Honestly, this one lacked any real romance – which was an unfortunate waste of an excellent hero. Tom Shaughnessy is an ambitious and clever up and comer from the mean streets, blessed with dazzling good looks and a very active imagination. The problem is Miss Long gives him too much to do – one is surprised that he finds time for love: he’s a new dad to an adorable by-blow (forgive me), he’s planning on opening a new gentleman’s club, he’s running a bawdy theater show all while making up bawdy song lyrics on the fly. Now, he must find time to woo Sylvie Lamoureux, a highly celebrated French ballerina slumming it in London while in search of her long lost sister. Whew. Poor heroine barely gets any time to properly fall in love with all the fanny swatting choreography in every chapter.
The romance is drizzled in between a rather compelling story about the secondary characters populating the White Lily. I found myself more intrigued about the romance between the resident diva, Daisy Jones, and the master choreographer, The. General. There are parts which are achingly, viscerally well written. I especially appreciated Daisy’s aging diva storyline, showcasing the indignity suffered by woman who commit the cardinal sin of growing old. Tom’s meeting his son was wonderfully sweet. All this overshadows Sylvie’s storyline – her reunion with her sister barely taking up a paragraph. The ending feels quite rushed, leaving me feeling quite unfulfilled.
Overall Score: B-
