The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn
I do enjoy a good Julia Quinn novel...I just don't think this was one of them. I found the style of writing to be on par with some of her other books, however, the characters were a bit two dimensional and I just didn't care what happened to them.
Spoilers below! You have been warned...
I think the point where I started to give up on the book was when Miranda and Turner had their sexy time in the hunting lodge. Miranda had pined away for Turner for the whole story and when it went to the next level in the lodge I didn't feel as though she had finally been with the love of her life but, rather, that she had been despoiled. Now, I have read quite a bit of regency/historical romances and some feature the chaste virgins saving themselves for their wedding night and some...don't. It's not that I have a problem with the Society Miss giving it up early...it was Turner's attitude about it all <b> at that point</b> in the book. He just cuts and runs and keeps having an inner dialogue about how he should marry her...but he shouldn't...how Leticia ruined him...blah blah blah. I just wanted to shake him and tell him to get on with marrying her since we know that's where it's going to go anyway. He didn't strike me as the dashing hero...but, rather, the selfish cad. The inner dialogue just sullied him as a character for me...rather than provide depth. While that may have made him a "real" character, the fact of the matter is that I (and many people) don't read these novels for a glimpse of real life. We want the dashing Mr. Darcy-esque character...not that guy we dated who didn't call after "that one night". I know he eventually comes up to snuff...but by then I was kind of over it.
I think I will still pick up the other Bevelstoke books...I've read enough of Quinn to know that I like her novels and this one may have just been a dud for me.