A Certain Love Book

So, I got this book from Goodreads First Reads about--well, let's just say a long time ago since I can't remember when I got it. Suffice it to say, I've had it for quite a while and never got around to reading it. Honestly, I didn't think that I was going to like the book. However, I was wrong...

I really, really liked this book and I thought that it was hilarious a lot of the time. I loved all the characters: the 4 sisters--Mary, Rose, Camellia, and Lily, the 3 brothers--Royce, Oliver, and Fitz, Pirate the dog, Lady Vivian Carlyle, and Cousin Charlotte. They were all enjoyable in their own right, but the one that I enjoyed the most was Vivian and I look forward to reading about her and Oliver. I liked the plot, too, even if it wasn't completely and totally original, and I enjoyed reading it.

However, there is two things that I thought were especially dumb. I will start with the lesser of the two evils and then go into the dumbest part of all:

1. I know that as the reader, I am able to see things more circumspectly than the people actually in the book, but I could not believe that Mary couldn't see that Lady Sabrina was a bitch from the start. She was clearly a conniving snake who wanted to make sure that she was the best at everything, no matter what she had to do.

2. Now, the thing that I thought was the dumbest was that the girls never told Royce, Oliver, or Fitz about their vile stepfather, Cosmo, until page 401 (out 451 pages!). Don't you think that is someone has repeatedly tried to kidnap one of your sisters that you would tell everything to the people trying to help protect and take care of you? I don't know; it might just be me. But I found it completely illogical and irrational not to tell the men about the man! Just because it seemed unlikely that he would follow you across the pond from America to England doesn't mean that it's impossible! I don't know, for four seemingly intelligent women, that was an extraordinarily bad move.

Those two things are what brought the rating down to 3.75 stars.

Finally, I just want to say that I really love the cover of this book. I really, really do; the woman looks like she's got a secret. However, there is one thing that bothered me every single time I looked at the cover because, once I noticed it, my eye always went to it! On one of the eyes, there is a white spot, almost like a flash. It's a small thing that many may not have noticed. However, I did and it has been circled in the picture below because I need evidence to prove I'm not nuts. Alas, I am not, thank you very much!



3.75 stars