Shades of Milk and Honey

Overall, I did enjoy the book, loving the mixture fantasy and regency. It was something unique, which was the reason why I picked up the book in the first place. As I started to listen to the book (audiobook narrated by the author), I liked learning about Jane and the relationships with her family, the Dunkirks and the rest of the people of their neighborhood. However, some of the characters annoyed me as the book continued. Jane, while praised for her wit and glamour abilities (which I associated with intelligence and logic), proved to be somewhat dense about the happenings around her, especially in the flirtations of Mr. Dunkirk and the identity of Melody's secret beau. Melody was a spoiled brat who used her beauty constantly to one-up her plain sister because she was jealous of her talents, which didn't make sense to me. Everyone paid all the attention in the world to Melody and very little to Jane, but Melody wished for the attention of every eligible bachelor it seemed. She even at one point had her sights on another, but still grew upset at Jane for supposedly having two suitors. It was completely immature of her. Their mother made my physically roll my eyes at some of her words and I practically hated her by the end of the book. I did like the supporting characters such as their father, Mr. Dunkirk, and Mr. Vincent.

The end of the book seemed rushed as it attempted to tie up loose ends. It was a messy recounting of the events of the week after the duel. I also don't remember if Beth, Jane's best friend throughout the book, received an update in the rushed summary of events. I find that odd since Beth was such a prominent character after her introduction. The last chapter was more like an epilogue than an actual chapter, which caused the book to end on a ‘meh' note.

One thing that would make the book a bit more interesting is a more detailed explanation of glamour. The construction and formation of it was hinted at throughout the book but never explained in the amount of detail I wished. I was just told constantly that both Jane and Mr. Vincent were very accomplished in their control of it. I love seeing the science between the magic, so to speak, detailed in books and I think that having an explanation of how glamour is created would have added more to the fantasy setting.