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Saturday, June 23, 2012

A Review of a Fun Summer's Read A Courtesan's Desires

This book is a type, romance, that I don't often read, because I don't write in this genre -- or haven't yet. But I needed to review it because it was a perfect for and perfectly delightful summer read.

One of my major complaints about romance novels in general (especially the historical ones) is that they can be overwritten. By that I mean the author puts every ounce of historical information the author knows in the novel, so it takes forever to read! Now I love history, especially European History (my major in college), but if there's too much it bumps me out of a story.

A Courtesan's Desires is an excellent balance, just enough historical verisimilitude to keep me reading and engaged in the 19th century world of a young Hutterite woman, who is thrown from her insular world into a far, far different one. I adore reading about history and groups I know little about, and this novel begins with stepping into the Hutterite world and gives the reader a wonderful taste of that world. Action filled, A Courtesan's Desires also moves along at an excellent clip, I read this short novel in a lazy summer afternoon! Only one tiny historical inaccuracy bumped me out of the work and only because I was a history major  -- and I doubt any other reader will ever catch it. For anyone who enjoys a historical romance, A Courtesan's Desires will be a great read.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Lovely review of a short book. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

Conda Douglas said...

Thank you Lorrie, I agree this novel is perfect for a quick summer's read and thanks for visiting my blog.

Cheryl said...

Nice review!

Conda Douglas said...

Thanks Cheryl, it's easy to review a good book!

Carol Kilgore said...

I don't read many historical romances. I wasn't a history major, so I'm sure I wouldn't notice anything out of place. I admire those writers, though, because they have to do a LOT of research.

Conda Douglas said...

They sure do, Carol, and the research in A Courtesan's Desires means it's an easy novel to get into--and to care about the main character.