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The Secret History of the Pink Carnation
Unavailable
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation
Unavailable
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation
Audiobook13 hours

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation

Written by Lauren Willig

Narrated by Kate Reading

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

()

Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

Nothing goes right for Eloise. The one day she wears her new suede boots, it rains cats and dogs. When the subway stops short, she's always the one thrown into some stranger's lap. Plus, she's had more than her share of misfortune in the way of love. In fact, ever since she realized romantic heroes are a thing of the past, she's decided it's time for a fresh start.

Setting off for England, Eloise is determined to finish her dissertation on that dashing pair of spies, the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian. But what she discovers is something the finest historians have missed: the secret history of the Pink Carnation-the most elusive spy of all time. As she works to unmask this obscure spy, Eloise stumbles across answers to all kinds of questions. Like how did the Pink Carnation save England from Napoleon? What became of the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian? And will Eloise Kelly escape her bad luck and find a living, breathing hero all her own?

LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 10, 2004
ISBN9780786553280
Unavailable
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation
Author

Lauren Willig

Lauren Willig is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Band of Sisters and Two Wars and a Wedding, plus four popular historical novels cowritten with Beatriz Williams and Karen White. An alumna of Yale University, she has a graduate degree in history from Harvard and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She lives in New York City with her husband, two young children, and lots and lots of coffee.

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Reviews for The Secret History of the Pink Carnation

Rating: 3.5734393051407594 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

817 ratings79 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Sort of an interesting start to a long series. More "chick talk" than action but the characters have promise. The males are as usual mostly gormless caricatures, probably purposely but the women, in both time periods, may develop nicely.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It took me a little bit to get into this story but once I did, I enjoyed it! I look forward to reading her other books.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Wow...I really enjoyed this one. It started out very slowly for me, and I might have put it down except I had heard that this series was pretty good. I enjoyed the snippets of the present along with the past (and I'm dying to know more about Colin). The whole idea of uncovering the identity of the Pink Carnation really drove the story forward. I felt that the author reached a little on the romance front (those scenes felt a little forced), but overall I really enjoyed the story and the characters. Looking forward to the next book in this series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book carries two story lines, one set in the present and one set in the past. The present story line is about a young researcher in London investigating the story line in the past about the mystery of a spy called the Pink Carnation who operated during Napoleon's reign. Finding out the identity of the Pink Carnation is quite a romp.

    Definitely a "fluff" book. Worth it for the entertainment value. It reminded me of the books I used to read as a young teenager, so it was fun.

  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I'm not sure this book knows what it wants to be. It's certainly not a historical drama. Maybe romance, but far too long and boring, and the heroine Amy is a complete twit. The scene where the hero notices that her lovely little feet don't even reach the floor of the coach they're riding in -- as if she's a little child, I guess -- was where the story lost all credibility for me.I made it through 200 of its 400 pages before giving up.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    So very bad. No hackneyed trope spared. 300+ pages of my reading life I'll never get back.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Light, frothy satire [sometimes humorous, often silly] of the Regency Romance subgenre and of Scarlet Pimpernel. Eloise, a graduate student, travels to England to find out the real identity of the Pink Carnation, another of those flowery swashbucklers. Through the papers of the Purple Gentian's family, she discovers the identity of the Pink Carnation, who single-handedly saves England from Napoleon. Clues are strewn along the way, but the reveal is a bit surprising. Most of the switching back and forth of time periods [modern times to early 1800s back and forth] could have been skipped except beginning and end. I won't read other books in the series. I was attracted by the gorgeous cover; I guess "you can't tell a book by its cover."
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An enjoyable story akin to a root beer float: frothy, sweet, simple, and nutritionally void, but fun while it lasts.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    If you're looking for something fun to read that will hold your attention, you've come to the right place...or rather, right book. No, it's not exactly a great literary work of historical fiction, but reading isn't just about literary value, it's about entertainment as well.Willig has taken some liberties with dates and names (as she explains in the historical notes at the end of the novel), and the main characters are fictional. Despite that, it still remains fairly historically accurate, although the heroine and her companions do some things that ladies of the time would very likely not have done. If you can look past that and just enjoy the book, you'll have a lot of fun with this one.The novel has elements of a number of genres - romance, adventure, and mystery, to name a few - so there's more or less something for everyone. I knew the whole time I was reading it how predictable it was, but Willig actually surprised me in the end by proving me wrong with a twist or two.Even though I know it was a little bit silly, and not exactly serious, I can't wait to read the next book in the series. It will definitely provide a nice break from reading the heavy, academic stuff (enjoyable though it is) that comes with being an English major.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Not as good as the second or third in the series- probably because the heroine is annoyingly obtuse, but it was intriguing enough to send me on to the rest.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Meh. Not as clever as it thinks it is, and full of troubling gender politics from either an 18th *or* a 21st century perspective. Plus there's not just one, but two Mary Sues.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    so so story, too much romance
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The constant back-and-forth between different times really annoyed and distracted me from the story line. I was very tempted to skip the present-day chapters each time they appeared. Can you tell which bits I didn't like?

