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meganbmooreThe sequel to The Secret History of the Pink Carnation shifts the historical plot focus to Henrietta Selwick, the younger sister of Richard, the Purple Gentian, and Richard’s best friend, Miles, both of whom are part of England’s spy network, but not actually spies themselves.
There’s a lot of angsting over the Special Hell reserved for lusting over your best friend’s sister who ordered you to plays dolls with her when she was three and you were eight (those parts were fun except for the bits where the Sacred Sanctity of True Male Friendship came up) more female spies who don’t die for having sex and/or having their spying revolve around sleeping with enemy men, and lots of hijinks. Their story is fun and entertaining, but nothing about it really stands out as unique. The modern story with Eloise proceeded about as the first book did, with lots of pulling back and forth with Colin and not enough of historical geekery.
Sadly, I think the dual storylines lose a bit of their effectiveness without the mystery of who the Pink Carnation is, especially without the possible substitution element. There are, though, a number of amusing meta comments about Bad Romance Novels, and an amusing bit where Eloise notices that someone else who read the letters somewhere along the way made comments in the margins about how Henrietta must have wildly romanticized her story, though I still think that the historical stories are Eloise’s embellishments after having read far too many romance novels over the years. I also wish there had been more of Jane and Miss Gwen, but it seems that’s being saved for the next book. And I’m still bugged by the “other women are unlikable until proven to not be after the designated love interest and single women must worry about wasting away” thing in the modern parts that seem to be the norm for chick lit.
There’s a lot of angsting over the Special Hell reserved for lusting over your best friend’s sister who ordered you to plays dolls with her when she was three and you were eight (those parts were fun except for the bits where the Sacred Sanctity of True Male Friendship came up) more female spies who don’t die for having sex and/or having their spying revolve around sleeping with enemy men, and lots of hijinks. Their story is fun and entertaining, but nothing about it really stands out as unique. The modern story with Eloise proceeded about as the first book did, with lots of pulling back and forth with Colin and not enough of historical geekery.
Sadly, I think the dual storylines lose a bit of their effectiveness without the mystery of who the Pink Carnation is, especially without the possible substitution element. There are, though, a number of amusing meta comments about Bad Romance Novels, and an amusing bit where Eloise notices that someone else who read the letters somewhere along the way made comments in the margins about how Henrietta must have wildly romanticized her story, though I still think that the historical stories are Eloise’s embellishments after having read far too many romance novels over the years. I also wish there had been more of Jane and Miss Gwen, but it seems that’s being saved for the next book. And I’m still bugged by the “other women are unlikable until proven to not be after the designated love interest and single women must worry about wasting away” thing in the modern parts that seem to be the norm for chick lit.