When Honoria Smythe-Smith's older brother, Daniel, was
driven out of the country, lest he lose his life, she found
herself with a bit of a problem. Though she's of a marrying
age, Honoria's mother has yet to recover from the scandal
her brother caused, and has been remiss in finding a groom
for her. So like any enterprising lady desperate to have her
hand taken in marriage, Honoria did the only thing she could
think of-- she started her own search for a groom. As a
bonus, if she gets married, she'll no longer be forced to
humiliate herself at the yearly Smythe-Smith musical
recitals. A violinist she is not. Now if only her brother's
best friend, Marcus Holroyd, the Earl of Chatteris, would
quit ruining all her good intentions.
Before Honoria's brother fled the country, he made Marcus
promise to watch over his little sister and to not let her
marry an idiot. Though Marcus isn't one for the ton and
typically shuns society events, he gives Daniel his word to
watch over Honoria. When one of Honoria's scheme's to get
noticed by the gentlemen at a house party backfires, it's
Marcus who ends up hurting himself. With Honoria nursing him
back to health, Marcus soon realizes there's more to her
than the little pest that used to follow Daniel and him
around. Now it's up to Marcus to get over his insecurities
and convince Honoria he's the man for her, before he loses
her to someone else.
Julia Quinn kicks off her new series, featuring the
Smythe-Smiths with Honoria, a very bad violinist. JUST LIKE
HEAVEN is set somewhere in between Ms. Quinn's Bridgerton
books, where some of the Bridgeron's are married and some
are still in the marriage mart game. Though Ms. Quinn
tantalizes with new snippets of the family that made her a
NY Times best selling author, she couldn't quite re-create
the magic of her Bridgerton series. Not to say JUST LIKE
HEAVEN isn't worth a read. Marcus and Honoria are
entertaining and learning more about the Smythe-Smiths (who
happen to actually know how horribly they play-for the most
part) is interesting in itself. Especially since their
horrible musical recitals have played such a huge part in
Ms. Quinn's previous books. Not to mention the return of one
of my favorite all time characters, Lady Danbury. Just
having her character appear makes this book a must read.
Anyone looking for a delightfully light-hearted romantic
comedy will not be disappointed with this book.
HONORIA SMYTHE-SMITH IS:
A) a really bad violinist
B) still miffed at being nicknamed "Bug" as a child
C) NOT in love with her older brother's best friend
D) All of the above
MARCUS HOLROYD IS:
A) the Earl of Chatteris
B) regrettably prone to sprained ankles
C) NOT in love with his best friend's younger sister
D) All of the above
TOGETHER THEY:
A) eat quite a bit of chocolate cake
B) survive a deadly fever AND world's worst musical
performance
C) fall quite desperately in love.
It's Julia Quinn at her best, so you KNOW the answer is...