    Nevertheless, The Pink Carnation did hold my interest. I read it to the end and I'll probably read the next one.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    If you're looking for something fun to read that will hold your attention, you've come to the right place...or rather, right book. No, it's not exactly a great literary work of historical fiction, but reading isn't just about literary value, it's about entertainment as well.Willig has taken some liberties with dates and names (as she explains in the historical notes at the end of the novel), and the main characters are fictional. Despite that, it still remains fairly historically accurate, although the heroine and her companions do some things that ladies of the time would very likely not have done. If you can look past that and just enjoy the book, you'll have a lot of fun with this one.The novel has elements of a number of genres - romance, adventure, and mystery, to name a few - so there's more or less something for everyone. I knew the whole time I was reading it how predictable it was, but Willig actually surprised me in the end by proving me wrong with a twist or two.Even though I know it was a little bit silly, and not exactly serious, I can't wait to read the next book in the series. It will definitely provide a nice break from reading the heavy, academic stuff (enjoyable though it is) that comes with being an English major.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I started off really enjoying this book - but then the historical story line got a bit to "romance" for me and I struggled to finish it. Ended up leaving it in my hotel room - something I never do.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Having already read The Ashford Affair, I know Willig's writing improves with her subsequent books. In particular, in the Ashford Affair review I mentioned how great the past/present transitions were, and that's the weakest point of Pink Carnation. Honestly the present-day parts could've just been left out and the book might've been better for it. They don't really form a complete story that complements the main one, they're just a distraction.That aside, Pink Carnation was great fun. It's light, lighter than the cover would indicate, but I guess that's why they repackaged the series after a few years. It's sexy and funny and I loved that I could actually tell the difference between all the supporting characters! Each character has a distinct personality, and both the romantic leads are consistent. I hate it when the author guts characters by making them act for plot purposes only, with no regard for their personalities -- that doesn't happen here, everything is a result of these two feisty people colliding. While I'm on the subject, there is one attempted rape just for the purpose of making the male lead jealous and protective. I hate that. However, I must admit that it made sense within the plot, so I guess it wasn't JUST for that purpose. Other than that, there are a few jokes about manliness and that sort of thing, but it's fitting for the time period, not annoying, and not really a part of the two characters' interactions with each other.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Unfortunately, the "heroine" (Amy) was my least favorite of the main characters. I even prefer some of the minor characters over her. I think my negative feelings toward her are due to her lack of maturity; it simply makes her storyline (and what is implied about her future) feel quite improbable. I can't find justification for the attraction between Amy and Richard/The Purple Gentian being true love, and the scene between them in the rowboat stretched the limits of credulity for me. The extent to which the author carried the interaction in that scene did nothing to advance the story; it was merely prurience for its own sake. And the journey back to England at the end -- well, that didn't feel the least bit romantic, though it seems that is what were supposed to think.

    Having purchased the first five books in the series (quite unusual for me when I have had no prior recommendation from someone I know) from a local used book store, I sincerely hope the writing improves in the subsequent books. There are some characters I would like to see developed further, based on what was seen of them here, namely Jane, Miss Gwen and Richard's friends Miles and Geoff. And when next I encounter Richard and Amy (which seems inevitable from what we already know), I sincerely hope their characters have become more well-rounded and less stereotypical (the energetic but flighty, childish heroine and the dark, brooding hero with a soft spot for the heroine).
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Cute. That's about the only word I can really use to describe it.
    The basic plot: Eloise Kelly, an ABT (all but thesis) PhD student, is spending some time in London, working on her research. She picked an improbable dissertation topic: the unmasking of the true identity of the "Pink Carnation" (think Scarlet Pimpernel.) Poor men, why on earth would someone pick a flower as a secret identity, let alone a pink carnation? She runs into a handsome, abrupt, and above all, British stranger--of course, he's a member of the aristocracy--and their interactions proceed as one might expect. Colin Selwick, Eloise's answer to Mr. Darcy, has more than just charisma to enchant her. He also has a bunch of old letters that help to uncover the eponymous Pink Carnation.
    The story itself is told from two perspectives. Mainly, it is the story of Amy, a contemporary of the mysterious Pink Carnation, told from the third person, but there are brief interludes in which Eloise seeks to uncover more facts. It is light and entertaining, and although perhaps the history isn't great, it isn't too inaccurate, either. I found the book syrupy and saccharine, but maybe that's due to the fact that I seldom read, and basically never enjoy, romance. It's a romance first, a mystery/thriller second, or maybe way farther down the list. Not quite my cup of tea, but cute. And I love the fact that the author is a PhD in history, who got her PhD to write these types of novels.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Overall an entertaining, very light read. I loved the characters of, and dynamics between, Richard's family. I found myself laughing out loud at some of their banter.

