Last Christmas my Mom handed me this book and said, “I think you’ll like this one.” I was a little skeptical. I don’t usually read romance novels (although, over the last year or so I’ve kind of gotten into them, largely courtesy of my Mom who recommends them). The point of romance seems to be exploring relationships, particularly the beginnings of romantic relationships. And, they can be a little formulaic. Two people meet. They’re perfect for each other but there’s some obstacle (sometimes that one of the participants is 100% not interested in the other.) But, they overcome those obstacles and in the end they are together. At first, I thought this is book was going to be textbook formula. It’s the third in a series that follows the Hathaways and sees the eligible folks in this family paired off. This installment starts with Poppy’s season in the London circuit. She has a beau and is all set to make it work with him (despite the fact that his father would never approve) until she is completely derailed by the dashing (and a little dangerous) hotelier Routledge. I won’t spoil it for you, but what happens next was both unsurprising and delightful.
I really liked the main characters in this novel. The relationship between Poppy and Routledge is complex and interesting. She’s just not a silly girl on the London circuit, Poppy has depth and is smart and curious. And, Routledge is a straight forward, no-nonsense business man who might be cut throat and ruthless but who also has a secret soft center. I liked the give and take between the two of them. I liked the little mysteries. I liked that the main force of the novel was basically about how two people with separate lives learn how to integrate.
In short, I was surprised by this book and I would definitely recommend it.
I know that Adelina is supposed to be the villain of this story. The entire marketing campaign has been how this is from the villainess point of view instead of the usual heroine. I agree that’s unique but I’m having hard time seeing Adelina as a villain or “the villain” of this novel. If anything she is just one of many bad guys in the story. Teren is out right terrifying. His obsession and religious furor makes him so certain that his work camps and plans of eradicating all malfettos from Kennetra is the true villain of the story. I think we are supposed to see the Daggers led by Enzo and Raffaelle as the heroes but they are committing treason by allying themselves to Queen Maeve of Beldain. Maeve is also an elite with the power to bring back the dead. For this reason she obviously takes much better care of malfettos or survivors of the blood fever but she is also planning on taking over another sovereign nation. Queen Guiletta is not exactly a saint either but now that she has ascended to the thrown she is making in effort. She sees how Teren is treating the malfettos and orders they be treated better. She wants obedience, not revolution. She knows that the children of many influential people are malfettos and they would not like to see their children poorly treated. Unfortunately, Teren sees things differently and by the time she realizes how much power she has given him it’s too late. Could she have been a more effective leader if it wasn’t for Teren? Most likely. But back to Adelina. She was caste out from the Daggers for betraying them, killing Dante and making the mistake that lead to Enzo’s death. She and her sister Violetta seek out new allies to help her in her revenge against Teren and his inquisitors. Throughout the book, Adelina experience illusions of people she has killed that and they get worse as the story goes on. She also hears voices and becomes more and more paranoid. *Spoiler* We learn in the end that the elites powers are turning against them. They were given powers of the Gods but their human bodies can’t handle it. Adelina has the power of illusions. Creating images to make people think, see and feel things that are not there. For her it makes her see her dead father and hear voices and be paranoid. I couldn’t help but think this sounds like schizophrenia or another mental illness. Having your villain show signs of mental illness is a little problematic to me. I’m pretty sure that is not the author’s intent. As I said, the elites powers are turning against them. If Adelina had different powers her side effects would be different but her powers and her dark feelings are what makes her a threat. Also a little problematic is that Adelina is a victim of domestic abuse. Since she was a child she was beaten and abused by her father. She lived her life trying to gain the love of a man who hurt her. When she kills him and finds the Daggers she does what she can to make them like her and to fit in and they turn on her too. This is an emotionally scarred woman. I’m not saying that what she has done in the last two books are excusable but I also don’t think that labeling her as a villain is accurate either. If anything, I find myself rooting for her to succeed then any other character in the book.
When I Rainbow Rowell announced that her next book would be Carry On the entire internet let out a huge SQUEEEE!! For those who may not be familiar with her work (which really you should) in her 2013 novel, Fangirl, she introduced us to Simon Snow, a Harry Potteresque “chosen one” and his nemesis/roommate Baz. In Fangirl, Simon and Baz are characters in a beloved fantasy series that Cath was writing a fan-fiction for. We got a few snippets of Simon and Baz through Cath’s writing, in which she took the characters from enemies to lovers. Cath spends Fangirl trying onto finish her fan-fiction before the author of Simon Snow series, Gemma T. Leslie publishes the final book. Carry On is the final book of the Simon Snow series but it’s not Cath’s story or Gemma T. Leslie’s story it’s Rainbow’s story. I guess that’s sort of meta. Rainbow isn’t really writing her own fan-fiction. How can an author write a fan-fiction of her own work? I guess this is more canon then anything else since she is the original creator. Cath and Gemma, don’t actually exist. I would say it’s in it’s own unique category. The other thing that makes this different from Rainbow’s other book is that it’s a full fledged fantasy novel. Her other books have all been contemporary novels though Landline does have the fantastical element of having a magical phone that allows Georgie to talk to her husband Neal from the past. So this is new territory for her but she passes with flying colors. In a way, Carry On is much a love letter to the fantasy novels of her life. Obviously, Harry Potter is a huge influence but so is Chronicles of Narnia and a little Twilight among others. She’s able to give little winks and even a little commentary on other franchises while still remaining it’s own thing.
2 Women, So Many Books 