The Courtier's Secret by Donna Russo Morin

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Sun March 1st, 2009, 12:48 am

Well, I made it as far as the first part of Chapter two before it hit the wall.

Our heroine is on the run to chapel after fencing with her uncle, dashes into the privy where she's hidden her dress, etc. underneath the hole cover

and she dons all her geegaws and in the blink of an eye she's presentable enough for court - let alone she got the boots off without any help. OK, but what about the smell her clothes picked up from being hidden under there?

Over the top and overly descriptive prose, along with way too much historical details - to coin a phrase from EC I felt like I was being clubbed over the head with it all.

EC2 · Post by **EC2** » Sun March 1st, 2009, 1:09 am

[quote=""Misfit""]
dashes into the privy where she's hidden her dress, etc. underneath the hole cover

.[/quote]

Oh Misfit -ROTFLOL! You made me laugh!
How on earth do you hide a full dress underneath a hole cover in the first place anyway. I'm having a hard time imagining it.

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Sun March 1st, 2009, 2:10 am

[quote=""EC2""]Oh Misfit -ROTFLOL! You made me laugh!
How on earth do you hide a full dress underneath a hole cover in the first place anyway. I'm having a hard time imagining it.[/quote]

No that aspect went right over my head. Really, the whole thing (well, at least the first two chapters I should say) was like Gidget goes to Versailles. If only the over the top prose (ie "vocal volcano") were edited out and the author kept her tongue firmly planted in her cheek it really could have been a lot of fun. This one is headed back to the library.

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Thu March 5th, 2009, 3:42 pm

I have to say, I picked this up again and gave it one more try and it did improve - although only a two or three star read. What I found interesting is the author's intention was not a romance, she was going for a historical with a nod to Dumas. Her writing still needs work. A bit too heavy handed with the historical details, let alone the overuse of the "orbs".