The Ivy TreeMary Stewart
Hm. This one had such promise. Perhaps it hasn't aged well?
The Ivy Tree promised to be a fast read. It had mystery, it had romance. It had a gorgeous English manor that made me envious. I thought it would be an easy read to knock off another title in my resolution. Unfortunately, I was a bit deceived.
Mary Grey meets a mysterious man while visiting Northumberland. This angry, even frightening, man believes Mary to be his long-lost cousin Annabel. When he learns Mary is not his cousin, Connor Winslow hatches a plot, and soon he's convinced Mary to return to his home posing as Annabel in order to secure an inheritance. What's in it for Mary? Money, of course -- enough to live easily for the rest of her life. Mary agrees and quickly finds herself knee-deep in trouble.
Like I said, The Ivy Tree started out well enough, but then things just seemed full of teh obvious. I mean, the bad guy's named Con. CON. Certainly not surprising when he proves himself dishonest. Furthermore, some of the dialogue was a bit stilted and VERY old fashioned and even a bit sexist, which was awkward given the author is a woman.
There were a few positives. It wasn't so awful that I gave up. I was interested enough in these (rather flat, unfortunately) characters to make it to the end. Still, while a few things surprised me, and the novel's bit o' romance was sweet enough, I don't feel interested in reading more by this author.
In a nutshell: Mystery + romance + intrigue + deception = YAWN
Bibliolatry Scale: 2 out of 6 stars
The Ivy Tree promised to be a fast read. It had mystery, it had romance. It had a gorgeous English manor that made me envious. I thought it would be an easy read to knock off another title in my resolution. Unfortunately, I was a bit deceived.
Mary Grey meets a mysterious man while visiting Northumberland. This angry, even frightening, man believes Mary to be his long-lost cousin Annabel. When he learns Mary is not his cousin, Connor Winslow hatches a plot, and soon he's convinced Mary to return to his home posing as Annabel in order to secure an inheritance. What's in it for Mary? Money, of course -- enough to live easily for the rest of her life. Mary agrees and quickly finds herself knee-deep in trouble.
Like I said, The Ivy Tree started out well enough, but then things just seemed full of teh obvious. I mean, the bad guy's named Con. CON. Certainly not surprising when he proves himself dishonest. Furthermore, some of the dialogue was a bit stilted and VERY old fashioned and even a bit sexist, which was awkward given the author is a woman.There were a few positives. It wasn't so awful that I gave up. I was interested enough in these (rather flat, unfortunately) characters to make it to the end. Still, while a few things surprised me, and the novel's bit o' romance was sweet enough, I don't feel interested in reading more by this author.
In a nutshell: Mystery + romance + intrigue + deception = YAWN
Bibliolatry Scale: 2 out of 6 stars
3 comments:
I admire you for keeping up with your resolution! Wish I could do that, I get sidetracked by new books I read. (well not all the time but still. I have quite a book collection which is asking to be read )
I have read books which had great plot,characters etc...except, didn't age well. We are moving so fast with technology, our ways of life, it leaves books written 20- 30 years on down very tame, in my opinion anyway.
I enjoy finding and reading old "forgotten" books likes this. Much more when they turn out to be good. She was a very popular author in her day, yes?
I haven't read this, but know of it because there was some controversy over her use of the plot from Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey, which is an excellent read.
Post a Comment