It's back to the "porn" shelves for me! 
 Revisiting this genre never fails to force me to compare Julia Quinn and Lisa Kleypas. Especially when I start reading a novel penned by either of them. I have no idea why I do this; it sure is quite unfair for the both of them, since they are such talented writers. 
 For me, Quinn is the expert at conjuring a solid, beautiful plot. Kleypas's novels are usually made up of many small but ohmigosh-that-is-just-so-romantic scenes. When Quinn comes up with a nice plot, I believe that she wins the storytelling competition, hands down. Unfortunately, for me, more often than not, she sometimes doesn't. 
 Here, thankfully, Quinn wins again. I can't say that the plot was unique, but there was a smooth flow across the pages. Her writing style is lovely, her characters are different in their own ways, so when they interact, drama of the very best quality unfolds. 
 Here, I am glad that Quinn took on a beta-male for the protagonist. Especially after all those alpha-male leads, it is something that even Kleypas has yet to attempt (here I go again). Here Marcus (no, not the one in Secrets of a Summer Night, mind you) is an introvert, a loner and more of a behind-the-scenes sort, but how he managed to acquire that witty mind and tongue with supposedly minimal human interaction, I have no idea. 
 In fact, what I love most about Quinn (and Kleypas!) are their satirical narrative styles. Quinn is one of the most sarcastic authors I know, probably worse than Kleypas (oh bliss) but unfortunately her mean streak doesn't surface in her books as often as I would have liked. While writing this book, though, she must have had a bad, sore day, because no character is spared from her sarcasm. I, unlike Quinn, just had a very good day from reading this book. 
 Her is an excerpt which made me burst into guffaws: 
 (view spoiler)["By the end of the musicale, Honoria's face ached from smiling. She grinned through the first movement, beamed through the second, and by the time they got through the third, she might as well have been to the dentist, she'd showed so much of her teeth." (hide spoiler)] 
 HAHAHAHAHA! One must have a heart of stone not to even smirk at that one. And potentially that wasn't even the bomb of the book yet. 
 On the whole, this was a great read. Score another for Quinn.