A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting

FR/En review
“A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting” est une lecture agréable et facile, divertissante, un peu dans le ton de Bridgerton, une histoire classique de enemies-to-lovers. J'ai apprécié passer ce moment de lecture, mais j'ai trouvé que l'intrigue manquait parfois de profondeur. Les personnages étaient bien développés et l'alchimie entre les protagonistes était la, mais j'aurais aimé une exploration plus approfondie des thèmes abordés. Cependant, c'était une lecture légère et divertissante, parfaite pour une après-midi détente.

“A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting” is a pleasant and easy read, entertaining, somewhat reminiscent of the Bridgerton series, featuring a classic enemies-to-lovers storyline. I enjoyed my time with this book, finding it to be a nice escape, but I felt that the plot lacked depth at times. The characters were well-developed, and there was undeniable chemistry between the protagonists, yet I wished for a more thorough exploration of the themes presented. Nonetheless, it was a light and enjoyable read, perfect for a leisurely afternoon

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

2 stars. Very frustrating with a lot of wasted potential.

An amazing historical romance book is hiding somewhere inside this novel... It just wasn't let out to play!

This book has a very slow start, which I didn't mind, as it was doing a great job at setting up the story. Similarly, the writing style could be seen as pretentious and trying too hard. But to me it read more like over-the-top, sarcastic, almost witty humour. And as such, it worked very well! It was very funny. . . . For the first 30%.

After that the book just stalled, it kept going around in circles - replaying the same moments over and over again - without ever moving forwards and just throwing in meaningless side stories along the way. I was incredibly bored. And the writing style started to become very tedious to read.

The romance was less slow burn, than no burn at all! Everything was very surface level. It had so much potential, it could have been so swoonworthy, all the pieces were there! But it just didn't work and I didn't really care in the end. The romantic plot was barely moving and neither cute nor sexy. Not even funny!

They are both very intelligent, which makes for great banter because they are so equally matched! The writing has this great bite to it when they interact. Sadly, all their moments are cut short and summarised in a few sentences! We don't get to spend any quality time with them!

I also think it's such an odd choice to make this a closed door romance. It feels off structurally and makes no sense, given how openly and non-judgemental the book discusses the female protagonist's mother's life as a courtesan! (Not a spoiler. The reader finds out about that right at the start.)

Every now and then the book tries to delve into a discussion about money and women's place in society. But it never goes anywhere meaningful.

Overall, it was just so bitty! There are too many little snippets and none get enough room to fully develop. We just moved on to the next bit. And the romance was practically non-existent. It just felt so directionless!

I wonder who the audience for this book is supposed to be? There isn't enough romance for the historical romance readers and not enough plot or social commentary for the historical fiction readers. I enjoy both genres and still felt very unsatisfied and let down by it. This book just doesn't know what it wants to be. There are too many different things happening and none of them are truly successful.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I read it in two days and had a great time doing so, I found it entertaining and loved the initial setting. But despite everything, I found it a bit lacking in character development. I would have liked to know more about the main and secondary characters, their way of thinking, their feelings... While there are a few glimpses of them in this book, I would have enjoyed more of them. I found Kitty relatable, but not really endearing, in that she was rather obnoxious towards certain characters. While I sympathized with her and her situation, it was harder to really like her, even if she was kind of redeemed in the course of the book. The male protagonist was much more sympathetic and endearing to me, in terms of his relationship with his family or his traumas, although, again, I would have liked to see more. The ending also left me wanting for more; it felt rushed and not a whole lot as climactic as I thought it would be. Overall, it was a fun but also a tad disappointing read for me.