But I also stand by the fact that I still really enjoyed reading this book. Review: As I said above, the characters in this book are flat, not particularly well-developed, and largely one-sided. Who would we give it to? If you watch Downton Abbey or read The Luxe series, you are in the target audience for this book, and you will probably enjoy it well enough to give it 3 stars on goodreads. It makes for an entertaining read, but it’s not shattering any expectations or breaking any new ground. The bad characters are bad and want and do bad things.
The good characters are good and want and do good things. But one of the problems that’s bound to happen when you write stereotypical trope characters is that those characters don’t really get the chance to break out of their molds. I wouldn’t expect it to be a conversation starter, but I wouldn’t feel the need to stick a book cover over it to read in public either.ĭoes it Break the Slate? Only in a surface value kind of way. It tells me that the book is going to be 1) historical, and 2) melodramatic. It doesn’t do much for me, as a reader, but it also doesn’t turn me off. Genre: Historical Fiction (or is Downton-Abbey-inspired its own genre yet?)įace Value: This cover is unsurprising. (Jan.Cinders and Sapphires by Leila Rasheed. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary Agency. Scheming and secrets drive a plot with largely shallow players (Ada’s other love interest, Lord Fintan, is an exception), but fans of historical romances like the Luxe series and shows like Downton Abbey will look forward to the next book. British author Rasheed brings a dizzying number of characters and subplots together skillfully in this first book in the At Somerton series, mixing standard upstairs/downstairs fare with clashes involving sexuality, scandal, love triangles, and murder.
She also has a new, 16-year-old maid, Rose, a girl with her own secrets as well as aspirations that go beyond her current station. At Somerton, Ada’s father remarries, and Ada contends with her new stepfamily, including a mean stepmother and rival stepsister. Ada’s first season is approaching, but she dreams of attending Oxford, at a time when the higher education of women is frowned upon. On board, she meets a cute but common Indian boy, Ravi Sundaresan, and they steal a clandestine kiss. In the spring of 1910, Lady Ava Averley sails from colonial India to her family’s English estate at Somerton Court.
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