me the most angry is that at the back of the book the author has a "historical note" where she talks about this garbage in light of its place in the "historical fiction" genre. Oh. My. Gosh. THERE WAS NOTHING HISTORICAL ABOUT IT! The Scarlet Letter is historical fiction. Cold Mountain is historical fiction. This, as I have already said, is crap. Mentioning Napoleon and the year 1803 does not make a book historical ficti...

I feel like I just entered the most interesting florist shop in London. I am surrounded by flowers….the Scarlet Pimpernel, the Purple Gentian, and of course the Pink Carnation….but wait I’m in a book! What the deuce are all these flowers doing in a book?? Granted…it’s decidedly less fragrant in the book than in a florist shop but till what the deuce is going on here? Oh wait….I know, I am reading Lauren Willig’s novel The Secret History of the Pink Carnation!This book is absolutely brilliant and...