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The Sum of All Kisses SmytheSmith Julia Quinn 9780062072924 Books

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The Sum of All Kisses SmytheSmith Julia Quinn 9780062072924 Books

I really wish that I could give this book a higher rating. I was super excited to get the chance to read Hugh's story. Hugh made a very stupid mistake that led to permanent damage in his leg, effectively crippling him for life. But his mistake did not just cost him. Daniel Smythe-Smith also suffered when Hugh's father decided to put a hit order out on him, sending Daniel to the Continent to save himself. We saw in book two that Hugh was able to eventually work out some sort of deal that allowed Daniel to come home, and in this story we get to see exactly what that deal entailed. So I was excited to see this man get his Happily Ever After. He was a man suffering for the misdeeds of his past, a man judged harshly by society, and yet a man who seemed to have a bit of greatness to his personality ... a greatness that no one else really took the time to notice. He deserved a Happily Ever After. I wanted to see that ... badly. So it pains me that I can't give his story more stars.

Here's why:

I wanted more of Hugh's story. Well ... there was a lot of Hugh in this book, but I think that his development as a character should have taken more of a central part of the plot. He was a broken man ... strong, but broken. He believed he was probably never going to find love. He didn't think he deserved it. He felt that any punishment society offered him was well justified for his prior sins. Once he began to feel strong feelings toward Sarah he began to face real internal struggles as he realized that he could not be the strength to her that he believed a man should be. He felt like less than a man. These feelings were fascinating to me. I would have loved a more detailed examination of the changes that take place in him that allow him to love Sarah and eventually feel worthy of her love. Sadly, this just never really took place, and for that reason I feel as if this book lost a real opportunity to hit it out of the ballpark as a story. I did like Hugh as a character ... definitely my favorite of the book.

I did not really like Sarah much at all at first. Her anger was rooted in a good cause, but it was so over the top that it became completely irrational. When I can't feel the need for such emotion I have a hard time as a reader finding the capacity to feel real empathy for a character. That was my problem with Sarah. I didn't find her cute or witty or funny or caring at all for the first half of the book. However, once she began to put aside her irrational anger and truly see Hugh for the person he was I found myself liking her much more as a character. Her compassion for him and a real understanding of exactly what he needed in different situations made her a perfect match for him. Still, I wouldn't list her as a top book heroine on any list. Her reaction upon learning about what Hugh had promised his father seemed a huge overreaction compared to the actual situation at hand. Instead of feeling empathy for her I was highly annoyed with her, and even her eventual role in saving Hugh in the final chapters of the book was not enough to rescue my opinion of her. Bummer.

Still, with all of those issues I was still heading toward giving this a four star rating. This is Julia Quinn, after all, and she can write romances that are intelligent and witty and swoon worthy. Unfortunately I had to drop a star because of the incredibly ridiculous story line involving Hugh's father. Hugh's father was a horrible, horrible villain for this story. He was so bad, and his plans were so horrible, that he ceased being interesting as a character. Instead of adding drama and depth to the story he turned the entire thing into a giant melodramatic soap opera. His plan to ensure that there was an heir was completely RIDICULOUS. I had to put that in all caps because a lower caps word could not capture just how ridiculous this plot was. Instead of feeling any real fear or apprehension for what Hugh and Sarah were facing, I found myself rolling my eyes, thinking how badly this book had been plotted out. That is never a good thing when reading a book, and although I have regularly felt that way with other regency romances, this is the first time that I have ever felt that way in a Julia Quinn book.

Having said all this ... this isn't a bad book. I did enjoy reading it for the most part. But this is not on par with other Julia Quinn books that I have read. I still think she is the best regency romance writer out there. This book just didn't meet my expectations. Three stars. I liked it.


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The Sum of All Kisses SmytheSmith Julia Quinn 9780062072924 Books Reviews

Time for another visit with the hilarious Smythe-Smiths in all their tone deaf glory! Julia Quinn has been an auto-buy author for me since I first started reading historical romances and I always rely on her for an engrossing romance full of well-developed characters and plenty of humor. Readers have already met Lady Sarah and Lord Hugh in earlier books of this series so it was interesting to see these two opposites find love with each other.

What I Liked

---Lord Hugh Prentice is the type of romance hero that always draws me in. He is a math genius who sees everything as numbers/patterns and is less than comfortable in social situations. His life takes a drastic turn when he gets in a drunken argument with a friend (Daniel Smythe-Smith from A Night Like This) that results in a significant leg injury. I am always intrigued when an author forces a character to rethink their entire existence after an injury or illness and I thought JQ did a fabulous job here. Hugh is a complicated hero who is struggling with the fact that he believes he is less of a man because of his weak leg yet still wants to find happiness in some way.

---I will admit that Lady Sarah Pleinsworth did not endear herself to me early on this book. I found her a bit too melodramatic and loud for my personal taste. Plus it didn't help that she was so horrible to Hugh whom I had already fallen for. But, as always, Julia Quinn showed the development of Sarah's character in such a way that I warmed up to her and was rooting for her to find her HEA.

---Because of the past, Hugh and Sarah's relationship starts off pretty rocky and could be defined as an example of the hate-to-love theme. And I find this type of story so entertaining! I love it when characters are thrown into awkward situations that force them to see things from another side and discover that maybe their arch nemesis isn't so bad after all. Plus it is always fun to read the snarky comments and banter between such characters and Hugh and Sarah didn't disappoint me.

---Family is a big part of this series due to the fact that it centers around this large band of untalented musicians. In The Sum of All Kisses, readers get to see two different types of family with Sarah's warm (and often embarrassing) crew and Hugh's demented father. I personally loved every scene that involved Sarah's little sisters especially Frances and her unicorn obsession. And this book continues to showcase the close bond between the Smythe-Smith cousins (Honoria, Sarah, and Iris).

