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Publisher:
Jove
Release Date:
March 27, 2007
Genres:
Paranormal Romance Historical Romance Suspense
ISBN:
Print
9780515142808
Kindle
No
ISBN
Bookmark Rating:
Reviewed by
Jennifer Ray
Review Posted:
April 2008
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Upon her
parents’ death and the resulting financial devastation to her family, it is up
to the inimitable Venetia Milton to support her younger siblings and her aunt,
else they become destitute. Forging a career as a much sought after
photographer in a time when women rarely hold jobs in male dominated
professions, Venetia finally manages to obtain a job that will secure her
family’s fiscal well-being for some time, even allowing an advantageous move to
London.
Knowing a widow will be better received in Polite Society than an unmarried
woman, she invents a late husband, adopting the last name of Gabriel Jones, the
man who showed her one night of passion before his untimely demise. The plot
succeeds better than she ever expected, and soon she is the toast of the town,
an acclaimed photographer in high demand by the most fashionable names in
London’s elite society.
But the unexpected rival of the very much alive Mr. Jones on her doorstep
threatens her carefully laid plans, while the danger that follows him threatens
her very life!
This is
the first book from Amanda Quick I have yet read. I was quite excited to read a
book by this much lauded author, and the plot for
Second Sight struck me as
a story well aligned with my reading tastes. With a blend of the paranormal
romance amidst a Victorian era setting, it is the kind of tale that I would
normally find myself riveted to.
The plot was indeed well done, with some very intriguing ‘whodunit’ twists and a
suspenseful story that keeps the reader guessing until the end of the book.
Where the book missed, in my opinion, was in the character development. The
prologue to the story starred the hero and another male character, and neither
intrigued me throughout the prologue. In fact, I could not discern which of the
two men was the hero.
The first chapter introduced the heroine of the piece, Venetia Milton/Jones, and
it is her character that the reader can empathize with first. Through her eyes,
we are reintroduced to the hero, Gabriel Jones, and become more interested in
this character as well. Both are likable, attractive people, and I genuinely
wanted to see them together, but found my excitement for the match dampened by
the consistent formality between the pair, even while in the throes of passion.
There was almost no real character development for the cast of supporting
characters, including Venetia’s family, who are present in many scenes.
Throughout the first half of the book, these characters remained largely one
dimensional, only becoming slightly more interesting in the second half of the
book as we saw a bit more of their personalities. Still, having finished the
book, I cannot tell you much about something so minor as Venetia’s family’s
physical descriptions, beyond that her sister is 16 years of age and her brother
is somewhat younger.
With the lack of character development, I felt disconnected to these characters
and the story. I could have put the book down at any time and not wondered
again what had happened to them.
Since reading Amanda Quick’s Second
Sight, I have discussed my impressions with friends who have also
read her work, and they have found the same issues with newer books that I
experienced in this one. Based on their opinions of her earlier works, I would
like to give one of her older stories a read, as I understand those books did
not suffer from the same lack of character development. If the characters are
as well-fleshed in the older books as the mystery was in this one, they will be
worth giving this author a second chance.
Note: This review was originally
written by Jennifer Ray for another review site. It is being reposted at
Wild on Books. |
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