"I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing." ~ Dame Agatha Christie



Monday, January 17, 2011

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation

Just read my second historical of 2011 for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge and the first of the Lauren Willig Reading Challenge I mentioned a few posts back.  Please don't try to categorize this book because it is a blend of different genres: swashbuckling adventure meets romance meets intrigue meets comedy meets chick-lit...man, what a ride!

It doesn't seem on first glance that the concept would work--a main character researching the past and reading the reference material she reads--but it does work and on a delightful level.  I try never to post spoilers when reviewing a book and I won't start now, but suffice it to say, I was reading along and seeing Errol Flynn and Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland meeting Natalie Portman and Emma Watson and Meryl Streep.

I'm not a big fan of chick-lit so I had hesitated reading this when a few friends had given the book short shrift.  They were SO wrong--once the actual historical portion began, I was in for a wonderful read.  I laughed and cried and giggled and bit my lip--this was just the kind of rollicking escape from reality I needed right now and I am so glad I have the second in the series sitting on the shelf, because I am starting "The Masque of the Black Tulip" tonight!

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