Brighter Than the Sun
by Julia Quinn

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Book Reviews of Brighter Than the Sun

Book Review: Fun Dialogue But Annoying Heroine
Summary: 3 Stars

Charles Wycombe, the rakish Earl of Billington, must marry before his upcoming thirtieth birthday or lose his inheritance. When he meets the vivacious and outspoken Ellie, he realizes that this very attractive miss is the answer to his prayers. No, he has no intention to actually love her nor any other woman. But she would make a suitable enough bride and mother to the heir he must produce while he goes on living his dissolute life just as before.

Ellie is very attracted to the Earl but would never agree to such an outrageous and hasty proposal except that her soon to be stepmother promises to make her life a misery. Also, by marrying she will gain access to the 300 pounds she's made through prudent investments in her father's name, and Ellie is a wonderful businesswoman.

So Charles and Ellie marry-and the fun continues as, amidst a host of mysterious accidents, they come to care for each other. Secondary characters are pretty good, except the impertinent and demanding little Judith, who fails to come off with the charm she's clearly supposed to have.

There are a lot of problems with Brighter Than the Sun. For the first two hundred plus pages, Ellie is nearly always angry. This gets very tiring and seems childish, making her somewhat unlikable. In addition, Charles and Ellie constantly getting injured or sick really starts to wear on the reader. Some plot variation is desperately needed, especially some real action to balance all the domesticity. The identity and motives of the two antagonists is apparent from the very beginning, so their revelation doesn't provide any excitement or much needed plot twists.

Everything is so predictable, and the sameness between the protagonists here and those in Quinn's earlier books starts to wear. While her main characters look physically different and have just a few key personality differences, they are all at the core the same. It is hard to believe that every principal character would be witty in the same way. Not every protagonist, for example, should speak in understatement. Quinn's characters need to be more distinctively drawn.

Still, the last hundred and fifty pages of dialogue between Charles and Ellie is mostly fun, and their penchant to produce lists in also fun. If only their cute repartee were a little different from the cute repartee in her other novels-i.e., revealing of a distinct character. In addition, the tone here is so light that their emotions are not explored to a satisfying depth. Quinn has a lot of talent, and I hope she can find a way to broaden more in subsequent novels.

Summary of Brighter Than the Sun

Charles Wycombe, the dashing - if incorrigible - Earl of Billington, needs a bride before his upcoming 30th birthday, if he hopes to earn his inheritance. The vicar?s vivacious, determined daughter, Miss Eleanor Lyndon, needs a new home, since her father?s insufferable fiancee is making her old one intolerable. Destinly has brought Charles and Ellie together - though their match at the outset appears to have been made somewhere rather hotter than heaven

Literature & Fiction Books

• Subjects > Literature & Fiction
• Romance > Contemporary
• Historical
• Regency