Two of my earliest reviews on Stacked (here & here) were about The Pink Carnation mystery series. Liking to keep all my books matching, I’ve been waiting for the paperback of the latest book and finally caved into borrowing it from the library.
When I was collecting W. Somerset Maugham’s short stories, I was happy to know that only Penguin Books was publishing them. This was important to my decorating aesthetic in that all four books matched. Had other publishers been putting out their own collections, I would have chosen one with whom to complete the collection. Originally, The Pink Carnation books all had the same design*–white spine with the title and a small thumbnail picture from the cover image. Suddenly with the fourth book, there was a change–same layout, but now with a red spine. Needless to say, I was not happy. I’m assuming that the design department wanted to jazz things up a bit leading to the the change (I will allow that the particular book’s characters are a departure from the wholesome heroines and heroes of the previous books as a reasoning for the departure in consistency) and that it is most likely The Temptation of the Night Jasmine will feature a peach colored spine when the paperback is released in January.
Willig has managed to keep her series fun and does a excellent job of interweaving characters from book to book. Sometimes the abbreviated appearances result in a modified personality and the reader’s time with them is too short for me to decide if this is because time has passed and various experiences have allowed characters to grow, or if she is glossing over them in an attempt to get back to the latest storyline.
The books are still fun and it’s interesting to see the different responses to love, lust, and romance in the different story lines. From the bodice-ripping hijinks of the first book, to the surprising dearth of physicality in the fourth book and the pure romanticism and chastity of the fifth. It’s refreshing to see a period romance series where the sex scenes aren’t just rote cliches that don’t vary from one book to the next.
I do hope that Willig will return to the Pink Carnation and wrap the series up rather than allowing it to continue ad infintum. Since each new book has focused on side characters from previous books, I feel she’s beginning to run out of heroines to focus on and would really like to know more about the story of the Pink Carnation. The modern story does have room for continuation, the relationship is new enough and has opportunity for misunderstanding to last another few books, but again, I’d rather see it brought to a conclusion rather than perpetually dragging out.
Once the paperback of The Temptation of the Night Jasmine is out, I will be adding it to the collection (altered cover or not be damned) and am looking forward to the publication of The Betrayal of the Blood Lily** with its new setting of India and the strong possibility of a twist within the already established relationship and a strong female lead that could prove to be quite an entertaining story.
*Interestingly, The Pink Carnation books are published by Dutton Books, which is under the same umbrella of publishers as Penguin Books.
**I have my own theories for both the Pink Carnation and Blood Lily storylines–at least I know how I would write them. I’m a bit tempted myself to write down my predictions to see how accurate they end up being.
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