From the Bookshelf of Fans of Eloisa James & Julia Quinn…

Just Like Heaven (Smythe-Smith, #1)

Julia Quinn

Start date: June 1, 2011

Finish date: June 30, 2011

Discussion: Monthly Read

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Monthly Read

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What Members Thought

Mar 07, 2013 Kym rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, romance, series, 4-star, favorites, humor, romantic-comedy, in-my-library, late-georgian

Setting: Cambridgeshire and London, England 1824
Romance develops between Lady Honoria Smyth-Smith and Marcus Holroyd, Earl of Chatteris when she nurses him back to health after an injury. She has known Marcus since she was 6 years old and he would accompany her brother Daniel home for school holidays. For his part, Marcus was tasked by Daniel, his best friend, to watch over Honoria and make sure she didn’t marry an idiot. Daniel couldn’t do it himself because 3 years ago he had been involved in ...more

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Mar 14, 2013 Amylynn Bright rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I squealed with glee when I received my copy of Julia Quinn’s latest, Just Like Heaven. Like many of Ms. Quinns long time fans, I’ve waited literally years for her to write the story of the Smythe-Smith girls. They have long been a source of comic relief in the Bridgerton series with their disastrously awful musicales, and we all just knew there was more to the poor girls then just lack of musical ability. Ms Quinn has written a story for Honoria Smythe-Smith that proves what we suspected all al I squealed with glee when I received my copy of Julia Quinn’s latest, Just Like Heaven. Like many of Ms. Quinns long time fans, I’ve waited literally years for her to write the story of the Smythe-Smith girls. They have long been a source of comic relief in the Bridgerton series with their disastrously awful musicales, and we all just knew there was more to the poor girls then just lack of musical ability. Ms Quinn has written a story for Honoria Smythe-Smith that proves what we suspected all along – they are delightful, self-aware ladies who deserve to be swept off their feet and away from the obligation of the Quartet.

There is no sagging middle in this story for certain. Ms. Quinn has written a middle so fraught with tension, and she has done such a fabulous job of opening up her characters so that the reader slips right inside, that I quite literally cried. Actual tears. And then, because it’s a Julia Quinn book, the very next chapter had me laughing out loud, alone in my living room well past midnight.

A delicious little surprise for Quinn fans are the running inside jokes throughout the book. The Bidgertons, Featheringtons and Berbrookes appear, there is much mention of Sebastian’s gothic novel, Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron, and no story which takes place in London would be complete without the terrifying and meddling appearance of Lady Danbury – thank goodness.

One doesn’t need to be a long-time fan of Ms. Quinn’s to appreciate this story. While a fresh reader might not appreciate the inside jokes, the story is so well crafted that knowing the past history is not necessary. Ms. Quinn could teach master’s level classes on characterization and humor in writing. It takes skill to be able to slip a 1965 pop song reference into a historical novel and not have a disaster of incongruity, but Ms. Quinn is able to pull that kind of thing off time and time again with great success. Most notably in her previous book, Ten Things I Love About You with the “where’s the beef” reference.

Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Just Like Heaven along with a box of Kleenex and a nice white wine. You won’t be sorry. ...more

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