So here is one of those unhappy occasions when I stumble on to a book and discover its the final one in a series. Drat!
But perhaps it is happy afterall. Because that means by the time I acquire all the others in the series (in this case three), I will need a refresher on the final chapter. Hooray!
Of course, there are drawbacks. Some of what is contained in these pages makes little (or less) sense to me than it might’ve had I read the series in sequence. That means, I spent some time trying to guess things from context rather than whizzing away at reading.
For instance, the hero’s story was really confusing and hard to get in to. Without launching into a spoiler, let’s just say a lot of flashbacks don’t help the pace of the novel (note to self and other writers: flashbacks stink!).
The next issue is that we are supposed to believe this otherwise sassy and smart lady is in love with a portrait. Huh? Although I desperately wanted to like the formulaic plucky heroine, there was a chemistry there missing from me and I kept thinking “this chick-a-dee has a screw loose if she is seriously in love with a portrait!” I mean, one thing if she crushes on him like so many of us gals do on actors etc (hello, flavor of the month!), but her obsessive ramblings start to sound a bit freaky deaky stalker like.
Definitely a disappointment based on past readings of Hoyt’s. Yet, still not enough of a letdown not to check out the other books in the series and, after completing that task, revisting To Desire a Devil.
There’s always hope, right?
