jayvall reviewed The garden intrigue by Lauren Willig (Pink carnation series)
Review of 'The garden intrigue' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
The Garden Intrigue is the ninth book in Lauren Willig’s Pink Carnation series. This book takes a look at the ascension of Napoleon from an Amercian’s point of view, Emma Delaguardie, who is best friends with Napoleon’s step-daughter. A young widow, Emma has been “adopted” into Napoleon’s inner circle by virtue of her friendship with Hortense. Augustus Whittlesby is a secret agent working under cover in Paris posing as a poet who is in love with Jane, the Pink Carnation. Through a series of events, Augustus and Emma decide to work together to stage a play for Napoleon at his summer house, and Augustus hopes to discover and thwart Napoleon’s secret plan to invade England.
Despite the number of books in this series, the story of the Pink Carnation still hasn’t grown old for me. That being said however, I don’t think this was the best book in the series. …
The Garden Intrigue is the ninth book in Lauren Willig’s Pink Carnation series. This book takes a look at the ascension of Napoleon from an Amercian’s point of view, Emma Delaguardie, who is best friends with Napoleon’s step-daughter. A young widow, Emma has been “adopted” into Napoleon’s inner circle by virtue of her friendship with Hortense. Augustus Whittlesby is a secret agent working under cover in Paris posing as a poet who is in love with Jane, the Pink Carnation. Through a series of events, Augustus and Emma decide to work together to stage a play for Napoleon at his summer house, and Augustus hopes to discover and thwart Napoleon’s secret plan to invade England.
Despite the number of books in this series, the story of the Pink Carnation still hasn’t grown old for me. That being said however, I don’t think this was the best book in the series. Too much time is spent on Emma and Augustus disliking each other but still managing to work together to create the play for Napoleon. We were more than three-quarters through with the book before either one of them realized that they might have amorous feelings towards the other. I also felt like this book didn’t advance the Pink Carnation plot in any appreciable manner, nor was the Eloise/Colin storyline advanced. In fact, I’m pretty sure the Eloise/Colin storyline spanned only one day, which is frustrating for readers who enjoy that relationship as well. Don’t get me wrong, I liked this, I just don’t think it was the strongest book in the series.
