Book fifty: The Corset Diaries

The Corset Diaries (2004)
Katie MacAlister

Rating: 1.75/5

I found the main character really, really annoying.

"I have to wear what?"

No woman in her right mind would consent to wearing a corset for a month. Especially a "skinny-challenged" woman like myself. But dreams of being debt-free danced in my head when I received the offer to appear on a reality TV show.

A Month in the Life of a Victorian Duke is about real people--people like me--pretending to live on an English estate, circa 1879. Sounds fun, no? Well, it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. We're talking no televisions, no cell phones, no PMS medication. And did I mention the corsets? No breathing for a full month. Luckily, when I met the real-life descendant of a duke who was to be my pretend husband, he took my breath away...

In a manor in which everyone must strictly follow the Victorian lifestyle, things were bound to go wrong. Like when some harmless lust turned into that other thing...

Love was definitely not in the contract!

When I first started reading the book, I thought it was well written and funny. Then about 20 pages into it, I realised the main character was supposed to be 39. She acted like a very immature 19 year old. This annoyed me greatly.

She was insensitive, irresponsible, rude, and insecure. She also decided she was in love with someone after only knowing them four days - oh sorry, maybe it was a week.
Oh, did I mention that she was recently widowed? Yeah, but its okay, she has an epiphany while at dinner one night and decides she is “ready to live again.” Uh-huh.

The main characters were actually very similar to those in her Aisling Grey series. At least there was no talking dog demon thing here.

I think the thing that annoyed me was the constant attempts at humour. Which weren't funny. I guess I'm not that into the whole slapstick thing. It just annoying.

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Finished: 19/5