The Temptation of the Night Jasmine

The Temptation of the Night Jasmineby Lauren WilligI enjoy this series. It's not one I rush out to the store to get on release day (especially since I wait for the paperback to come out) but I like to make sure I have them all in my possession on my shelf. I am always a year or so behind in the series due to my waiting for the paper edition but I'm ok with that.There's an odd thing about this book, I adored it, I adored Charlotte and Robert and the "mystery" but at the same time I felt it didn't really fit into the main story arc - which is present era Eloise's research into the Pink Carnation. Sure there was treason with the King of England and whatnot, but it seemed out of the "spy" story to me.Either way, I found this one of the more enjoyable stories in the series. It made me chuckle a couple of times and all of the characters were fun. In fact Henrietta and Miles were around a lot and I had forgotten they were the other two characters that I loved. So fun and funny!I had a feeling at the start of the book that the next one would focus on Penelope and it looks like I am right (I know it's been out forever but I never read reviews or the summary as I had not read this book yet and I didn't want to get too far ahead of myself. There are a ton of people in these books and I am confused enough trying to remember who the heck everyone is!) But she sort of vanished after that first quarter of the book and I thought that was weird.I am finding myself more and more disinterested with Eloise and Colin in the present world. The chapters are too far apart and short for me to devote much of my emotion in them. And this time around with the "maybe he's a spy too!" sub-plot I just didn't care. I wanted to get back to Charlotte and Robert and when the chapters would suddenly switch to "present" time I'd get confused and frustrated.Whereas this book didn't focus on spies all that much, there was mystery and intrigue and a threat on the Crown. I loved that Charlotte was accepted at Court as much as she was. I get the impression it's impossible not to adore her. And her love of books made me think of Callie in Nine Rules... and of course endeared her even more to me as I adore books just as much (though I do not romanticize them as much as those ladies do).I did feel that the flower reference was just sort of tossed in there at the last minute when perhaps an editor said "hey, so, who is the Night Jasmine?" It was touched upon so briefly and yet another reason why I felt this book was outside of the spy arc of the series. It was sort of an insignificant part of the story when you really think about it.Pink Carnation series

1. Secret History of the Pink Carnation
2. The Masque of the Black Tulip
3. The Deception of the Emerald Ring
4. The Seduction of the Crimson Rose
5. The Temptation of the Night Jasmine
6. The Betrayal of the Blood Lilly – Hardcover
7. The Mischief of the Mistletoe - Hardcover, November 2010