Julia QUINN : The secret diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever

At the age of ten, Miranda Cheever showed no signs of Great Beauty. And even at ten, Miranda learned to accept the expectations society held for her—until the afternoon when Nigel Bevelstoke, the handsome and dashing Viscount Turner, solemnly kissed her hand and promised her that one day she would grow into herself, that one day she would be as beautiful as she already was smart. And even at ten, Miranda knew she would love him forever.

But the years that followed were as cruel to Turner as they were kind to Miranda. She is as intriguing as the viscount boldly predicted on that memorable day—while he is a lonely, bitter man, crushed by a devastating loss. But Miranda has never forgotten the truth she set down on paper all those years earlier—and she will not allow the love that is her destiny to slip lightly through her fingers...

No idea why I expected this to be an "old" novel, because my edition says "2007" : the old-fashioned cover and yellow acid paper probably did me wrong. Anyway, who cares, it had been given to me, I'll give it to someone else !

 

I'm not disappointed because the novel is more recent than I expected, it's just that I expected it to be funnier and livelier. I remember laughing so much when I began reading the Bridgertons series that I wanted the same here. The first hundred pages, I read dutifully and politely. Not bad, not wonderful. Then Miranda stepped into "that" bookshop and got mad at the bookseller who didn't want her inside his "men only" shop and near his books and I laughed merrily, thinking that finally, there was some spirit in the novel and I was beginning to really enjoy it. And... it fell back to being a nice novel, but not a wonderful one. We never see the bookseller again, much to my disappointment because I wanted Miranda to have the final upper hand. I didn't particularly like Turner, also, he doesn't take what Miranda tells him seriously and keeps acting like he thinks he knows what she wants better than her. 

 

Many readers enjoyed it immensely, I liked it but not loved it. I have a few historical romances left on my shelves, I'll find out this year if I'm over the genre or if I just picked up the wrong Julia Quinn (and Jude Deveraux) for 2021. For the moment, I'm just happy to see that physical TBR diminish !