Review: The Masque of the Black Tulip (Pink Carnation #2) by Lauren Willig

If the Pink Carnation left you feeling a little wilted and longing to drink in the next flowery caped crusader….look no further, Lauren Willig’s The Masque of the Black Tulip, is sure to quench any lingering thirst readers had!

Ravishing and bewitching, the whole Regency era upper-class turned spies with cute horticultural names thing is a force to be reckoned with…these books are simply amazing. I am reading them as part of the Regency & Victorian Reads Challenge over at the Royal Review’s blog.

As I was about thirty or so pages out from finishing the first book, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, I had to stop myself, get out of bed, put on something other than PJ’s, and make a quick trip across town (in the rain and cold) to find the next book in the series….as CLEARLY waiting a day or two to pick up the next book was not an option.

At the time this sounded like a capitol idea….though now that I think about it, I could easily have ordered the next book on my iPad with one click ordering but at the time that concept did not compute! Continue reading “Review: The Masque of the Black Tulip (Pink Carnation #2) by Lauren Willig”

Review: The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (Pink Carnation #1) by Lauren Willig

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 still–what the deuce is going on here? Oh wait….I am reading Lauren Willig’s novel The Secret History of the Pink Carnation!

Pink Carnation is just the beginning of the flowery Regency era series. We begin with Amy, born in France she and her mother flee the French Revolution across the Channel to England were Amy’s mother has relations. Amy dreams of the day she can avenge her father who was a victim to the bloody guillotine.

Growing up with tales of upper crust spies…mainly the Scarlet Pimpernel….Amy longs to join his ranks and become an indispensable aide to the Scarlet Pimpernel while avenging her family. But one problem….the Scarlet Pimpernel has now retired.  Continue reading “Review: The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (Pink Carnation #1) by Lauren Willig”

Review: The Mischief of the Mistletoe (Pink Carnation #7) by Lauren Willig

Tis the season for purloined pudding! Christmas pudding, bonnets, love, and mystery are all literary in the air in Lauren Willig’s book The Mischief of the Mistletoe. This book is #4.2 in Willig’s wildly popular Pink Carnation series.

I saw this book advertised on Goodreads a few weeks ago and fell in love with the cover and….suddenly I had to read it! So I picked up a copy and then I saw the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge hosted by  the True Book Addict and suddenly I couldn’t wait for it to be Christmas season so I could read this book! Biding my time, I started the book the day the challenge started and finished the book like 2 days later!

I have never read any of these books but heard LOADS about them from friends and of course my sister. I have always wondered why I hadn’t read any of them because they seem like books I would devour! I supposed somewhere between all the epic series I have ben reading over the last couple of years….I guess I just missed this one, and that my friends is my biggest regret! This is a charming, enchanting, and above all….a captivating series. Continue reading “Review: The Mischief of the Mistletoe (Pink Carnation #7) by Lauren Willig”

Review: The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks

I think I must be the only girl on earth who hasn’t seen The Notebook. I am just not into Nicholas Sparks, and I had no interest in watching The Notebook let alone reading a Nicholas Sparks novel. However, at the behest of one of my friends, I decided to cave and read ONE Sparks novel.

I picked The Wedding.

Now, in general I too fancy myself a jaded cynic so Nicholas Sparks has never really had any appeal to me what-so-ever….he seems a little too over the top sappy.

Romance as a genre in general has never been one that I am particularly into though I do like Para-Romance books (I’ll swoon for Eric Northman any day!)….I just don’t understand the draw for romance novels like those by Sparks, and I REALLY don’t understand the draw for books like Danielle Steele, or some of the harlequin romance novels….though I am willing to give Sparks a shot.

Half way through the book, I felt a little lost, like I was missing a huge piece which made me kind of drag my feet reading it. There were references to various characters and past stories that I just felt like I wasn’t getting.  I confessed I had no idea what was going on! Continue reading “Review: The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks”