Splendid by Julia Quinn

Some Gingers Have All The Fun

Emma is a feisty American shipping heiress sent to live in London for a year. To...well I'm not quite sure what for exactly since it isn't explained well. But lets just assume the usual social polishing and marriage mart suspects. What’s a heroine to do to avert boredom? Find her way into all sorts of silly, dangerous mischief of course. Duh.

The Couple: Emma Dunster and Alexander Ridgely

The Setting: My Mom's Physician's waiting room

The Challenge: Can Emma stop fighting feelin' and fight for his love? Can Alex over come his fears like a big boy and start playing for keeps? Can I ignore the toothless old man making kissy noises at me? Next time on The Young and The Restless. lol

Alexander Ridgely, the Duke of Ashbourne, is determined to avoid marriage. Unfortunately, his family is just as determined to see him wed. Emma Dunster, in London for a season, is determined to return to Boston to run her father's shipping company. But Emma's British cousins are just as determined to see her settle in England. Sparks— and laughter — fly when all these terribly determined people cross paths during one very splendid London spring

.

Disguised as a maid Emma takes a jaunt to the market virtue be damned and stumbles into A.Ridge's clutches . Alex falls  in instant lust with the sassy mouth violet eyed chit. His determination to bed her doesn't diminish, upon discovering  her true identity. Though he cares for Emma; great sex is all there can ever be between them since "all women are greedy bitches" (and he's not the one to mess with, etc etc). Due to  nursing an unrealistic dream of taking over her fathers shipping business,  Emma has no interest in being wooed. And so begins the chase; complete with matchmaking mommas, interfering society matrons, and vile plots afoot. At the center of which our couple stages a intricate dance of chemistry and propriety…advance and repeat.

Transparency in historical romance isn’t the  greatest of evils. The witty banter was "alright" as was the light tone of the writing. The tale just wasn't original in any sense. The plot, setting, cast of characters, even conflicts; while quaint weren't memorable. Overall Emma and Alex's story was predictable and mildly entertaining. But there are far worse ways to spend 1-2 hrs on a rainy day at the doctors office = ).

 Bookslut Highlights:

• Dressing up as “the help” for kicks
• Rakes a-wooing
• Hints the paper cut out villain plot may be milked again in this series *yawn*.
• Naughty picnics
• Cat Burgling
• Indiana Jones Carriage stunts
• The threat of “ruin-ated” at every turn *dunh dunh dunh DUNH
• Under the table kung fu fighting
• This is Mz. Quinn’s first book, therefore the first brick laid in the empire of Awesome.

Grade:

Liked the premise of this book but aspects of its execution were WEAK. Enjoyed it enough to continue riding the series/author out at my own leisurely pace. Beyond the hype, this book is fine for a fluffy, generic read and has more of a library rental/swap quality rather than a keeper for my personal bookshelf.

Around The Net:

KatyBear 3/5 stars