The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig

If I had to describe my perfect book, it would have these characteristics:

• A historical setting involving real historical figures with accurate detail
• A strong romance storyline
• Humor - both in dialog and circumstance
• A bit of mystery

 

This book has all of that, so why isn't it perfect?  I can't quite put my finger on it.  Maybe because it appears to have all of my elements on the surface, but it has too much of some and not enough of others...just not the right balance.

 

Let's start with the historical setting.  Yes, it's set in the past, so that qualifies.  There are some scenes with Napolean and some of his family members, but I'd like to have seen more interaction between them and the characters in the story.  I did love the portrayal of Josephine.  I've never read a book about her, so I need to fix that.

 

The romance storyline was strong, but c'mon....she goes by boat from England to France and without knowing his name or what he looks like, finds herself in the cabin with the exact guy she's looking for?  Really?  And then they are so in love with other but she doesn't recognize his voice when his face is covered with a mask?  I'm all for suspending disbelief...in fact, I love it...but that's just too much even for me.

 

I did enjoy the humor, although it ran a little to the cutesy side. And the mystery wrapped up very neatly.

 

So it was a solid good book that I enjoyed reading, but won't make my list of Top Ten reads at the end of the year.  I won't run out and acquire the next books in the series, but I'll pick them up if I stumble on them.  They would probably be good beach reads.