Review: My Fair Princess by Vanessa Kelly
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Review: My Fair Princess by Vanessa Kelly
* Regency romance
Dazzlingly beautiful.
Synopsis:
“Despite being the illegitimate daughter of a prince, Gillian Dryden is happily ignorant of all social graces. After growing up wild in Italy, Gillian has been ordered home to England to find a suitable husband. And Charles Valentine Penley, the excessively proper, distractingly handsome Duke of Leverton, has agreed to help transform her from a willful tomboy to a blushing debutante.
Powerful and sophisticated, Charles can make or break reputations with a well-placed word. But his new protégée, with her habit of hunting bandits and punching earls, is a walking scandal. The ton is aghast . . . but Charles is thoroughly intrigued. Tasked with taking the hoyden in hand, he longs to take her in his arms instead. Can such an outrageous attraction possibly lead to a fairytale ending?”
Rating: 5/5
Thoughts:
Ahh…
I’ve not a clue where to begin.
Usually I write a review immediately after I finish reading a book. Sometimes it doesn’t work, as in the case of In the After (among other books). And I finished My Fair Princess in the middle of the night, but in the morning I’m still unable to write a proper review.
Yes, it has flaws: the overly-sentimental Contessa di Paterini, the tiniest bit of inconclusive openness at the end, a certain extreme consistency in the characters, and a few other very detailed things that only an overly critical me would be able to pick out. But it’s simply so beautiful. Breathtaking.
I didn’t cry, but I laughed. A LOT. I probably should understand that most people wouldn’t think this way, but being a cynical and aggressive person when away from the Internet has led me to understand the characters and the story in general fairly well.
A consistent reading of my reviews can lead anyone to conclude that I say this quite often with both historical and contemporary romance, but this time, I am certain that this is the best hist-rom that I have ever read.
And now I’m laughing at myself for coming up with this horrid phrase: It’s “perfect as Penley”. Only that Penley is far from perfect (or is he?), but then again, what does that matter in the context of the book and this review…?
Sorry about the rambling. I couldn’t come up with several more paragraphs that properly elabourate on the “dazzlingly beautiful” above. And I know that those two words themselves seldom suit one another, but the book is both.
I’m extremely surprised to note that I seldom compare books to musical compositions, seeing as I am a musician, and I compare practically every other earthly (and otherwise) thing to a piece of music. So why not start now?
In many ways, I must conclude, My Fair Princess resembles Felix Mendelssohn’s radiant Octet for Strings in E-flat Major, as I call it. I could, of course, go on and on about the piece – it’s one of my shadowed favourites. But shall we just say…? It is one of the most brilliantly enchanting near-perfect works of its time.
Yes, that’s a misquotation of praise of yet another stroke of musical genius, but that’s a story for another time.
Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from Tasty Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.
Dazzlingly beautiful.
Synopsis:
“Despite being the illegitimate daughter of a prince, Gillian Dryden is happily ignorant of all social graces. After growing up wild in Italy, Gillian has been ordered home to England to find a suitable husband. And Charles Valentine Penley, the excessively proper, distractingly handsome Duke of Leverton, has agreed to help transform her from a willful tomboy to a blushing debutante.
Powerful and sophisticated, Charles can make or break reputations with a well-placed word. But his new protégée, with her habit of hunting bandits and punching earls, is a walking scandal. The ton is aghast . . . but Charles is thoroughly intrigued. Tasked with taking the hoyden in hand, he longs to take her in his arms instead. Can such an outrageous attraction possibly lead to a fairytale ending?”
Rating: 5/5
Thoughts:
Ahh…
I’ve not a clue where to begin.
Usually I write a review immediately after I finish reading a book. Sometimes it doesn’t work, as in the case of In the After (among other books). And I finished My Fair Princess in the middle of the night, but in the morning I’m still unable to write a proper review.
Yes, it has flaws: the overly-sentimental Contessa di Paterini, the tiniest bit of inconclusive openness at the end, a certain extreme consistency in the characters, and a few other very detailed things that only an overly critical me would be able to pick out. But it’s simply so beautiful. Breathtaking.
I didn’t cry, but I laughed. A LOT. I probably should understand that most people wouldn’t think this way, but being a cynical and aggressive person when away from the Internet has led me to understand the characters and the story in general fairly well.
A consistent reading of my reviews can lead anyone to conclude that I say this quite often with both historical and contemporary romance, but this time, I am certain that this is the best hist-rom that I have ever read.
And now I’m laughing at myself for coming up with this horrid phrase: It’s “perfect as Penley”. Only that Penley is far from perfect (or is he?), but then again, what does that matter in the context of the book and this review…?
Sorry about the rambling. I couldn’t come up with several more paragraphs that properly elabourate on the “dazzlingly beautiful” above. And I know that those two words themselves seldom suit one another, but the book is both.
I’m extremely surprised to note that I seldom compare books to musical compositions, seeing as I am a musician, and I compare practically every other earthly (and otherwise) thing to a piece of music. So why not start now?
In many ways, I must conclude, My Fair Princess resembles Felix Mendelssohn’s radiant Octet for Strings in E-flat Major, as I call it. I could, of course, go on and on about the piece – it’s one of my shadowed favourites. But shall we just say…? It is one of the most brilliantly enchanting near-perfect works of its time.
Yes, that’s a misquotation of praise of yet another stroke of musical genius, but that’s a story for another time.
Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from Tasty Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.
