I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that made me both laugh and cry as much as Lakeshire Park did.
An invitation to a party in Lakeshire Park is the laI don’t think I’ve ever read a book that made me both laugh and cry as much as Lakeshire Park did.
An invitation to a party in Lakeshire Park is the last opportunity for the Moore sisters to marry before their stepfather dies and they are left in the streets with nothing more than the clothes they have on. Luckily for Amelia Moore, Sir Ronald seems to like her sister Clara as much as her sister does. If only Peter Wood stopped trying to convince his friend his own sister would be a way better match, Clara may have a chance.
But Amelia won’t let the horrible man put her sister’s happiness in jeopardy: she will do whatever is needed to make sure Peter stays away from her sister and Ronald, even if that means having to spend every single afternoon with the devil herself.
Megan Walker created such an amazing romance I don’t know where to start. I loved that Amelia and Peter started with the wrong foot only to make it worse when they realize that their sisters will be competing for the same gentleman. How Peter quickly realized Amelia was the one he wanted and made sure to spend every single second available with her, even if that meant making up silly pacts.
If there is something that squeezes my cold heart until it floods, it’s unrequited love. I loved suffered witnessing how much pain Amelia was causing Peter without meaning to, how she was completely oblivious of how much he loved her. It was so painful, seeing him getting hopeful every single time. I understood why Amelia didn’t like him at first and it was delightful to see her trying to fight the feelings that kept growing the more time she spent next to him. The worst part is that you get why Amelia was the way she was. She only had a few days to make sure her sister got married, or got married herself if needed to save them both. There was no time for flirting and falling in love, she needed to harden her heart and be pragmatic.
There exists a peaceful moment when one first opens one's eyes, when all the world is just as it should be. And then you blink, and just like that the moment vanishes like smoke in the wind.
Sometimes I have a problem with books that are fun because they often feel superficial. Not this time. I barely ever shed a tear, but I sobbed reading Amelia’s struggles. I had the time of my life laughing along with them. I have no words to make justice to this, but this is how you write a romance. Although I wished it wasn’t a clean romance, when you have a love as big as theirs, not having smut is a price I’m more than willing to pay.
Overall, I would highly recommend Lakeshire Park if you want a historical romance that has a heroine who feels as human as you, a hero you will want to marry yourself and a well-thought plot that will keep you on your toes.
When Denland’s revolutionaries killed their king and attacked his neighbor Lascanne, men were called to war. First
Where Lizzie Bennet goes to war.
When Denland’s revolutionaries killed their king and attacked his neighbor Lascanne, men were called to war. First, it was Emily’s brother in law, Tubal. Then, when he turned fifteen, it was her little brother. But the war needed more bodies and, suddenly, it was Emily herself marching to hell.
I read this 650-page book in 24 hours. I can’t remember the last time a fantasy book absorbed me the way Guns of the Dawn did. I had to run (literally) to get to work in time because I refused to close the book without knowing the ending. It’s far from perfect-I have so many criticisms, you’ll wonder if I even liked it-, but it was the best ride and I highly highly recommend it.
Guns of the Dawn is a standalone fantasy book following one point of view, Emily, who will remind you a lot of Lizzie Bennet at the beginning. The book starts with a chapter of her in the middle of a battle, and goes back in time to tell us how she ended up there. Every chapter started with snippets of letters she wrote while she was in war, which I LOVED.
The writing style was beautiful. This was my first book by Adrian Tchaikovsky and he knows how to make you feel along with the characters and become addicted to the story. He also knows how to write women. I really appreciated that he chose a woman to narrate a war set in the 19th century. He didn’t use the excuse most authors do, about not even being able to add female POVs because ‘they don’t go to war’. It always angers me because dragons also don’t exist and authors don’t hesitate to include them every single time. On top of that, Tchaikovsky wrote it in a way that was even realistic for the time period, sending first men and then women as their last chance.
That being said, I thought it was a bit too easy how women were treated inside the military. It was mentioned that they couldn’t give them the highest ranks because men wouldn’t take them seriously but, to be honest, I felt we could have gotten more examples of them suffering discrimination due to their sex. This book is set in the 19th century, I was really doubting men were going to be so agreeable about having women commanding them during battles.
The magic doesn’t have a big role despite being ever-present in the story. There are wizards, but their power is never explained in depth, and some creatures that live in the mountain Lascanne and Denland are using as a battlefield.
You also have a bit of romance that I LOVED until I realized I wasn’t reading about Darcy and Lizzie and everything went downhill. This love interest is portrayed as a villain. Emily (h) and her family blame him for their father’s suicide and he’s supposed to have done really bad things. However, he kind of redeems himself and tries to help Emily and her family because he supposedly loves her. They had a few interesting dialogues that reminded me of Lizzie and Darcy, but I needed a bit more to really understand why he was so obsessed with her. I was sure we were going to understand everything once we heard his ‘side’ of the story, as it happens with Darcy, but that conversation never existed. So I guess he was a villain after all and only got better because he fell in love with the main character.
But that villain wasn’t the only love interest, there was also the dashing wizard who keeps Emily company while they are in the battlefield. I understood why Emily liked him: they were both living the nightmares of the war and sharing that burden helped them feel less alone. While I imagine him as this super hot wizard that could save her from everything, I still liked the other love interest more. ‘Darcy’ was her intellectual match, even if most of their meetings were told and not shown. She felt he always understood her and he became the only person she trusted. I value that more. Plus, I loved that he didn’t go to war, so we finally had a heroine writing letters in the middle of the battlefield while the hero worried at home.
What I didn’t love was that I was waiting for her to make her decision, hopefully with the love interest I liked, but it didn’t really happen. I felt a bit let down about the ending, especially since the author made an effort to include the romance, I think he should have written a bit more to make it satisfying.
As for the other characters, I LOVED the Survivors’ Club. I adored how much all the members helped each other and all the different dynamics they had. The relationship built between Emily and her brother-in-law, Tubal, was very special too. They added the characterization and the comic relief I needed from the terrible action scenes. That’s another thing I loved about this book: war wasn’t something glorious. It reminded me of how Joe Abercrombie writes war, without shying away from the horrors of it.
The last criticism I have is that I found the blurb was a bit misleading because it talks about Emily being conflicted about her emotions and having to take a choice that ‘will determine not just her own future-but that of two nations locked in battle’. It made me think the war was only going to be half of the book, then something would happen that would make Emily wonder about the conflict. But she doesn’t really take a decision until the last one-hundred pages. On top of that, I saw that final decision coming as soon as we arrived on the scene. I also think there was too much of a difference between how Lascanne thought of Denland and how Denland treated Lascanne. I found them a bit too good to be true, but maybe it’s because I don’t have faith in humanity anymore.
I’d highly recommend this book to readers who love characters. It’s really easy to get through despite being an adult fantasy book. The magic is very simple and you are only following one point of view. Even if you usually stick with young adult, you can really enjoy this one as long as you are ready to read about war. The way it’s written is very compelling and I loved following Emily, even if she sometimes drove me crazy. She always ended up taking the right decision and she had really high morals. Her character arc was so well done. I’d recommend it if you liked Lizzie, even if Emily was her own character and the war changed her a lot.
As you can imagine from the length of this review, Guns of the Dawn made me feel a lot of things. I’m someone who appreciates having a good time over reading something that’s ‘perfect’, that’s why this is one of my favorite reads of the year. So I invite you to ignore my critics and try this one if it sounds like something you may enjoy, because I think it deserves a lot more hype.
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