I can’t help but compare this series to the Lady Julia Grey series… Partially because I like Mr Armitage as much as I like Nicholas Brisbane (which is to say not at all) and partially because Cleo seems as clueless and tactless a detective as Julia. In Julia’s defense though, she is a sheltered noble woman who doesn’t know any better, whereas Cleo is supposedly intelligent and independent, yet seems to need to brute force her way through her investigations.
I’m hopeful though that things will get better once she teams up with Mr Armitage (assuming they do…if they don’t, I will probably drop the series out of sheer frustration at their interactions). And that they will stop being so insufferable to each other and actually form a real friendship that isn’t based on snarky quips and staring at arm muscles (I get enough of that from Veronica Speedwell and am unable to tolerate it in other novels…)
The main draw for me is the supporting hotel staff cast. I would like it if the others outside of Harmony and Victor got a chance to contribute more. And the relationship between Harmony and Victor is cute.
Also kudos to this book in that once they started unravelling the mystery, it was actually quite gripping to read. Shame that everything in the lead up was kinda just going through the motions.
So overall, I feel confused about whether I like this series or not 😅 I should hopefully have my answer after the third book.
Categories: Book Reviews
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