Upon
her parents’ death and the resulting financial devastation to her family, it
is up to the inimitable Venetia Milton to support her younger siblings and
her aunt, else they become destitute. Forging a career as a much sought
after photographer in a time when women rarely hold jobs in male dominated
professions, Venetia finally manages to obtain a job that will secure
her family’s fiscal well-being for some time, even allowing an advantageous
move to London.
Knowing a widow will be better received in Polite Society than an unmarried
woman, she invents a late husband, adopting the last name of Gabriel Jones,
the man who showed her one night of passion before his untimely demise. The
plot succeeds better than she ever expected, and soon she is the toast of
the town, an acclaimed photographer in high demand by the most fashionable
names in London’s
elite society.
But the unexpected rival of the very much alive Mr. Jones on her doorstep
threatens her carefully laid plans, while the danger that follows him
threatens her very life!
This
is the first book from Amanda Quick I have yet read. I was quite excited to
read a book by this much lauded author, and the plot for Second Sight
struck me as a story well aligned with my reading tastes. With a blend of
the paranormal romance amidst a Victorian era setting, it is the kind of
tale that I would normally find myself riveted to.
The plot was indeed well done, with some very intriguing ‘whodunit’ twists
and a suspenseful story that keeps the reader guessing until the end of the
book. Where the book missed, in my opinion, was in the character
development. The prologue to the story starred the hero and another male
character, and neither intrigued me throughout the prologue. In fact, I
could not discern which of the two men was the hero.
The first chapter introduced the heroine of the piece, Venetia Milton/Jones,
and it is her character that the reader can empathize with first. Through
her eyes, we are reintroduced to the hero, Gabriel Jones, and become more
interested in this character as well. Both are likable, attractive people,
and I genuinely wanted to see them together, but found my excitement for the
match dampened by the consistent formality between the pair, even while in
the throes of passion.
There was almost no real character development for the cast of supporting
characters, including
Venetia’s family, who are present in many scenes. Throughout the
first half of the book, these characters remained largely one dimensional,
only becoming slightly more interesting in the second half of the book as we
saw a bit more of their personalities. Still, having finished the book, I
cannot tell you much about something so minor as
Venetia’s family’s
physical descriptions, beyond that her sister is 16 years of age and her
brother is somewhat younger.
With the lack of character development, I felt disconnected to these
characters and the story. I could have put the book down at any time and
not wondered again what had happened to them.
Since reading Amanda Quick’s Second Sight, I have discussed my
impressions with friends who have also read her work, and they have found
the same issues with newer books that I experienced in this one. Based on
their opinions of her earlier works, I would like to give one of her older
stories a read, as I understand those books did not suffer from the same
lack of character development. If the characters are as well-fleshed in the
older books as the mystery was in this one, they will be worth giving this
author a second chance.
Reviewed by Jennifer
