Sherwood Smith’s Coronets and Steel was one of those books that I really wanted to like. It had all the potential to be awesome yet I couldn’t even finish it. It wasn’t bad, it just couldn’t hold my attention.
California girl Kim Murray is unsatisfied with grad school and restless in life. Modern men disappoint her, and she studies ballet and fencing because they remind her of older, more romantic times.
She lives with her parents and her beloved but secretive aristocratic grandmother, who speaks only French and refuses to share stories about the mysterious family she left behind in Europe, inspiring Kim to travel there and find her roots.
Kim soon finds herself swept up in an adventure of fantastic deceptions and passionate intrigue-and a shocking realization about her own bloodline that leaves her reeling.
Kim was an interesting character, full of oddities and quirks; like the fact that she was very unmotivated in life yet fluently spoke several languages. Yet, I just couldn’t connect with her and never really cared about her problems.
It felt like the plot was mainly just setting up for the next book. Kim spent most of her time either wandering around museums or trying to figure out what happened to her grandmother. Because of that, the plot was fairly slow. To be fair, there were a few scenes that had some action but that was always brief and never enough to suck me into the story.Coronets and Steel was supposed to be an urban fantasy story, and there were hints to vampires, fey and ghosts, but it was mainly just that – hints to the paranormal with very little action involving them.
Like I said, Coronets and Steel wasn’t a bad story, it just could not hold my attention and I really don’t care to see what antics Kim gets involved with in the next book.
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