Review: The Sum of All Kisses

The Sum of All Kisses by Julia Quinn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the first Juila Quinn book that I've read, thus I can say that coming into the middle of a series without any idea of what's going on did not detract from the story. You would probably get more out of it if you read the first two, but I didn't have a problem just jumping right in.

The first 75% of the story is quite lighthearted and amusing with only a few hints at some darker aspects (besides the dual that set the whole story off that is). However, once you hit the full explanation of those darker bits...it's almost whiplash from the lighter tone of the rest of the book *SEE END OF REVIEW FOR TRIGGER WARNINGS*.
Admittedly it does take the story even further away from a fast, candy-fluff romance, but I did have to put the book down for a few hours to deal with the metaphorical push out of the carriage.

Lady Sarah dances along the edge of being too irritating to like at the start of the book, but Quinn reigns her in and off-sets her with her younger sisters who are all delightful side characters. I found myself feeling more for Hugh even though he's the one who started all the dreadful business off, it's apparent that none of his friends have made an effort to BE his friends after except as a way to quell rumors and put the duel behind them.
It's surprising that he isn't even more sour than he is.

Fast read, and amusing except for the last 30% which is still fast but made me twitchy as I was not mentally prepared for it.





TRIGGER WARNINGS AND POSSIBLE SPOILERS:


Talk of past child abuse of grown characters, talk of past spousal abuse, reference of past sexual assault. Nothing overly explicit, but I still found it all highly unnerving.

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