Title: A Curious Beginning (A Veronica Speedwell Mystery Book 1) Pdf
London, 1887. After burying her spinster aunt, orphaned Veronica Speedwell is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry—and the occasional romantic dalliance. As familiar with hunting butterflies as with fending off admirers, Veronica intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.
But fate has other plans when Veronica thwarts her own attempted abduction with the help of an enigmatic German baron, who offers her sanctuary in the care of his friend Stoker, a reclusive and bad-tempered natural historian. But before the baron can reveal what he knows of the plot against her, he is found murdered—leaving Veronica and Stoker on the run from an elusive assailant as wary partners in search of the villainous truth.
An Insult to the Reader I enjoy this author but this book was not good. Where to begin? The plot is ludicrous; the 'get aways' are ridiculous; her back story is unbelieveable. The heroine is a first class witch who nearly borders on a psychopath. (Only has sex with strangers who she will never see again, can't cry at the funeral of her surrogate parent, spends all her time and energy thwarting anyone with a lick of sense.) Oh yeah, in addition to being a hunk, he is a knife-thrower. Well, of course he is. If you read this book, you run the risk of being less smart at the end.An Underwhelming Beginning I should say straight off that I loved the Julia Grey books, and was sad when I read on Deanna's blog that the series had come to an end. Unfortunately, this series doesn't hold up quite as well. Though the book was enjoyable enough, the mystery was rather subpar, the backstories often didn't make sense, and I was left unimpressed by Veronica as a character.I seem to be in the minority, but I didn't particularly like Veronica. I am all for the Amelia Peabody-esque woman who takes charge and flouts convention, but there is a fine line between being a bad*ss and being a jerk. The fact that this book opens with Veronica lamenting the fact that she can't shed a tear over the grave of a woman who adopted her immediately set Veronica in the latter camp for me. She is eye-twitchingly narcissistic, oftentimes rude, and jarringly devoid of empathy. However, what bothered me the most is that even though she is simply the cleverest of all clever Victorian Mary-Sues, she has an appalling lack of critical thinking. I am no stranger to the character who can't figure out what the reader has deduced fifty pages earlier, and normally it doesn't bother me. But it is rather grating going through pages of Veronica bragging about her superior talents in morse code, embalming, and escaping kidnappers when chica can't figure out the obvious, like there *might* be something suspicious about her adopted aunts' habit of changing addresses every six months or that the "robber" that stole nothing and tried pull her into an awaiting carriage might not have been a robber but a would-be abductor. It takes Veronica 3/4 of the book to accept this. It takes a clever reader two pages, a less clever reader three, and the most sleep-deprived and/or intoxicated reader four, where it is helpfully pointed out by a secondary character.That's not to say that she doesn't have her moments. But they are far and few between. Fortunately, the other characters in the book are much more pleasant. Stoker is your typical dishonorable Honourable with a heart of gold. Other characters were similar tropes, but Raybourn's good dialogue keeps them from being routine.The second aspect that I didn't like was that the backstories of characters didn't seem to line up well. Veronica is about 24, and yet has visited (off the top of my head) Switzerland, Ireland, Italy, Costa Rica, Sumatra, Java, Mexico, Malaysia, Sicily, Corsica, the Rocky Mountains, and South America. I mean, it's technically not impossible, but combined with time back in England to care for both sickly aunts, it just seemed way too unrealistic. Stoker is the same way--he has five different histories (knife thrower, explorer, surgeon, taxonomist, etc) though as he is older and left home at 12, I give him more lee-way to have cultivated an interesting backstory.Finally, the mystery just wasn't particularly good. An orphan main character in a mystery is bound to have an interesting parent or two. It's just how it works, so the fact that the mystery was centered on this reveal was a letdown. The action scene at the end had a similar "eh" feel, and was based on the laughable premise that bad guys and the police would not immediately rush to a place where they know their intended victim/suspect is, but instead wait several hours because VERONICA ASKED THEY COME AT 9 AND EVEN SENT OUT INVITATIONS, OKAY?That said, it was a fine enough read and I have hopes that Raybourn will make her follow up better. Plus, the cover art is cool.What a Mess Rarely do I leave a negative review. Rarely have I met a more annoying main character or struggled so hard to finish a book. Veronica Speedwell is an unrealistic character for the time but the main problem is how truly overbearing and unlikable she is. Obviously, cast in a modern-day feminist light, I could barely read without rolling my eyes I would have loved her if she'd been more like the original feminists. But we get this Veronica- complete with a rather cold-blooded attitude toward her sex partners. She even refers to them as "playthings". Eye roll. This is what feminism has been reduced to? Not only that, she's offered as a paragon of perfection, with no real character arc. She's exactly the same person at the end of the book as she is at the beginning, except for her feelings for Stoker. Stoker. I wanted to like him. The problem with Stoker is that he's completely cowed by Veronica and that lessens his appeal so much. Love the cover, though.
What Hurts the Most pdf
The Gifted Ones pdf
Too Quiet In Brooklyn (A Fina Fitzgibbons Brooklyn Mystery Book 1) pdf
Murder at Shake Holes pdf
From the Ashes (Ravenwood Mysteries Book 1) pdf
A Brazen Curiosity pdf
The Hanover Square Affair (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries Book 1) pdf
Tags: B00SI0B5F8 pdf,A Curious Beginning (A Veronica Speedwell Mystery Book 1) pdf,ebook,Deanna Raybourn,A Curious Beginning (A Veronica Speedwell Mystery Book 1),Berkley,AMERICAN HISTORICAL FICTION,AMERICAN MYSTERY & SUSPENSE FICTION,Detective and mystery fiction,England,England - Social life and customs - 19th century,FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Historical,FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths,FICTION / Romance / Historical / Victorian,Fiction,Fiction - Mystery/ Detective,Fiction-Mystery & Detective,Fiction/Literary,Fiction/Mystery & Detective - Historical,Fiction/Romance - Historical - Victorian,GENERAL,General Adult,Historical mysteries,Kidnapping,Monograph Series, 1st,Mystery & Detective - Historical,Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths,Mystery fiction,Mystery fiction.,Mystery/Suspense,Orphans,Rescues,Romance - Historical - Victorian,United States,Young women,a murderous relation;a treacherous curse;a perilous undertaking;a dangerous collaboration;deanna raybourn;veronica speedwell;london;england;detective novels;women sleuths mysteries;women sleuths;crime books;crime;murder mystery books;murder mystery;british mystery books;british mysteries;british mystery;victorian mysteries;victorian mystery;victorian;historical mystery novels;historical mysteries;historical mystery;historical fiction;historical;mystery books;mysteries;mystery,victorian; historical mystery; romance; historical; mystery books; women sleuths; murder mystery books; detective novels; crime; crime books; mystery; historical mysteries; mysteries; women sleuths mysteries; england; a murderous relation; a treacherous curse; a perilous undertaking; a dangerous collaboration; deanna raybourn; veronica speedwell; london; murder mystery; british mystery books; british mysteries; british mystery; victorian mysteries; victorian mystery; historical mystery novels; historical fiction,FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Historical,FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths,FICTION / Romance / Historical / Victorian,Fiction/Literary,Fiction/Mystery & Detective - Historical,Fiction/Romance - Historical - Victorian,Mystery & Detective - Historical,Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths,Romance - Historical - Victorian,Fiction - Mystery/ Detective,American Historical Fiction,American Mystery & Suspense Fiction,Fiction,Mystery/Suspense,Historical mysteries
0 Response to "A Curious Beginning (A Veronica Speedwell Mystery Book 1) Download"
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.