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The Secret History of the Pink Carnation Lauren Willig Books

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The Secret History of the Pink Carnation Lauren Willig Books

Entertaining as romance, but not as "historical" romance. The title alone will tell you that the author spent as little time on historical research as possible to write an enjoyably convincing story: at the time of this story, the color we now call "pink" was known as "rose" or "light red," and "pink" was just a small relative of a carnation. I'm not finished it yet, but I don't think my rating of the story will improve.
The narrator of the audio book has done a 5 star job and truly adds to my enjoyment of this novel.


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The Secret History of the Pink Carnation Lauren Willig Books Reviews

I am a fan of fluffy Regency fiction, and have recently discovered the "history mystery" genre. After racing through all of Tasha Alexander's books, devouring Ariana Franklin, starting Elizabeth Peters and in need of something light and fun, 's recommendations pointed me at Lauren Willig. I am so glad it did! I feel as though I have made new friends in The Pink Carnation. And to think that the Pink Carnation is actually . . . . HA, not going to let that secret out! You must read the book.

With scenes in Regency England and Napoleonic Paris, we are introduced to some of histories interesting characters, like Napoleon himself as well as his charming wife Josephine, and many of his dubious hangers-on. We also meet The Purple Gentian and even The Scarlet Pimpernel, two of the Crown's best spies. In a delightful romp through the intricacies of spying on Napoleon while maintaining a cover as an Englishperson just looking for fun in Paris, we meet the Selwicks and their friends.

Looking for historically accurate, edge of your seat drama? Look elsewhere. This is a great start to a "lounging in the bath with a box of chocolates" series. Spoil yourself. Try it!
I enjoyed a lot of this story and in other parts I was bored. You have to know it's a comical story, not serious at all. So it's full of ridiculous situations and even more ridiculous solutions to those situations. But it is a unique story for sure. The modern day girl is researching The Pink Carnation by reading old journals. So you have the story of the modern day character and her life as well as the story of what's inside those journals.
Really enjoyable historical chick lit. ( Be warned, though there is a VERY graphic sex scene that takes several pages (along with a shorter, not-quite sex scene that is slightly less excruciatingly detailed), and it is NOT suitable for young children. That being said, if you love The Scarlet Pimpernel or spies or historical fiction or romance, this is a fun book that doesn't require too much brainpower, but still manages to be clever. I just finished rereading it for the third time the other night, and I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time (although I had advance knowledge of the sex scene, at least).
after enjoying a few other titles by this author, I was disappointed. I kept imaging Lucille Ball as Amy. which took away from enjoying any credibility of story line. More a bodice ripper, less the interesting story line of other novels by Willig. I actually skimmed the last portion of the book due to predictably.
Not for me, so I ended up skimming. The historical characters seemed too modern and the contemporary characters didn't seem to matter. The fact the story was told through Amy's diary didn't make sense; like,how/why does it include Richard's pov.

Oh well. I have enjoyed other works by Willig, such as The Other Daughter and That Summer.
Originally I had rated this book as 4 stars, and I will confess to being one of "those reviewers" who reviewed before they had finished the entire book. I had gotten just over halfway through the book and thought I would leave my review...and then I kept reading.

SUMMARY
Amy Balcourt was trapped in England for 10 years when the wars in France made it impossible for her and her mother to return to their homeland. Now she is ready to return and assist the Purple Gentian, a spy who has frustrated Napoleon and his troops for years as he rescued countless nobility and foiled numerous plots, in stopping Napoleon from invading England and restore the monarchy. Her dreams center around the Purple Gentian, but enter Lord Richard Selwick, an antiquities director who works closely with Bonaparte and appears to have sold his soul to the enemy...or has he?

The story is interposed with flashbacks to present day as graduate student Eloise Kelly reads through letters, diaries, and other historical documents to uncover the identity of the Pink Carnation, another spy who aided the Purple Gentian in his daring capers and to this day has remained anonymous.

PROBLEMS

My biggest problem with the story is the sheer silliness of some parts of the plot. Some people might enjoy this, but it got distracting. A stern-face chaperon, Miss Gwen, pokes Napoleon Bonaparte in the ribs with her steel-tipped parasol during a ball in view of everyone in attendance. The Purple Gentian's family, including his mother and father, follow him to France to "help" stop the transport of gold for Napoleon. They also descend on Amy's house and proceed to act like twenty-first century characters and not at all like how a noble family would have acted back then in the presence of strangers.

As I said above some parts were funny, but some it went beyond the suspension of disbelief and to just stupid.

I noticed some people picked apart Richard's character, and while I did find him to be a little obsessed with Amy's figure overall I liked him. Amy was the one who drove me nuts. She was over-eager, made silly presumptions and nearly got herself assaulted because she was constantly rushing into situations and trying to take over spy missions like it was all a fun game.

The other scene that really bothered me was when Amy and the Purple Gentian are in a boat, mind you with a boatman, outside, and they just start making out...and feeling each other up...and things go a little bit further than that...

Um, ew? I like romance novels, but getting felt up with a boatman two feet away watching is just creepy. Throw in multiple references to both main characters giving in to their "inner eleven year-old, seven year-old, five year-old" and the romance scenes just got creepier.

If you can get it at the library or discounted then I would suggest it if you like romance novels, especially if you're a fan of authors like Stephanie Laurens, Sabrina Jeffries, Lynsay Sands, etc. I would not get it if you're looking for a well-researched piece of fiction about the Napoleonic wars.
Entertaining as romance, but not as "historical" romance. The title alone will tell you that the author spent as little time on historical research as possible to write an enjoyably convincing story at the time of this story, the color we now call "pink" was known as "rose" or "light red," and "pink" was just a small relative of a carnation. I'm not finished it yet, but I don't think my rating of the story will improve.
The narrator of the audio book has done a 5 star job and truly adds to my enjoyment of this novel.