A Night Like This by Julia Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have always appreciated the classic works that are set during the Regency period (i.e. Jane Austen) and have therefore sort of stayed away from “fan fiction” style romance novels that attempt to recreate life during that period with the addition of addressing topics that used to be taboo. I was afraid that these types of stories would be very cliched and more erotica than romance, specially after I saw what other books Goodreads recommended for me based on this book.
But I was completely wrong about this story. Yes, it did address topics that were seen too vulgar to put into words 200 years ago and could have seemed out of place with the time period this story was set in, but it worked quite well. For most of the novel I was giggling or smiling at the author’s talent to infuse the stuffy rules of conduct expected back then with humour and hilarity that makes one realized how absurd these societal rules actually were.
The romance was tastefully written and the chemistry between the romantic leads was a blend of genuine attraction, passion and comedy. The characters were well developed and the plot did not get tangled up in some useless tangent that took away the focus from the main point of the story. It contained a lot of humour and wit, some drama (but not melodrama), some cheese expectant of chick lit and a little bit of steam that did not make me feel uncomfortable reading it.
This book was a nice light read that I looked forward to reading whenever I had a bit of spare time.
