Behind the Scenes

BY: Jen Turano

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Miss Permilia Griswold may have been given the opportunity of a debut into New York high society, but no one warned her she wasn’t guaranteed to “take.” After spending the last six years banished to the wallflower section of the ballroom, she’s finally putting her status on the fringes of society to good use by penning anonymous society gossip columns under the pseudonym “Miss Quill.”

Mr. Asher Rutherford has managed to maintain his status as a reputable gentleman of society despite opening his own department store. While pretending it’s simply a lark to fill his time, he has quite legitimate reasons for needing to make his store the most successful in the country.
When Permilia overhears a threat against the estimable Mr. Rutherford, she’s determined to find and warn the man. Disgruntled at a first meeting that goes quite poorly and results in Asher not believing her, she decides to take matters into her own hands, never realizing she’ll end up at risk as well.

As Asher and Permilia are forced to work together and spend time away from the spotlight of society, perhaps there’s more going on behind the scenes than they ever could have anticipated. . . .

Why I Choose this Book:

When I opened the package with this book in it I was totally surprised because I hadn’t remembered requesting it, and it’s not the type of book I generally get for review. After beginning the book though, I remembered being intrigued by the premise of the main character being an undercover newspaper reporter.

What I Thought about this Book:

There’s a reason I don’t generally request to read this type of book: It really wasn’t my style and I didn’t really like it. (Sorry!)

Before I read this book I read a couple of other books by the same author from Overdrive (library e-books) because I wanted to become familiar with her style, plus I had read some good reviews from my friends on Goodreads. Sadly instead of making me laugh, this book made me want to shake my head and roll my eyes, which is rather unfortunate.

But y’all, Jen Turano is a bestselling author. That means that I’m obviously not a good representation of a lot of her readers. If y’all like over-the-top unrealistic behavior, misunderstandings, and goofiness, then this book would most likely be wonderful for you. From the reviews I’ve glanced at, a lot of people find Miss Jen’s style to be laugh-out-loud funny, and I applaud that. Just, I apparently don’t have the same sense of humor as she does.

As far as the story itself, I was amused partway through to realize it was somewhat related to a popular fairytale. That *did* amuse me, because I hadn’t even picked up on the clues throughout the book until a certain scene. So, props to Miss Jen for that.

Overall, the book was clean, another thing I’m thankful for. Yes, the characters were stuck on the idea of making a perfect match, etc… but that’s fairly common for Historical Fiction from that period. I was thankful that at least the book didn’t revolve around how amazing the characters thought each other looked, because I can’t abide books like that.

I was impressed with the style of the book. It was actually tiring to me to read all the highfaluting language that the book contained. Partway through the book I took note on how Miss Jen not only used that type of writing while the characters were speaking, but also for the thought processes. So, even though I didn’t exactly *like* it, I do very much applaud Miss Jen, because it’s obvious to me that she’s a talented writer.

Conclusion:

I probably won’t be reading any more books by this author, although this one did hold my interest better than her last book.

Rating:

I’m giving Behind the Scenes 3 out of 5 stars, and 4 out of 10.

*I received this book from Bethany House Publishers