Lauren Willig

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?

The secret history of the Pink Carnation

Connor 

3.5? Maybe? It would be a solid 3.5 but I must admit, the interspersing of the modern sections grew wearisome almost immediately. Perhaps I will grow more fond of Eloise in the next book? (It's not that I DISlike her now. It's just that I don't think the format complements the main narrative? ANYWAY, still a fun read.)

Southern Today Gone Tomorrow

Written by Lauren Willig, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation is all about learning who a (fictional) English Spy in France during the early 1800’s was. And so we have the lovely duel timelines, following Amy and Richard in the early 1800’s and Eloise in the present day.

Things to know: the spies have odd nick names as their screen they hide behind, and while a number are known in the present day, as they were unmasked (gasp), but the Pink Carnation is not one of them. Eloise is a history major who is writing a dissertation on the old spies and trying to find out who the Pink Carnation is. In this effort, she has hunted down the decedents of the unmasked spies to ask to read any old letters etc they might have in the family that have been passed down the last 200 years.

The first novel in a series, this is very much a book in which old and new styles of writing meet; and it works so well. Willig has written a novel that propels the reader forward, and honestly doesn’t feel like it is almost 400 pages long. One thing that I really enjoyed, that very few novels seem to do, is that the past story was told from multiple perspectives, but it would switch between them often paragraph to paragraph very flawlessly. Which is something that others might find very annoying.

A romance and adventure novel, this is NOT appropriate for children, but honestly was just really good and interesting. The plot was good, and I adore Richard.

To the characters. We will start with the first one we meet, Eloise. I really like Eloise, even though you really don’t see much interaction with her throughout the novel, as most of it is written in a form to combine all of the letters and journals she is reading through to learn who the Pink Carnation is. She is sassy and very modern in all of the best ways. I was not a fan of Amy, the stereotypical over-the-top Edwardian woman. Doesn’t actually plan things out, flies by her skirt, and in general just gets into the oddest situations. Richard I loved. He was wonderful, and I only liked Amy through his eyes. The supporting characters, whom I will not go into detail about, I really enjoyed. But, no spoilers.

If you like romance novels, and don’t need hot and heavy all of the time, this is a good book. There are maybe 5 pages of hot and heavy, other than that it is all pretty tame. The spy aspect was very entertaining, however the characterization of the characters some might find annoying. A lot of them of flighty/absentminded. Just a fair warning.

This reader highly enjoyed this novel, and will be continuing on with the series.

Kaylee Weaver

Leaving Harvard to complete her dissertation on the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian in England, Eloise Kelly discovers information about the most elusive spy of all time, a figure who single-handedly saved England from Napoleon's invasion.

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation

Sterling Newman

jam 🍯

Eloise Kelly longs for the romance of years gone by; for a dashing hero like The Scarlet Pimpernel to come and sweep her off her Jimmy Choo-clad feet...but instead she's sloshing around London in the rain and finally realising that romantic heroes are a thing of the past. To distract herself from such thoughts, Eloise concentrates on her History dissertation, and it's while rummaging through a pile of old letters and diaries that she discovers something amazing, something that historians have missed: the secret history of the most elusive spy of all time, The Pink Carnation. But why is the very modern Colin Selwick so determined to interfere with Eloise's research? And why does he have to be quite so charming...?

The secret history of the Pink Carnation

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