Reading For The Heck Of It

And then I read the sequel, The Cavendon Women, and I found it to be more enjoyable than the first book (it's a series and I have no idea how many are going to be in it as this book just came out). I think that this was because rather than dwelling on one dramatic event as she did with Cavendon Hall, Bradford touched more on each member of the family (of which there are many). The characters were somewhat more fleshed out and (GASP!!) their flaws were brought to light. I was starting to believe these two families were pod people to be honest. Everyone is gorgeous, talented, and morally upright. I prefer my characters to be multi-dimensional. I would like to applaud Bradford for imbuing the women with extraordinary strength and independence especially for the time period in which it was set (the roaring 20's). It's hard to give a definitive review for either of these books. I didn't hate them but I certainly didn't love them. I doubt I'll ever reread them and I'm uncertain if I'll even retain the memory of the characters beyond the writing of this review. :-/

Also, I'm really just not a fan of romance novels and the way these had been presented I thought for sure they were historical fiction. It was more like tiny snippets from history were glimpsed through a peephole of a multi-layered romance. And why do there need to be so many gratuitous sex scenes??