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Title: Every Whispered Word
ISBN: 0553584421
Author:
Karyn Monk
Publicate Date: 2005-03-01
Publish: 2005-03-01
List Price: $6.99
Average Customer Rating: 3.0
Format: Mass Market Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $3.18
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.01
Amazon Merchant Price: $6.99
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Disappointing
I was disappointed in this book. It it didn't flow very well and I was hoping for more.
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2: A light read but something's missing
Lady Camelia Marshall is a desperate archaeologist. She in charge of a dig site in South Africa that's flooded, plagued with setbacks, plus she's running low on money. Camelia decides that Simon Kent, a renowned inventor, is just the man to help her out of her predicament. However, she fails to convince Simon to do what she wants, which is to build for her a steam-powered pump.
Camelia and Simon part ways, with Simon's detailed drawing of a steam-powered pump in Camelia's reticule, which she discreetly "borrowed" from his lab. But then two thugs, who have been hired to terrorize and warn her away from Africa, attack Camelia in an alleyway. Simon comes to her rescue. After making sure Camelia is safely ensconced in her carriage, he returns to find his house on fire. Camelia had unwittingly set her and Simon on a dangerous path to finish her father's archaeological work and to unravel the identities of those who are trying to prevent that from happening.
This was an easy read and had a nice-flowing plot to it, even a little suspenseful. However, something was missing that would've made the story complete. The writing was okay but perhaps didn't adequately do justice to the characters. Our hero and heroine, Camelia and Simon, had only a few moments alone within the entire story but by the end, we're supposed to believe that they're desperately in love with each other. I think further convincing was definitely in order. If the author had spent more time developing the relationship between Camelia and Simon, and their feelings for each other, their love for each other would've been believable.
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3: A good premise poorly written
From the back cover:
In a conspiracy of hearts the survival of love depends on every whispered word...
When Lady Camelia Marshall barges uninvited into Simon Kent's London laboratory with a business proposition, she finds the famous inventor not at all as she had imagined. Far from the elderly scholar she expected, Kent is handsomely disheveled, suprisingly brawny, and decidedly uninterested in helping her pursue the archaeological work of her late father that could make known to the world the stirring secrets of an ancient culture and the mysterious cave paintings of the lost Tomb of Kinds.
Though intrigued by the strikingly unconventional beauty of Lady Camelia, Kent cannot fathom leaving behind his inventions and research to scrabble in the African dirt. But while he may not grasp the magnitude of Camelia's proposition at once, someone else does--someone willing to go to dangerous lengths to stop Camelia...and anyone associated with her. Suddenly, seduced by the sun-kissed hair and bronze skin of this gifted and indomitable woman, Kent finds himself drawn into a risky adventure that will lead him to an astonishing paradise he could never have imagined.
And my review:
I didn't expect to love this book, but I did expect to like it, as I'd enjoyed Karyn Monk's ONCE A WARRIOR, and never once had to force myself to finish it. Unfortunately, that was not the case with EVERY WHISPERED WORD.
On the plus side, this book is written with Monk's trademark humor and attention to historical detail. Her characters are well-rounded "real" people. I especially liked the idea of two misfits (the mad inventor and the female archeologist) falling in love.
It should be noted that while this book is part of a series, it also works as a stand-alone. I wasn't left feeling lost, even though I hadn't read any of the other books in the series. I won't get into a plot synopsis here, as I think many of the other reviews on this page do that quite nicely. But I will give you the reasons why this book got only two stars from me.
I already mentioned the humor, which is always a plus in a romance. The problem here was that a lot of it was out of place. For example, there was a scene where the heroine, Camelia, gets attacked by a couple of ruffians intent on stealing her money and giving her a warning to stop her excavation work. The author goes off onto this completely unrelated tangent where the attackers are discussing about how one will know if the other's being sarcastic or not.
(Paraphrased) "Well, I'll let you know when I'm about to say something sarcastic so that you won't pay any attention to it," the first one says.
"If I'm not supposed to pay attention to it, then why bother saying it at all?" the second one replies.
"Okay fine, I just won't be sarcastic at all" the first one shoots back.
Funny? Yes. Appropriate to the scene? No! The heroine is being restrained with her arms behind her back and a hand over her mouth. She's fighting for her life and the two men are taking the time to discuss their communications problems. It just didn't fit.
The author also liked to do pages and pages of dialogue, often with no prose in between the phrases. After awhile, it was really annoying. I constantly found myself having to go back and count the lines of dialogue so I'd know who was speaking (odd lines: hero, even lines; heroine). This was distracting and made it a lot harder to lose myself in the story, which is ultimately what I want from a book.
Fans of Monk's will no doubt want to buy EVERY WHISPERED WORD anyway. If you're a newcomer to this author's work, I suggest you borrow this book from the library, or try ONCE A WARRIOR, which was an enjoyable read, even if it's not a keeper.
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4: Boring and unbelievable
I liked the premise of this book--it had a different twist--nerdy inventor, etc. But, it was boring. I couldn't get into it and the book never got going. I finally ended up skimming, which is the death knell of a book. I happened onto a love scene and from what I could tell, it was one of the first. I couldn't believe it. The heroine went from an inexperienced young lady to woman of the world lickety split!! I felt this scene really bordered on the unbelievable. As far as I could tell, the couple had barely even kissed before. Unfortunately, that scene didn't improve the book for me. It started boring, became unbelievable, and returned to boring.
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5: Great potenrial, poor execution
I really loved the potential of the story line. But the execution was very poor, unfortunately. It could have been a significantly stronger story with just a few adjustments. Mostly to the love scenes. The hero and heroine just fall into bed... of course she's a virgin. But... I did manage to re-write it in my head... and I liked the book much better once I'd done this.
The book was funny, the characters likeable and fairly well fleshed out. Before the first love scene I was so HAPPY at how good the book was... I went and bought the first book in the series, The Prisoner. I read that too... and all I can say is I agree that she's capable of much better execution.... Overall I'd give it about a three or manybe three and a half stars for the humor.
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