A Sweet Disorder - Jacqueline Kolosov

A Sweet Disorder is another one of those books I picked up for cheap simply because the cover looked pretty. I've always wanted to get into historical fiction, but every time I try to pick one up I find myself not being able to get into the setting or the style of writing. Movies are a completely different thing for me - I love movies like The Other Boleyn Girl. The books, however, I struggle with, and this one was no exception.

Once I got into the book (which took a few tries, let me tell you!) I found an enjoyable story about a teenager, Miranda, whose father dies suddenly. Because of this, her and her family are left in relative poverty with no dowry and no prospective suitors for Miranda. The man she was promised to, Henry, is forced by his family to pull out of their arranged marriage. With nowhere else to go, Miranda gets sent off to live with some distant family relations who prepare her for her final destination: the Court of Queen Elizabeth. Though she is going to court, the Countess of Turbury (her distant relation) is planning on marrying her off to a rich old man. This marriage will benefit both the Countess and Miranda's family, as the man is very wealthy and will be able to support them.

At court, Miranda is singled out for her sewing talents (How do I keep reading all these books about sewing and fashion?) and quickly becomes a favourite. This angers many of the other girls there, who would also like to be the favourites of the Queen and the court. Miranda realizes that this sewing talent may be her only way out of the marriage the Countess has arranged for her, and attempts to become a royal seamstress.

During this, Henry shows up at court. All the other girls would love to marry him, and many are very catty about it, willing to do anything to beat the competition and become his wife. Miranda, however, is still in love with Henry and (though she tries to hide it) finds herself drawn to him.

The main gripe I have with this book is the characters. Aside from Miranda, many of the ones that we were supposed to care about seemed like stock characters. For example, there was a small amount of character development on Henry, but for the most part he just played the 'gorgeous unattainable guy' stereotype and was very wooden. One of the antagonists in the book, a girl who wants to marry Henry, seems to have little to no motivation aside from wanting to marry Henry. Other characters showed promise, such as Chidiock Kyd. However, after a great introduction and development, Kyd only showed up again near the end of the book.

The dialogue didn't always feel real, especially for a historical book. I imagine it must be very difficult to write using language and sentence structure that isn't what we're used to today, but sometimes the lines coming from the character's mouths didn't seem consistent with the setting and events. I found that Miranda's thinking was sometimes a little ahead of her time as well. Overall, I enjoyed the book, but I definitely would have changed the ending (which was predictable) and given other characters like Kyd and Elizabeth I their time to shine.

SCORE: 6.8/10
IF YOU LIKE: The Red Queen's Daughter (Jacqueline Kolosov), The Other Boleyn Girl (Philippa Gregory)