Tag it Thursdays: I occasionally get tagged by fellow bloggers to complete various tags. Once a month I will post my response. Please, feel free to tag yourself if any of these tags interest you!
This month’s tag:
The Nostalgic Book Review Tag
Talk about nostalgia! I was tagged for this one last October by Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books. I waited so long to post it thanks to scheduling conflicts but mainly because I didn’t know what book to pick! But I finally found what I think is the perfect book for this tag.
Learn more about the origin of the tag here!
In this tag, you will be reviewing a book you read three or more years ago (if you started reading less than three years ago, tell us about your first book). The best part: you will be reviewing the book purely from memory. I hope you all have fantastic memory (because I certainly don’t)!
The Book:
I chose Victoria and the Rogue by Meg Cabot because I’ve talked about it a lot lately in other bloggers “rereading” discussions. It’s one of my go to books when I need a pick me up and one of the first books I got when my reading addiction started 10+ years ago.
I haven’t read this book in 5 or so years so I’m going purely off of my memory. (And I wrote this post as a work document while on a road trip where I had no internet so no Google for help).
The Summary:
First, tell us a little bit about this book, and approximately when you read it. Write a summary (brief, long, anything you like!) of the book you are reviewing.
Victoria is on route to England from India to make a desirable marriage. On the boat, she gets proposed to by a Duke who is essentially perfect (handsome, titled and rich) but the proposal is interrupted by dashing captain of the boat (I want to say his name is James?). As Victoria and her Duke continue their courting on dry land, the Captain continues to make appearances in her life. Of course the Captain and Victoria have that perfect sexual tension where they can’t stand each other but they don’t discover that until it may be too late!
The Thoughts:
Share your thoughts on your chosen book. Reflect and talk about what you thought of the book back then.
This novel reaffirmed my love of the romance novel. It has all the perfectly swoon-worthy moments a girl could want. I just loved the chemistry Victoria and the Captain had and how they complimented each other so perfectly.
In hindsight, this novel started my love affair with historical romances. Until this point, I was mostly read YA contemporaries (like The Princess Diaries or The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants) since that was what my library had in stock. But after this novel, I graduated to other historical series like the Gemma Doyle Trilogy and eventually the adult series like Spindle Cove or A Season for Scandal.
The Epilogue:
Here’s the fun part: now you can look up a summary of the book – find all those names that you couldn’t remember, those plot points that seemed pretty important – and all those things you might have forgotten. Don’t go back and edit the summary from the first part!
I’ve included the full summary at the bottom for your reference. I did get a few things wrong. The Duke is actually an Earl and his name is Hugo; the Captain is also called Jacob, not James. It also wasn’t a coincidence that Jacob interfered in the courting like I thought.
If I read this book now, I think I would find the plot too simple to keep me entertained. But given the size of the novel, I probably would let it slide. This is definitely a comfort read for me more than anything.
And writing this post has really made me want to read it ASAP!
Summary (From Goodreads):
Victoria
Growing up in far-off India, wealthy young heiress Lady Victoria Arbuthnot was accustomed to handling her own affairs — not to mention everyone else’s. But in her sixteenth year, Vicky is unceremoniously shipped off to London to find a husband. With her usual aplomb, however, Lady Victoria gets herself engaged to the perfect English gentleman, even before setting foot on British soil.
The Rogue
Hugo Rothschild, ninth earl of Malfrey, is everything a girl could want in a future husband: he is handsome and worldly, if not rich. Lady Victoria has everything just as she’d like it. That is, if raffish young ship captain Jacob Carstairs would leave well enough alone.
Jacob’s meddling is nothing short of exasperating, and Victoria is mystified by his persistence. But when it becomes clear that young Lord Malfrey just might not be all that he’s professed to be, Victoria is forced to admit, for the first time in her life, that she is wrong. Not only about her fiance, but about the reason behind the handsome ship captain’s interference.
Thanks Marie! Apologies it took so long!
Please Tag Yourself and Link Back for me to read!
Connect: 