    There were a few things though that I didn't love. Specifically the boat scene on the Seine. What virginal young woman, raised in the English countryside in the late-18th/early 19th century, would practically have sex on the bottom of a small open boat, out in the open, with another man sitting a few feet away? I mean, what? This scene took me completely out of the story. I mean, I know this is considered a romance, and I know I have to suspend certain realities when reading a book about a 20 year old woman in this period becoming a spy against Napoleon, but while I expected the espionage side of it (that is the basis of the entire story so obviously I knew that going in) I still expect the rest of the historical accuracies to be observed. And a modern day woman wouldn't go at it with someone else sitting nearby, never mind a woman raised in Georgian England.

    I was not expecting this to be a smut novel, but (in case you hadn't figure out from the above paragraph), it basically was. Given everything else this book had going on (mystery, espionage, plots lines in the past and present), it was unnecessary. I felt like those scenes cheapened the book a little (especially when they were so unrealistic) and it would have been much stronger without them. I also dislike books where the heroine will forget she is supposed to be angry at the hero or something, but then can't stop thinking about how his legs look in his breeches and then everything else just goes out the window except for the physical.

    I also didn't love the the modern day plot line. I thought it could have been done without. And I liked even less that it was never resolved and just set the scene for the next book. Grrrr. I really hate when authors do that. Its a cheap ploy to get people to buy more of their books.

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A great example of fun and sassy historical fiction! It is a facinating period in history and lends it self perfectly to fiction, even if not many authors take up the challenge. Willig's passion for the history of this period shines through, and one gets the sense that Eloise is not wholly a fictional character. I loved this book especially because it managed to incorporate a romance line into the story without relying on it alone to drive the plot (which too many historical fiction novels end up doing). There were only two stereotypical romance-novel scenes, which were easy enough to skim through if that isn't really your thing, and they were not that bad. The best part was that there was an air of mystery to the whole thing, even though for the most part you knew everything that was going on, since you saw it from two different character's perspective (or really three, if you count Eloise, but somehow I don't). Couldn't put this one down: I was both rushing to finish it and dreading it being over. Well done!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I read The Secret History of the Pink Carnation in fits and starts over the course of a month or so, with some other reading sprinkled in between. It was a bit longer and more complex than the average Regency romance, which I think was a point in its favor. At first, I wasn't sure about the modern-researcher framing device, but towards the end I became more and more interested in that plot line. Would definitely recommend as a light but not completely brainless read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I am a big fan of the Regency romance novels by Georgette Heyer. I am also a fan of Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series. Willig’s The Secret History of the Pink Carnation is a wonderful blending of the two: a fun adventure romp that strikes the right balance between the somewhat prim innocence of Heyer’s stories and the more lewd, bawdy nature of Carriger’s stories (and minus the paranormal aspect). The whole mistaken identities bit was a hoot to read! I really like how Willig allows us to see the story from both Amy and Richard’s perspectives. Napoleon’s France is captured wonderfully and I love how the story has its share of rakes, double-dealers and other fun character surprises to behold. Not surprisingly, Miss Gwen – the chaperone accompanying Amy and her cousin Jane to Paris – is the perfect dragon and one of my favorite characters. I love how she takes Napoleon down a notch or two and has her own interesting surprises for the reader. I did wondered if the story shifting between Eloise’s story set in present day England and Amy’s story set in Napoleonic-era France was going to be jarring and interrupt the flow of reading. It was jarring but only in that I always had to shake myself when sliding back in to Eloise’s story…. I was so involved with Amy’s story I never seemed to expect the transition each time it happened. Yes, this story is what I would classify as “chick-lit” but don’t be swayed by that labeling. At its core, this is a great adventure/espionage/romance story, filled with humour and intrigue. The only downside I can report is that I made a promise to myself that I would not start the next book in the series until February…. I don’t know if I can wait that long!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What a great story! Romance, adventure, and humor! I cant wait to read more from the author.

