Lately, I’ve been really into Victorian-esque novels so when I read the description for this one, I thought it would be worth a shot.
Charlotte and her brother, James, have always been inseparable. Their mother’s death had led to their father spending more and more time tending to his business, leaving them all alone in their house save for a few staff. When their father passes away and their aunt takes them under her wing, their lives change considerably. James is sent to boarding school in the hopes that he will grow up to be fine gentleman of society while Charlotte stays with her aunt to act as a nurse. As time passes, James yearns to go to London and explore life to its fullest. He gets his wish and is soon living in an apartment with his roommate and former classmate, Christopher Paige. For a while, life is simple; James spends his days writing plays and poems and Christopher entertains him with his hilarious adventures. Gradually, they end up in a clandestine love affair, one they know will be disapproved of by everyone. In an attempt to escape society, they plan to run away together to Italy. But misfortune strikes, and they are attacked by a stranger. Meanwhile, Charlotte is growing anxious and hasn’t heard from her brother. She decides to make the journey to London to find him, only to discover that there is much more happening than meets the eye.
Sounds intriguing, right? Well this was just the first part of the book. When the second part began, I was confused beyond belief. It felt so disjointed from the first part! In fact, the whole book seemed to be disconnected and in pieces. There were random journal entries that didn’t seem to make any sense at first and required a lot of patience on the part of the reader. To be frank, when the book ended, I didn’t see a point to it all. I was highly dissatisfied with the experience. This book let me down A LOT. I’m still in shock and can’t fathom what it was that I read.
Happy reading ~