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Mistress Of My Fate; The Confessions Of Henrietta Lightfoot (2011)

by Hallie Rubenhold(Favorite Author)
3.55 of 5 Votes: 3
ISBN
0385618859 (ISBN13: 9780385618854)
languge
English
genre
publisher
Transworld Publishers Ltd
series
The Confessions of Henrietta Lightfoot
review 1: I must say, I've never been so happy to be finished with a book. It was one of those books were I just kept reading and reading, waiting for it to get better, or at least for me to get emotionally involved with one of the characters. It just never happened. The only reason I read the whole thing instead of just stopping was because I couldn't stand the idea of totally wasting 350 pages of reading. And I just couldn't give up the hope that it would get better.When I started reading, I really wanted to like the book. The initial premise sounded exciting, and I'm a sucker for historical fiction. Unfortunately, I was met with a first person narrative by a whiny and irritating character. Not once did I see her as brave or endearing. I didn't find myself rooting for her; in fact... more I felt she needed a slap. The narrator was not only an older woman retelling the story from when she was 17, but she regularly pulled a "Saved by the Bell" move and addressed the readers. If she called me "Dear Reader" one more time, I was about to scream. Besides the narrative style and the unlike-ability of the main character, it was also about 250 pages too long. It was definitely one of those books that you close around page 450 and for the life of you you can't figure out what happened in all of those pages. There just wasn't enough answers and action to take that many pages. It is clear that the author was setting up a plot to span several books-- a series-- but there were just a few too many missing pieces/unexplained events, situations, things, etc. Like who is Mr. D that she's defending herself against and bashing throughout? What causes a father to not search for his runaway daughter? How do main characters just disappear with no explanation and it be okay??
review 2: I really liked the setting of this book England, 1790s) and enjoyed the story as told by the main character Henrietta Lightfoot in the first person. I liked how she would say "no imagine reader...." I love that it will be a trilogy. At times it seemed typical; girl's mother gives her up and she goes to live with Rich uncles and doesn't get much attention since they have their own daughter; she is always in the shadows. A very wealthy man comes to the house and instead of wanting to marry the rich daughter, Catherine, he falls in love with Hettie. This causes many complications. But there are still some good twists and turns and she leads a life of depravity and must go change her life dramatically to survive. A good story, a bit long at times but will read the sequel. less
Reviews (see all)
wwwwww
some books just aren't worth finishing...this was one of them
internetkidsneversleep
A fun summer read--
sheena
wow, abrupt ending
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