We are back with the penultimate installment in the Ravenels, Chasing Cassandra by Lisa Kleypas. Will it live up to the mediocrity of The Wallflowers or make me laugh like a lunatic the way Hello Stranger and Devil's Daughter did? We shall see!
Lady Cassandra is the last single woman left in Devon's home. Her twin sister has recently married and she's feeling lonely and out of sorts. Wealthy railway magnate Tom Severin is a bit adrift. Until recently, work had been enough for him, but now he's restless and missing something in his life. But then he sees Cassandra.
Interesting characters: Hm. Well, no. I honestly don't know anything about Cassandra other than she wants to get married and have children. Like, does she have interests? Oh, she reads novels! That's right. Hm. Well. It's interesting because Kleypas usually handwaves at some sort of interest (Pandora makes board games! Garrett is a doctor!), but in this case she didn't even really try.
Tom is also a lackluster character. He's a workaholic, has a psychopathic tendency to say he only has five emotions, and (wait for it) has daddy issues. I am OVER Kleypas and her male characters having daddy issues. OVER IT.
Tom is also a lackluster character. He's a workaholic, has a psychopathic tendency to say he only has five emotions, and (wait for it) has daddy issues. I am OVER Kleypas and her male characters having daddy issues. OVER IT.
Believable conflict: This is really the main issue I have with this book. There's no conflict. There's a brief twenty pages when it seems like Tom is unwilling to accept he has actual feelings for Cassandra, but it lasts until he sees her again. Also, we might think Devon will put up some roadblocks to the marriage since Tom is a ruthless businessman who (self-proclaimed) has no feelings, but that doesn't happen either. There's some nasty gossip about Cassandra, but Tom's not responsible for it. This book lacks a real conflict.
Emotional tension: For heaven's sake, this book has one-dimensional characters, no conflict, and no tension. What was I reading it for?
Snappy dialogue: Well, I was reading it because Kleypas writes dialogue like no one else. Here are the things that kept me plodding along through the rest of this nonsense book.
"There’s something wrong with me. I’m going to end up an old maid.”
“There’s no such thing as an old maid.”
“Wh-what would you call a middle-aged lady who’s never married?”
“A woman with standards?” West suggested. (page 5)
“There’s no such thing as an old maid.”
“Wh-what would you call a middle-aged lady who’s never married?”
“A woman with standards?” West suggested. (page 5)
West! He's so funny!
"Some men are an acquired taste. Like oysters, or Gorgonzola cheese.” (page 6)
Why did this make me snort out loud?
"Men who make history rarely make good husbands.” (page 61)
Barack Obama had better never let me down as I assume he's the exception to this rule.
“Scruples always complicate a decision unnecessarily. They’re like those extra body parts none of us need.”
Winterborne paused in the act of lifting a forkful of dressed crab to his lips. “What extra body parts?”
“Things like the appendix. Male nipples. The external ears.”
“I need my ears.”
“Only the inner parts. The outer ear structure is superfluous in humans.” (page 65)
Winterborne paused in the act of lifting a forkful of dressed crab to his lips. “What extra body parts?”
“Things like the appendix. Male nipples. The external ears.”
“I need my ears.”
“Only the inner parts. The outer ear structure is superfluous in humans.” (page 65)
I need my ears! Again with me chortling audibly.
“Rochester is an irrational arse,” Tom said flatly. “He could have simply told Jane the truth and installed his wife in a decent Swiss clinic.” (page 226)
Yes! Why is Rochester supposed to be all dreamy and romantic? He's just an abusive jerk.
I'd like to finish my ranty ranty rant about this book with a tiny complaint. Cassandra is supposed to be a woman who is concerned with her weight. She is forever letting out her clothes, men leer at her chest, and she's quite self-conscious about it. So, what's with the cover of this book? The model has many good attributes, but she's not a girl who is worried about her corset no longer fitting. I want the covers of these books to at least make an attempt at some representation of what's going on in the actual novel. (If people who design covers need an exemplar, consider Deliliah Green Doesn't Care, which has an amazing cover.)
Last line of note:
“Your body isn’t an ornament designed for other people’s pleasure. It belongs to you alone. You’re magnificent just as you are. Whether you lose weight or gain more, you’ll still be magnificent. Have a cake if you want one.”
Cassandra looked patently disbelieving. “You’re saying if I gained another stone, or even two stones, on top of this, you’d still find me desirable?”
“God, yes,” he said without hesitation. “Whatever size you are, I’ll have a place for every curve.” (page 228)
Mixed bag, this book. 2.5/5 star
Yes, the cover does look a little inaccurate! This book sounds annoying, with a few bright shining moments.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't recommend this book, sadly. I thought I had turned a corner with this author because I did mostly enjoy her last two books, but that's not how it turned out. There's one more book in this series and I'm going to finish it out before I switch to a different author.
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