Review: Maybe a little unbelievable, but very cute
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 30, 2010
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.Rating: 9/10PROS:- The more I read, the more I liked the tone of the narration. James is honest and intelligent, and there's something rather charming about his resigned attitude toward life. Lanyon also captures the obsession of a scholar very well: when James starts looking at an antique book or manuscript, he completely loses touch with the outside world.- Sedgwick intrigued me almost immediately. He's so frigid and remote at the beginning that I at once began anticipating seeing his cold demeanor melt away when he fell in love.- Some of the things that happen in the story are so unusual and so unexpected that I found them uproariously funny. And the characters' reactions are priceless. James says this at one point: "I wondered if I'd gotten in a car accident on my way to the Hotel Del Monte and was, in fact, happily hallucinating in a coma somewhere."- I thought the little details here and there about Charles Dickens and antique books and such were really interesting. They seem well researched, and there aren't so many details that the story seems overloaded or bogged down by them.CON:- Okay, so the romance maybe developed a little quickly for me to find it utterly believable. But it was so sweet and lighthearted and fun, I didn't really care.Overall comments: This is a pleasant little read: not very long, but certainly worth a couple hours' worth of time. There's some intrigue, some sex, some light angst, and a healthy dose of heartwarming romance. What's not to like?