Sarah's Library

30/09 - This is funny, some of the one liners from Jamie and the awkward situations created by Jamie's misplacement in time are laugh-out-loud funny.  I'm irritated by the catchphrase on the front cover - "She's too smart for his own good".  How is she smart?  She plays computer games and is good at them, but was mystified by most of the rules of society of 1800s London.  She didn't even recognise a shift as being a petticoat.  Not exactly my definition of smart.  If the phrase wasn't on the cover it wouldn't be a problem, nowhere else, in the book so far or the back cover summary, is there any mention of her being smart.  To be continued...

1/10 - I hate that title, it's so clumsy and really, combined with the stupid cover, gives the uninformed reader an incorrect idea of what the book will be like.  Okay, we now know Jamie is smart because she knows what a paramecium is, while I had to Google it (even after Wikipedia told me that it's a  unicellular ciliate protozoa, I still don't know what it is, exactly).  I'm still of the opinion that a smart person would be more aware of 19th century society rules, if not the 19th century in general.  There's some awkward phrasing that causes confused frowns as I read, for example: "tall-looking black thing" when discussing a hat - how can it be tall-looking?  Either it's tall or it's not.  I also have some logistical problems with Jamie being plunked onto a sidesaddle and being able to ride with it without any prior practice.  I know from personal experience that it's hard enough to just start riding a horse with a normal saddle, let alone a sidesaddle that forces you to hang off the side of the horse by the strength of your inner thigh and one stirrup alone (the leg closest to the horse sits in a hard semi-circular brace around the thigh while the other leg is placed in the stirrup and you rest your butt on the horse's back, but you aren't exactly sitting on the horse, most of your weight is on that thigh and the foot in the stirrup).  On the whole, there are a lot of irritating niggles that just make me grimace - not a good expression while reading a romance.  To be continued...

3/10 - The story finished with a final assassination attempt on Jamie by Collette, who it turns out was mad all along and Louisa was her first victim(of course, as if we hadn't already worked that out).  Mike tries to keep Jamie safe by restricting her to the house and taking bites of everything she eats to check for poison.  Of course she begins to go crazy under the close scrutiny and lack of pasttimes (no tv, computer, phone, friends, outdoor activities and the books are all read) and this is how the final attempt on her life comes about.  She sneaks out of the house with Baron only to almost run into Colette who chases her down and tries to run her down with her house, except she misses (she's quite an unlucky assassin, attempt after attempt being foiled by good luck and chance) and her horse's hoof slices the skin off Baron's back leg.  Jamie rushes him into the house and gets Mrs. K to open the bureau portal so she can take Baron to a 21st century vet.  Don't worry, while the accident made me tear up and cuddle my dog for support, Baron only ends up needing a few stitches.  After the panic over Baron's injury dies down, Jamie begins to realise that she'll probably never see Mike again and begins a month long stretch of depression slightly comforted by dog-cuddling (the best kind of comfort, in my opinion).  She tells her best friend Leah everything and Leah, shockingly and unrealistically, believes the whole story.  Suddenly after about a month Mike just appears with a handful of the family jewels as a kind of dowry.  This is precipitous as, during Jamie's month of depression she has stopped working and paying bills, despite buying the bureau/portal for some undisclosed, but large, price and the undoubtedly exhorbitant vet bills.  The amount of family jewels Mike brought with him isn't specified, but I hope it was more than a handful, because that's not going to go far in today's economy.  I think he's going to have to get a job (shock, horror), maybe at Maccas since he has no real marketable skills.  Here's hoping the next book featuring best friend Leah is a little better.