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Title: Mischief by Amanda Quick ISBN: 0-553-57190-7 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 31 March, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.09 (23 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: I just had to read it again!
Comment: I am so hooked on Amanda Quick books now, after reading just one...Mischief...and oh what a book! I never had a desire to read books twice but this book was so intensely rich that I just had to have a second helping. I totally fell in love with the characters and loved to see the sparks fly! This book is hot!!!
Rating: 3
Summary: Skip the love scenes.. (unless you want to giggle)
Comment: I first discovered Amanda Quick some years back, well before I discovered Signet Regencies and most other Regency historicals. I enjoyed some of her early books, but was under no illusions that her books were particularly representative of Regency society or the typical Regency woman. In some senses, a new author Julia Quinn reminds me of Amanda Quick, except that Quinn's writing and plotting has been improving slowly in a relatively career. It is hard to say whether Quick has peaked as a writer, since I do not read her works under other names. Among her books, I most enjoyed SCANDAL (not a typical Quick), DESIRE (not typical either, being a raucously funny ahistorical medieval), and SURRENDER (where the story certainly takes an untypical turn). I picked up the audio tape of MISCHIEF, partly as a way to get through this book and to try audio book versions of authors while I walked or did errands about the house.
Warning: Firstly, romances can sound very different when read aloud than when a reader reads a print version. In the audio version, the skill of the narrator is all-important. My version (not the one available at Amazon) was narrated by Barbara Rosenblat who is excellent at rendering voices and accents. No problems there. The set consisted of 9 tapes, and was unabridged.
Now the problems begin. Firstly, since I listen slower (and more inattentively) than I read, it did not take much time before I spotted the villain, or the principal villain anyway. What I could not figure out is why this was not obvious to Imogen and Matthias. Secondly, Imogen sounds pretty irritating, and her breathiness comes through all too unfortunately. By comparison, Clare (DESIRE), Emily (SCANDAL) and Victoria (SURRENDER) were definitely not irritating, even though Emily also used swear words liberally. Thirdly, I was hard put not to laugh through the lovemaking scenes. I had never previously thought of Quick writing purple prose, but those descriptions certainly fitted that description. Let me say that I did not linger over *those* scenes.
Now about the plot. The hero is an enthusiast of ancient Zamar (a civilization constructed by Quick) and an amateur archaeologist who is estranged from his father and the rest of his family. He meets the heroine, because of a promise made to her late uncle. The heroine, it turns out, is not only enthusiastic about ancient Zamar, but she is, well, enthusiastic about almost everything else, including investigation of a friend's mysterious death. In the process, she acts somewhat recklessly. Furthermore, the heroine (Imogen) thinks of the hero (Matthias) as a person with "weak nerves", and persists in this self-delusion although everyone else clearly knows differently. It is a mystery how Imogen and her aunt have the kind of access to high society that permits them to be suitable chaperone for Patricia (Matthias's half-sister) who is an earl's daughter - especially considering that they reside in a house that has been rented in the past by shady characters, to say the least. But Quick is not known for internal consistency within plots.
Patricia is another breathless young woman, whose rudeness to her erstwhile chaperones and general credulity took my breath away. Her relations with Matthias are sketched lightly, in part because the story concentrates on the romance between Imogen and Matthias.
The most interesting part of the story was ancient Zamar, and Matthias and Imogen's involvement with that long-vanished civilization, not to mention the society fad with all things Zamarian. The rest of the story was weak, with the murder mystery being ho-hum. One of the weak points was the credulity of high society regarding a certain titled person; one would assume that society had neither heard of peerage reference works or of the House of Lords. The involvement of this person in the story rather strained my belief in the solution of the murders.
For the story as a whole
Heroine = 2 stars (very irritating)
Hero = 4.5 stars (rather interesting childhood and youth; unorthodox interests and attitudes)
Secondary characters = 3.8 stars (some interesting characters; irritating sister and housekeeper)
Romance = 3.5 stars (competent, but not engrossing)
Mystery = 3.1 stars (villain guessed almost at outset; motives and methods made little sense)
Bedroom scenes = 2 stars (irritating, and made me want to laugh)
Overall rating = 3.2 stars.
This is not a Quick I would recommend to most people; even Quick devotees will be somewhat disappointed. I would advise them, instead to read SURRENDER or one of the other Quick novels written before 1995.
Rating: 4
Summary: QUICK GETS BETTER
Comment: In this book Ms.Quick truly shines. This has got to be one of her better book. Although some parts were boring it really flowed nicer than some of her other ones. I really enjoyed the hero and herione they were very sweet together.
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Title: Affair by Amanda Quick ISBN: 0553574078 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 02 February, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Mistress by Amanda Quick ISBN: 0553569406 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 March, 1995 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Mystique by Amanda Quick ISBN: 0553571591 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 March, 1996 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Desire by Amanda Quick ISBN: 0553561537 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 December, 1993 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Surrender by Amanda Quick ISBN: 0553285947 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 September, 1990 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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