What I Didn't Like

---I thought the "villain" of The Sum of All Kisses was too over-the-top for this type of story. I understand the need for external drama to keep the interest going, but the danger section felt abrupt and out of place. Despite my misgivings, I do have to admit that I liked the fact that the heroine got to save the hero. It was a nice change of pace in this genre that is full of damsels in distress.

My Conclusion

While this book will not be remembered as one of the best Julia Quinn books I've read, I found it to be enjoyable and worth my time. The Smythe-Smiths are just so much fun to read about and the characterization is spot-on. I can't wait to see who gets their story next though I'm hoping for stoic Iris or vibrant Daisy.
This book was exactly what I needed after reading a couple of books with a much darker story prior to it. It was light and witty without being meaningless and silly.

Hugh has been mentioned in the other books as almost a villain like character - understandably so, considering his role in "the duel". But this story shows that there are always two sides to every story, it shows that good people can make horrific, life altering mistakes without evil intent. It shows us the importance of withholding judgement without knowing all the facts - the good and the bad. It shows us the lengths someone will go to to try and fix an unfixable mistake. And it shows us the healing power of forgiveness.

Hugh is a tortured man, both physically and emotionally. He has all but given up any hope of a happy life. Sarah is a woman who holds a grudge - she (like most of us) judges Hugh without knowing all the facts - she hates him for what he did and basically uses him as a scapegoat for everything that gone wrong in her life since the duel.

The two are thrown together at Marcus and Honoria's wedding. Slowly Sarah starts to realize that Hugh is not the evil man she thought. When she finally looks past her preconceived notions - she sees what a wonderful man Hugh is and starts to fall in love.

But whenever does the path of true love ever run smooth? Not in this book, that's for sure! Personally I thought Sarah's reaction to Hugh's bargain with his father was over the top and childish. But she redeems herself.

When all is said and done, I loved the book and I look forward to Iris' story but I think it will be hard to beat this story!!
I really wish that I could give this book a higher rating. I was super excited to get the chance to read Hugh's story. Hugh made a very stupid mistake that led to permanent damage in his leg, effectively crippling him for life. But his mistake did not just cost him. Daniel Smythe-Smith also suffered when Hugh's father decided to put a hit order out on him, sending Daniel to the Continent to save himself. We saw in book two that Hugh was able to eventually work out some sort of deal that allowed Daniel to come home, and in this story we get to see exactly what that deal entailed. So I was excited to see this man get his Happily Ever After. He was a man suffering for the misdeeds of his past, a man judged harshly by society, and yet a man who seemed to have a bit of greatness to his personality ... a greatness that no one else really took the time to notice. He deserved a Happily Ever After. I wanted to see that ... badly. So it pains me that I can't give his story more stars.

Here's why

I wanted more of Hugh's story. Well ... there was a lot of Hugh in this book, but I think that his development as a character should have taken more of a central part of the plot. He was a broken man ... strong, but broken. He believed he was probably never going to find love. He didn't think he deserved it. He felt that any punishment society offered him was well justified for his prior sins. Once he began to feel strong feelings toward Sarah he began to face real internal struggles as he realized that he could not be the strength to her that he believed a man should be. He felt like less than a man. These feelings were fascinating to me. I would have loved a more detailed examination of the changes that take place in him that allow him to love Sarah and eventually feel worthy of her love. Sadly, this just never really took place, and for that reason I feel as if this book lost a real opportunity to hit it out of the ballpark as a story. I did like Hugh as a character ... definitely my favorite of the book.

I did not really like Sarah much at all at first. Her anger was rooted in a good cause, but it was so over the top that it became completely irrational. When I can't feel the need for such emotion I have a hard time as a reader finding the capacity to feel real empathy for a character. That was my problem with Sarah. I didn't find her cute or witty or funny or caring at all for the first half of the book. However, once she began to put aside her irrational anger and truly see Hugh for the person he was I found myself liking her much more as a character. Her compassion for him and a real understanding of exactly what he needed in different situations made her a perfect match for him. Still, I wouldn't list her as a top book heroine on any list. Her reaction upon learning about what Hugh had promised his father seemed a huge overreaction compared to the actual situation at hand. Instead of feeling empathy for her I was highly annoyed with her, and even her eventual role in saving Hugh in the final chapters of the book was not enough to rescue my opinion of her. Bummer.

Still, with all of those issues I was still heading toward giving this a four star rating. This is Julia Quinn, after all, and she can write romances that are intelligent and witty and swoon worthy. Unfortunately I had to drop a star because of the incredibly ridiculous story line involving Hugh's father. Hugh's father was a horrible, horrible villain for this story. He was so bad, and his plans were so horrible, that he ceased being interesting as a character. Instead of adding drama and depth to the story he turned the entire thing into a giant melodramatic soap opera. His plan to ensure that there was an heir was completely RIDICULOUS. I had to put that in all caps because a lower caps word could not capture just how ridiculous this plot was. Instead of feeling any real fear or apprehension for what Hugh and Sarah were facing, I found myself rolling my eyes, thinking how badly this book had been plotted out. That is never a good thing when reading a book, and although I have regularly felt that way with other regency romances, this is the first time that I have ever felt that way in a Julia Quinn book.

Having said all this ... this isn't a bad book. I did enjoy reading it for the most part. But this is not on par with other Julia Quinn books that I have read. I still think she is the best regency romance writer out there. This book just didn't meet my expectations. Three stars. I liked it.