Elena Reviews a DNF - The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton

 Title: The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels 

Author: India Holton

Publication Date: June 15th, 2021

Genres: Historical Romance

A prim and proper lady thief must save her aunt from a crazed pirate and his dangerously charming henchman in this fantastical historical romance.

Cecilia Bassingwaite is the ideal Victorian lady. She's also a thief. Like the other members of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means. Sure, she has a dark and traumatic past and an overbearing aunt, but all things considered, it's a pleasant existence. Until the men show up.

Ned Lightbourne is a sometimes assassin who is smitten with Cecilia from the moment they meet. Unfortunately, that happens to be while he's under direct orders to kill her. His employer, Captain Morvath, who possesses a gothic abbey bristling with cannons and an unbridled hate for the world, intends to rid England of all its presumptuous women, starting with the Wisteria Society. Ned has plans of his own. But both men have made one grave mistake. Never underestimate a woman.

When Morvath imperils the Wisteria Society, Cecilia is forced to team up with her handsome would-be assassin to save the women who raised her--hopefully proving, once and for all, that she's as much of a scoundrel as the rest of them.

I don't tend to rate books I have DNFed, unless I've reached at least the halfway mark, which I'm stressing from the beginning of this review since it doesn't apply to this particular book. 

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels has been one of my most anticipated reads for a while now and I started reading it as soon as I purchased it (this is coming from someone with hundreds of unread books, which is saying a lot) and I will return it if I'm able to, because the disappointment is just too much for me to bear... I never return books but this was a waste of money and I'm going to try and explain why in the most coherent way possible.

I could tell from the beginning that this book wasn't for me, as soon as I laid eyes upon the huge character dictionary type introduction to the story itself. Books with so many names are just difficult to follow without the author foreshadowing that difficulty from the beginning. Would it be helpful under normal circumstances, just for the main characters for example? Yes, that would have sufficed in the case of this particular novel. Which takes me to my second point, the fact that it was told in a third person point of view I didn't particularly find myself enjoying as the chapters progressed. I am a first person narration kind of girl, but I don't mind books told in third person, this just wasn't for me in general where the narrative voice itself is concerned. It was really confusing to keep track of everything and everyone to be completely honest and I would've been able to do it if the setting itself wasn't so chaotic to begin with. There was no context given and I was going from here to there in a matter of seconds, without anything in between to support the reading process in between, in a sense.

Also, the main character started off with no personality whatsoever and when it became clear that her development was centered around a man...just no. I have no problem with the enemies-to-lovers trope, especially when it's a historical mystery combined with a touch of paranormal, but this one had so much potential that was basically wasted on me from the moment I started reading. There was no context and the writing style just felt off, I started skipping paragraphs after the 100-page mark and then I just stopped reading altogether. Considering how much I enjoyed the previous books I read, in a row mind you, my feelings for The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels just put me in a bad mood and I'm just waiting for the inevitable reading slump this reading experience will cause. Let's see if some Fantasy will make up for it.