Reviews for Brighter Than the Sun (Lyndon Family Saga Series #2)

The average rating for Brighter Than the Sun (Lyndon Family Saga Series #2) based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-10-31 00:00:00 Brian Orach Another Julia Quinn book that annoyed me to no end rather than delight me. Are rambling characters supposed to be cute? 1. Every single conversation the hero and heroine have consists of just bickering. Nothing else. It's always gainsaying the other, getting the last word in, correcting the other, arguing over nothing just to come off witty and smart (looking at you Ellie dear). Good Lord. This sets me on edge like nothing else could. And it's not even the good kind of heated verbal sparring adults have. No it's a pissing contest you would see between 2 kindergartners fighting over how to play with a toy. 'No I know how to do it. No I DO! Let go and let me show you! No, you aren't doing it right. Listen to ME!...I just said that'........Ugh. Just UGH. 2. The jealous meddling little cousin setting fires and pulling pranks to make it seem like the heroine is the one behind it? No thank you. I found this beneath JQ and it just annoyed me more. Silly outlandish red-herring stunts like this I never found funny but intolerable especially when the hero and his entire family don't believe the heroine is innocent but just inept at things. The poor dear. *raging* Lyndsay Sands is that you? lol 3. The hero, Charles. I really didn't care for him to begin with. He was just….there. He came off very very flat and one-dimensional and always seeming to chuckle and shake with laughter when there was no reason to. Was this supposed to convince readers he has a witty sense of humor? Lost me. His backstory is super thin, we are just told he is a rake but see no proof of it. And having the heroine get all upset and extremely hung up on imaginary 'countless mistresses' just to pick a fight with him doesn't count. <_< But what really broke the camel's back for me was his gross condescending attitude toward Ellie after they got married, thinking she's just a poor accidental-prone creature who doesn't know how to manage a household and refusing to believe that the ridiculous incidents were more than accidents. *eye twitch* I didn't mind him at times but there are countless moments where he's a misogynistic patronizing overbearing moron. And strong arming and kissing a woman every time just to shut her up is not really sweet but chauvinistic. Although I could see why the dude wanted to shut her up. 4. Ellie. *sigh* Once again, another JQ heroine who just veers straight into tstl, whiny and immature. Like...what gives? I just found her too hysterical and irrational. If this girl 'hummphed' one more time or gasped in outrage, or rambled anymore this book would be shredded to bits. Pick fights over things that are important and MAKE SENSE, half the time I had no idea what these two were squabbling over. She gets in snits over the dumbest things. "But I do want you to know that despite these very minor, er, setbacks--" Ellie's mouth settled into a grim and angry line. He must not have noticed because he kept talking. "--I think you are becoming a superb countess. Your behavior with the tenants the other day was magnificent." "Are you telling me I am more suited to life outside Wycombe Abbey than inside?" she asked. No. He was complimenting you, you peebrain! Find your chill. 5. She shrieked! She screeched! She squawked! Why Julia? It wasn't cute when you wrote this and it certainly isn't cute now when you still use it. Yes I'm calling you out for this. Enough. I can't take a character seriously when they squawk like a damn bird every time they are excited or angry. Hate hate HATE it. It's supremely distracting and OTT and makes your characters come off one-dimensional. And I don't know who in the English peerage uses the expression Yikes! or how kids are playing with dominos. Dominos? Did that even exist back then? 6. The villain. Cecil? His mealy-mouthed cousin, the one who had always tattled when they were children, the one who had always taken an inordinate amount of pleasure in stepping on bugs? Yes because squishing bugs just screams future sociopath killer, however did they not see it coming? 😂RME. Come on. Do better. I honestly am very seriously thisclose to walking away from Julia Quinn for good, Bridgerton revisit or not. I just cannot deal with this kind of juvenile hammy writing that is so thin and with characters that are so underdeveloped. I don't know maybe her writing was always like this and my tastes have changed. I did read the Bridgerton books years ago when I started reading HR so maybe what I found enjoyable then, I no longer find enjoyable? I mean the same hokey writing certainly is there in her more recent offerings with the Smythe-Smith series. Those books are filled to the brim with the same endless unamusing banter that isn't really clever but nails on a chalkboard. There was zero effort or thought put into this one. The heroine meets the hero on page 1--literally-on page 1. He falls from a tree and drops right in front of her feet. LITERALLY. (G-d is that you? Are you trying to tell me something?) Uh hoh, but jokes on me though. Instead of cute and playful, it just came off very clunky and screamed Looney Tunes. It's literally point a, point b, point c…the world building is so flat that it depressed me. I just needed more development all around. If you are gonna insist that your hero is some renown rake that everyone knows about (even in the country) then show your readers the proof. Readers need receipts to buy into a reputation, having your heroine shriek over it and cling to it like a bone is just cutting corners and super flat. I have probably 1 more Quinn book on my shelf but not sure if I will or won't at this point. As for her new Bridgerton prequel series, I am officially indifferent. I need better, less cloying writing.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-01-17 00:00:00 Dan Durant What a delightful and funny book! Julia Quinn can really put off funny Romances, and before I find my way to the Bridgertons, I want to be slowly introduced to this master of HR. Her characters are always making me grin, giggle and laugh in a way that pulls me even more into the story. The story in this case is your typical marriage-of-convenience-story, and I'm a goner for that trope. I don't care whether that makes me biased or not. The characters felt real and even the secondary characters were funny. Yes, I'm talking to you, Judith! There's even a bit of a mystery here, and even though I could smell the solution from a mile away, it was exciting to read. And now I feel more confident and ready to start that big, famous mess called "the Bridgertons".