Joyce, Lydia - The Music of the Night
Fri, May. 2nd, 2008 10:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterSarah Connolly, formerly Sally from Voices of the Night, is now a respectable ladies' companion. Unfortunately, while her employers are visiting Venice, Sebastian Grimsthorpe, Earl of Wortham mistakes her for someone else and uses her to get his revenge on someone in her employer's household.
Despite the extremely skanky set-up, I actually liked Sarah and Sebastian as a couple a lot, largely because Sebastian is one of the more sympathetic of Joyce's heroes (I would say most, save for his extremely stupid revenge plot). Plus, he gives her things that he thinks will make her happy, as opposed to trying to manipulate her to do whatever!
Sadly, possibly because of this, the middle section didn't have nearly as much tension and also isn't quite as sexy, though there is body calligraphy (sadly, despite liking body calligraphy, I found myself thinking "ouch" more than "oooo").
Also, like all of Joyce's other books, while I liked the characters a lot, the ending goes straight from believable characters who actually talk to each other into insane plot territory. Alas, it is not Yuki Kaori or Laura Kinsale type insane plot, but merely the type that makes the reader think, "Huh? Where did that come from?" and "Wow, I completely don't believe that."
Also also, more negative points for the miracle pregnancy in the epilogue (so not a spoiler, given the genre).
Still, I like Sarah and Sebastian, and I giggled a little at the Phantom of the Opera call outs.
Despite the extremely skanky set-up, I actually liked Sarah and Sebastian as a couple a lot, largely because Sebastian is one of the more sympathetic of Joyce's heroes (I would say most, save for his extremely stupid revenge plot). Plus, he gives her things that he thinks will make her happy, as opposed to trying to manipulate her to do whatever!
Sadly, possibly because of this, the middle section didn't have nearly as much tension and also isn't quite as sexy, though there is body calligraphy (sadly, despite liking body calligraphy, I found myself thinking "ouch" more than "oooo").
Also, like all of Joyce's other books, while I liked the characters a lot, the ending goes straight from believable characters who actually talk to each other into insane plot territory. Alas, it is not Yuki Kaori or Laura Kinsale type insane plot, but merely the type that makes the reader think, "Huh? Where did that come from?" and "Wow, I completely don't believe that."
Also also, more negative points for the miracle pregnancy in the epilogue (so not a spoiler, given the genre).
Still, I like Sarah and Sebastian, and I giggled a little at the Phantom of the Opera call outs.
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