I love the language so much and it makes me almost hate Sherry because the story is too good and I fight between the need to know how it will all work out and the pure pleasure I get from the turns of phrase. I read the quote in the above review about the British class system out loud to my husband because I just loved it so much. I read other parts to him too and while he was awake I was a good girl reading every word, savoring them like Verity’s dinners. But once he went to bed it was a mad dash to the finish with pages skipped and paragraphs skimmed.

I feel so cheated (by myself) when I do this and so have backtracked to once again luxuriate with each line. At the same time, I’m glad I have those pages to go back to because I’m not yet ready to say goodbye to these people. Now if I can only stretch it out until next summer, maybe I’ll have developed some will power by then.

And I too must call out Sherry’s wonderfully complex secondary characters. My heart broke for the brothers and their loss of each other. In the same vein, I adored Lizzie and felt I took a punch to the gut when William expressed his preference for music halls. Thank goodness all was restored to right in the both the music room and the kitchen.

The hero of NOT QUITE A HUSBAND is the youngest brother of Will Marsden from DELICIOUS. And the secondary hero, I think, will be dear sweet Freddie from PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS. I’ve got an interesting girl in mind for him.

Oh good. Freddie needs a heroine. Okay so it was the son in between Will and this youngest son who is the one Will got disinherited for? Right? I’m looking forward to it.

Another thing I really liked was the depiction of Bertie. He’s dead. He’s never on the scene in the book, but he’s complicated. We see his inner conflicts through what he left behind, and we see the hero’s and heroine’s conflicted feelings about him.

Yeah. What Stuart discovered Bertie wanted buried with him knocked me for a (nice) loop.

Great review, Jayne. Sherry was kind enough to give me an ARC when I met her a couple of weeks ago, and I pretty much devoured it in a single sitting. Dare I make the obvious pun? No, no I will not.

Of course I liked the fairy-tale-esqueness of it. Another thing I really liked was the depiction of Bertie. He’s dead. He’s never on the scene in the book, but he’s complicated. We see his inner conflicts through what he left behind, and we see the hero’s and heroine’s conflicted feelings about him.

In Private Arrangements I loved how characters that could easily have been stock–the socially climbing mother, the earnest young suitor–became complex and interesting in their own right. Sherry did it again with Delicious. A character who had wronged the protagonists could easily have been a one-dimensional villain, but instead he came off as a man who had done bad things, but who remembered and regretted them.

Sheesh. I’m gushing again. I’ve got to stop that. Or, at least, I should go back to my own blog and gush there…Anyway, what I meant to say was, Delicious is a great read.

The hero of NOT QUITE A HUSBAND is the youngest brother of Will Marsden from DELICIOUS. And the secondary hero, I think, will be dear sweet Freddie from PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS. I’ve got an interesting girl in mind for him.

It’s due out sometime in the summer of 2009, which is good, since I’ve my file open and there is only 14,828 words written. So I’d better get back to work. :-)

But I was surprised at how spoilerish this review seemed (maybe I’m wrong). It might have been nice to get a warning at the beginning.

Thanks for the review!