Book Review: A Most Peculiar Circumstance

Book Review                          :           A Most Peculiar Circumstance

Author                                     :           Jen Turano

Personal Quality Rating         :           5

[The “Personal Quality Rating” is a score that I give to the book on a scale of 0 to 5 based on my personal liking/disliking of the book.  0 is bad and 5 is great!]

Reviewer                                 :           Yvette van Niekerk

Summary:

This Historical Romance Novel is written using the setting of the New York City.  The story starts with a beautiful young woman who finds herself in a peculiar position.  Arabella Beckett is in jail in Gilman with a young lady she rescued from precarious men.  A private detective comes to her and Miss James rescue.  The private detective and Miss Beckett don’t agree on anything and sparks fly at the onset of their meeting.

Miss Beckett who stands up for the Suffrage movement considers Mr. Theodore Wilder a bit of old-fashioned and set in his ways.  From the beginning of the story the two of them are at loggerheads and don’t find any common ground.  The reason for the private investor was to bring Miss Beckett back to New York City.

The characters in the story are so funny the author really knows how to get you laughing out load, I truly enjoyed the read.  The plot thickens and the story gets truly interesting with the ladies of the night and evil human traffickers.

Social / Historical Context:

As we have established this is a Historical-Christian romance.  The writer wants to narrate the struggle of women in 1800’s.  Focusing on women rights and this, of course, causes great trouble.  The woman is influenced by her and their husbands blame Arabella for the change in their wives.

The writer's imagination is wonderful and I like the chivalry that she brings into play.  The gentlemen crack me up, their naughty antics and mannerisms.  Even the prostitutes are hilariously funny.

I feel that I have learned so much from this storytelling, the time was when women didn’t have much of a say.  Still, the men respected them and treated them properly, the good nature of the people are evident in how they wanted to help each other and stand up for each other.

Writing Style:

I believe the writing style is commonplace and a little evocation.  The writer is narrating the 1800 and the progress the women were making.  There is a plot to the story which uncovers some doggy happenings, and even uncovers a gang of people involved in human trafficking.  The plot thickens and the two main characters Theodor and Arabella are so interesting and funny and adorable all at the same time.  Once you start reading the story, you just cannot put the book down. 

My Own thoughts:

I fell in love with Arabella from the very beginning, she is spontaneous, funny and a real live wire.  Her life is interesting and she is such an outgoing personality.  Once you get into the story you just cannot wait to see what she gets up to next.  Her vivacious and exciting personality is so catching and inspiring.  I admire the way the write, writes and her vocabulary is absolutely fantastic.  Creating a desire within myself to learn how to speak such beautifully in English.

For the romantic and people interested in reading the 1800’s stories this is a definite yes, you will truly enjoy it.  I must say this was such a beautiful story.