2.5 stars, rounded down 
 This is one of those that could have been a rollicking good time, but was spoilt by the characters. 
 With the exception of the hero, who was quite unconventionally lovely, and the heroine, who wasn't too bad, every character ranged from tedious to extremely annoying. and they were everywhere - the annoying characters, I mean, with their ramblings and uninteresting run-on sentences. 
 I quite enjoyed the hero and heroine and would have enjoyed the story much more if these side characters weren't present, or if they had been soundly put in their place, which, unfortunately, they weren't. 
 So it counts as a fail.