Review of A Wicked Pursuit
A Wicked Pursuit: A Breconridge Brothers Novel
Isabella Bradford
Series: Breconridge Brothers
Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books (February 25, 2014)
The Review:
I received a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
I truly love a good historical romance, and this time period (along with a couple of others) is one of my favorites. While I’m no historical expert, I’ve read enough to recognize an author with sufficient historical knowledge to make the setting believable. From the outlandish hair plumes to the impossibly-complicated hoop dresses, I could see the setting of this novel as clearly as if I were there. Bradford obviously knows her Georgian fashion and rules of societal behavior. However, I’m afraid the “wickedness” in Harry’s pursuit of Gus was a little lackluster.
For the majority of the time, the novel’s setting is isolated to Gus’s home in Norfolk, which has the potential for scandalous spice--naive, young girl, worldly, titled man alone (with the exception of the servants) in a remote setting. It was ripe for enough steam to fog the screen of my Kindle, but Harry’s injury dominates their time, and so it would in reality, but we don’t really read romance novels for reality, now do we?
The typical romantic chase was absent from this one because Harry is so confined. There was no true competition for Gus once her sister abandons the scene. I like that “I’m forsaking the world and running back to you” moment, and it was absent from this one. Because so much of the plot revolves around Harry’s leg, it was lacking that heartsick angst. The almost instantaneous love between Gus and Harry, while touching, was a bit overdone for my taste. I will say Bradford doesn’t overwhelm the reader with too many characters, too fast, but I would have liked to have seen Harry’s brothers since this novel appears to be the first in a series about those brothers.
3 stars
Isabella Bradford
Series: Breconridge Brothers
Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books (February 25, 2014)
The Review:
I received a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
I truly love a good historical romance, and this time period (along with a couple of others) is one of my favorites. While I’m no historical expert, I’ve read enough to recognize an author with sufficient historical knowledge to make the setting believable. From the outlandish hair plumes to the impossibly-complicated hoop dresses, I could see the setting of this novel as clearly as if I were there. Bradford obviously knows her Georgian fashion and rules of societal behavior. However, I’m afraid the “wickedness” in Harry’s pursuit of Gus was a little lackluster.
For the majority of the time, the novel’s setting is isolated to Gus’s home in Norfolk, which has the potential for scandalous spice--naive, young girl, worldly, titled man alone (with the exception of the servants) in a remote setting. It was ripe for enough steam to fog the screen of my Kindle, but Harry’s injury dominates their time, and so it would in reality, but we don’t really read romance novels for reality, now do we?
The typical romantic chase was absent from this one because Harry is so confined. There was no true competition for Gus once her sister abandons the scene. I like that “I’m forsaking the world and running back to you” moment, and it was absent from this one. Because so much of the plot revolves around Harry’s leg, it was lacking that heartsick angst. The almost instantaneous love between Gus and Harry, while touching, was a bit overdone for my taste. I will say Bradford doesn’t overwhelm the reader with too many characters, too fast, but I would have liked to have seen Harry’s brothers since this novel appears to be the first in a series about those brothers.
3 stars
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