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    For several hundred joyful pages I thought that this would be the book that broke my unfortunate streak of one- and two-star disappointments.

    The elegant prose, the colourful characters, the effortless humour and the masterful use of the book-within-a-book trope—an intoxicatingly original blend that had me reaching for pen and paper to note joke after joke, metaphor after metaphor.

    And then...

    Everything seemed to fall apart with the rescue of the hero from the histrionic clutches of his dastardly French nemesis.

    A some point, this parody of Baroness Orczy’s Scarlet Pimpernel stumbled from fancy into farce, from wit into wimpiness. The identity of the mysterious Pink Carnation was telegraphed far too early, pulling the rug from under the feet of the heroine.

    A marvellously enjoyable read. I still can’t understand why such technical excellence should have been flawed by a loss of technical focus.

    Perhaps the author was distracted by the challenge of segueing into the next volume of what appears to have turned into a never-ending series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    What or who is the Pink Carnation and how does Napoleon’s plan play into it all?2005: Eloise Kelly is researching the elusive and mysterious Pink Carnation spy for her thesis, she decides to start with what, or who she knows: The Purple Gentian aka Lord Richard Selwick: British spy. She contacts his heirs hoping to find a reference to the Pink Carnation in some old correspondence, but she finds so much more. 1803: Amy Balcourt plans to leave England for a return home, of sorts, to France; she fled to her mother’s homeland when Napoleon guillotined her father when she was just five. With a peace brokered, she crosses the channel in search of the Purple Gentian to offer him her assistance in taking down the short despot. Does she find him? Both women are in for more than they bargained for!A fun, light-hearted read! It definitely verges more on the chick lit side rather than historical fiction, at least for me. I found the dialog and interaction waaaay too informal for the time period but once I got past it I went along for the ride. I did want to smack Amy upside the head every now and again—for a smart girl she could be so dense and easily played at times. Overall, it kept my attention and already starting the next book in the series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Delightful! While this is very loosely historical fiction (I can't imagine any spy network that functioned in this manner would have been remotely successful), the characters are charming and the story is such fun that I traipsed unknowingly right over any plot holes. The framing, first-person story concerns Eloise, a modern day grad student researching French and English spies of the Napoleonic era while the meat of the story is told in third-person from the alternating points of view of Amy, a young half-French, half-English girl determined to avenge her father's death on the guillotine and Sir Richard Selwick, the Purple Gentian, successor to the Scarlet Pimpernel. Lots of snappy dialogue adds to the fun and when the book ends it's clear that the whole story is far from complete. I'm looking forward to reading the rest in the series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book was pretty predictable to me. I easily figured out who the Pink Carnation was and it seemed obvious from the beginning that this would turn out to be happily ever after. It isn't a BAD book, per se, but it isn't anything great either. Quick read and very descriptive with the love scenes that I was not expecting.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A fun combination of current day and historical fiction, with romance in both plots! The Pink Carnation is modelled after the Scarlet Pimpernel, and American grad student Eloise is spending her year abroad in London trying to find the Carnation's true identity.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Stating the honest truth: I did not finish this book.I couldn’t! The premise is there (it had previously been written) but the story and execution fall short. The whole thing was entirely too slow and I was overwhelmingly bored with the story. I just HAD to stop.The characters were simply ludicrous. Why would some random senseless girl suddenly have the bright idea to go and ask the surviving ancestors about the Pink Carnation when hundreds of scholars just failed to even comprehend that idea? The whole idea just is unfathomable to me. Every fiber of my being screamed that Lord Richard should not have survived, to invade the French Secret service with how incompetent he was was a miracle in itself. He was like a bull in a China shop, how did he manage NOT to get caught?!?!Maybe one day I’ll manage to pick this up again and get through it . . . maybe.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book was perfect fodder for my two plane rides to school. It was engaging enough that my attention was kept despite the cramped, uncomfortable conditions and accommodated my fried brain cells with an easy narrative to follow. Almost four weeks later, I still remember and have fond memories of reading this book.The character I did not remember again until I sat down to review this novel was Eloise. The back of the book jogged my memory and, now that I think about it, I do remember being annoyed with Eloise?s interruption of the narrative. I really did not need her commentary on the Pink Carnation other than possibly her opening remarks to put the time period and the other spies in context.