kathleen

I'd rather pull my own 2 front teeth than go through another Wilkie Collins book.

Its certainly turned me off the genre for a good long while. At least male authors of the period.

The simple fact these narrators didn't even give a HINT of a yawn while suffering through all the surplus verbage entitles them not only to a chance to read to me again, they positively deserve medals for their efforts here.

I am very well acquainted with the writing style of this period: florid, loquacious, verbose.... but this? Collins made me want to scream. Collins made even the "heroine" female lead so insipid as to show her as barely conscious of her surroundings and helpless, timid, .....vapid.
The turns the story took were always apparent beforehand; the ending no surprise.
Bummer bummer bummer.

some semi-literate teenager.

she was incapable of pulling off a man's part and her women were stiff and /or valley girl.
she tried her best but she can't handle accents very well: her scotsmen kept lapsing into russian.

the author. the females were all pretty simple minded and weak willed.

if this was a first attempt: nice try, but i don't want to pay for first trys.

the characters are fleshed out and plots just out of normal range.

dare i say ALL of janet evanovich's books????

lorelei king has a wonderful voice and uses it to best advantage in all she does.