Category: Victorian Era (1837-1901)

In the history of the United Kingdom, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria’s reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian period, and its later half overlaps with the first part of the Belle Époque era of continental Europe.
Preceded by: Regency era
Followed by: Edwardian era
Monarch: Victoria

The Lady is Daring by Megan Frampton

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)6 Comments

The Lady is Daring (Duke's Daughters, #3)The Lady is Daring by Megan Frampton

Barbara’s rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: Duke’s Daughters #3
Publication Date: 9/25/18

Megan Frampton is normally one of my favorite reads. I enjoyed this story, but it was mostly because of the humor of the ‘classification game’, etc. Otherwise, I thought it was a bit slow and I never came to feel involved with the heroine because I didn’t like her or relate to her. I liked the hero much better, but I found him to be more milquetoast than hero. I think the author was trying very hard to put modern standards in period dress without seeming to do so. My rating is a 3.5, but I have had a hard time deciding whether to round down to 3 or up to 4, so I guess I’ll decide once I have the review written.

Lady Ida Howlett has inattentive, uncaring and uninvolved parents. Ida is highly intelligent and loves learning – and she has no problem sharing her knowledge ad-nauseam with others. She is the youngest of five sisters. Two sisters are happily in love and married, two live at home and one, Della, has run away and they don’t know where she is. It is Ida’s dearest wish to locate Della and bring her back to London.

Bennett is the son and heir to a marquess, but he might as well be the marquess because he is the one who takes care of everything while his father is off living the high-life and spending money right and left. Bennett is a person who takes care of others – always – and before himself. Sometimes, he’d just like to chuck all of the responsibilities and run away – maybe have an adventure.

Something Bennett NEVER does is get drunk – but, he has gotten drunk tonight and has fallen asleep in someone’s carriage. The door was open and he was sleepy so he crawled in. Now, imagine his shock to awaken and find himself in a moving carriage. He repeatedly wraps on the carriage roof and finally, the carriage comes to a stop. Shock! He is several hours outside of London and the carriage is being driven by Lady Ida who has stolen the carriage and is on her way to find her sister. Since Bennett cannot let her travel alone, they set off together on an adventure. I think the book could have profited from a bit more ‘adventure’ during this part of the story, but it was a pretty staid trip.

So, as I said, I enjoyed the humor in the story but wasn’t impressed by much more. Here are some of the things that bothered me:
(1) This one really aggravated me after a while. The constant, incessant, repeated references to how smart Ida was. It was as if nobody else in the world had a brain – only Ida.
(2) Ida’s ‘brilliant’ solution for her NOT being ruined when they returned to London. It was absolutely bonkers. She had spent a week traveling totally alone with a man who was not her husband and bringing her sister back with her was going to keep her from being ruined. What?????
(3) The relationship between Ida and Bennett was just too modern. It just wouldn’t have happened that way in that time period. If you want that, then write a more modern story rather than writing a modern story and draping it in period dress.
(4) Bennett’s role in the House of Lords was mentioned a couple of times. Well – he was an heir and would NOT have been in the House of Lords. His father would be the one in the House of Lords. Doesn’t matter who is running the Marquisate, ONLY the title holder can serve in the House of Lords.
(5) Bennett’s solution to how he was going to cut back on his duties and his reaction to his father’s objections were ridiculous. Of course, his father could take over the running of the Marquisate – he is the Marquess after all. It doesn’t matter that Bennett has been running things and signing everything – he still isn’t the Marquess.
(6) The wedding vows. I’m certainly not an expert here, but I don’t believe that, in that time period, they would have been allowed the change the vows. I believe those were dictated by the Church of England.
(7) It was hard to get a feel for a timeline since few if any, dates or periods were given in the book. Even the epilogue didn’t tell us how long after the marriage it took place. Of course, I guess that is one way to eliminate timeline errors – just don’t have one.
(8) The Epilogue. I love epilogues and think every romance should have one. However, I didn’t see any point in having this epilogue at all other than to – maybe – set up the idea that Della will be the heroine in the next book.

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“I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”

Dark Tide Rising by Anne Perry

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Dark Tide Rising (William Monk #24)Dark Tide Rising by Anne Perry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: William Monk #24
Publication Date: 9/18/18

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

This mystery was filled with twists, turns, betrayals, and gruesome murders. The writing is excellent, as always, but the story seemed to drag a bit at times with repetitions of various aspects of the story. I enjoyed the story, but I missed the old Monk, this one seemed a bit old, tired and melancholy and not nearly as sharp as he used to be. I really love the stories when Hester and Scuff help Monk, but this time Scuff didn’t get more than an honorable mention and Hester’s input was to be home cooking dinner when Monk finally arrived home. From Monk’s demeanor throughout the entire book, it would not have surprised me to read Monk’s announcement that he was retiring and moving to the Cotswolds at the end of the book.

Sir Oliver Rathbone is an attorney and a good friend to William Monk – probably his best friend. When Rathbone arrives at Monk’s house one evening and tells him the story of Harry Exeter and his missing wife, Kate, Monk immediately agrees to help. Kate has been kidnapped and the kidnappers have demanded a huge ransom to be delivered to a very dangerous place – Jacob’s Island. Jacob’s Island is not really an island, but a place that the river is reclaiming – it is filled with buildings that are being sucked down into the mud and muck of the river and pathways are constantly changing as walls collapse, etc. Exeter asks Monk and the River Police to help him drop the ransom because he has no idea how to get through the island to the drop point. Monk immediately identifies with Exeter’s terror for his wife because Monk’s wife Hester was once kidnapped.

Kate Exeter was out for a walk with her cousin, Celia Darwin, who is also her best friend. They are having a lovely walk along the shore of the river when Kate is approached by a gentleman Celia doesn’t know. Celia doesn’t want to seem to be eavesdropping on the conversation, so she moves away slightly – then a group of people walks between them – and then – Kate is gone.

Monk, Exeter and five of Monk’s best River Policemen plan to deliver the ransom – exactly according to the instructions. Exeter is adamant – he doesn’t care about the money, he wants his wife back. Then, everything goes horribly, horribly wrong. The team is attacked and Kate is viciously murdered. What happened? They were doing exactly as asked – why murder Kate? Is there a traitor among the team who provided details of their movements to the kidnappers? Monk absolutely can’t believe that – but it must be true – how else would the kidnappers have known where each one of the team was stationed? Add two more murders into the mix and you have a really dastardly villain.

I was sure about who the villain was early on, but I also knew the author would throw some kinks into the story to make me doubt myself. There were a number of leads to follow and a few red herrings along the way. I loved that Runcorn took on a part of the investigation, but hated that he was more astute and less wrung out than Monk was.

The end seemed a little contrived and a bit abrupt, but finally, justice was served.

Please check out my reviews at:
Blog: https://flippinpages.blog/
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/FlippinPagesRev
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BarbBookReview

“I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”