Romance

Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn


When I’m looking for a light read, I usually turn to Julia Quinn. Although some of her books are wonderful, I end up liking the idea of them more than the actual books most of the time.

Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn
(20111, Regency Historical)
Grade: 3.5

Honoria Smythe-Smith has known Marcus most of her life – he was her brother’s best friend – but they grew up and her brother had to leave the country, they haven’t spent much time together. But when Marcus needs her help, she finds that what she feels for him goes much deeper than friendship.

This started off very well – it had the typical Julia Quinn humor with interesting and fun characters. The first half of the book, with Honoria and Marcus discovering their feelings for each other, was both emotional and charming. The problems came in the last third of the book, when Honoria and Marcus go back to London. There isn’t any real reason keeping them apart, so the author throws in a misunderstanding, which doesn’t work very well. It just felt like the characters were repeating the same issue over and over. The plotline about the Smythe-Smith musical performance had some fun moments, but I found myself skimming near the end. Unfortunately, this book was just forgettable – not one of Quinn’s best.

On the positive side, I love the cover! One of the most disapponting things about the Kindle is that I can’t see the book covers – when I have some extra time, I’m going to try and hack my Kindle so I can see the book covers as screen savers. Even if they are in black and white, it’s better than the generic book covers that publishers are using for eBooks.

Karen Wheless

I've been reading romance since I discovered Kathleen Woodiwiss at age 12. I love all kinds of romances, especially emotional and angsty stories. I finally cut back my TBR pile from 2000 books to only 400, but I still have lots of books left to read!

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