The Only Gold in The Slash Pile

Mar 10, 2012 Meep rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: cosy-mystery-crime-detective, favourite, historical, cloud-sort, re-read-soon

Really enjoyed this; a story of changing times, changing attitudes with two very different personalities learning to appreciate each other. And some adventure thrown in too.

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Jun 04, 2015 Imogen rated it liked it · review of another edition

A well-written book. Charming characters, a decent plot. Entertained me for a weekend, but in the end wasn't particularly memorable. Won't sweep you off your feet or anything, but I wouldn't call it boring or bad. Just a bit bland, romance-wise, and none of the characters really stood out. As for the plot... I'd say the pacing of it is a bit weird. Nothing happens for a really long time, then suddenly the mc does something incredibly impulsive and out of character, and the ensuing sequence was r A well-written book. Charming characters, a decent plot. Entertained me for a weekend, but in the end wasn't particularly memorable. Won't sweep you off your feet or anything, but I wouldn't call it boring or bad. Just a bit bland, romance-wise, and none of the characters really stood out. As for the plot... I'd say the pacing of it is a bit weird. Nothing happens for a really long time, then suddenly the mc does something incredibly impulsive and out of character, and the ensuing sequence was really tense. Then back again to nothing happening for a while, then a lot of action in the last 10-15% of the book. So yeah, the pacing was a bit... off.

Someone here said this book was on a list for books with good sexual tension between the MCs. Personally, I didn't see that. The two main chacters were at odds for most of the book, yes... but it was mostly over banking matters so it didn't shed much light on their respective characters beyond how different their approaches are to dealing with various banking issues. Let me sum up every one of their conflicts for you: Reid wants to enact changes to their current banking practices to allow for efficiency and maximizing productivity, while Jonah wants to keep the bank running as it has for the past 30 years. That's it. That's what most of their clashes are about. And just as I was beginning to see them come to some sort of truce, suddenly they were in bed together, and it happened so quickly that I just didn't buy it.

An earlier passage in the book suggests that our narrator struggles with his sexuality, so I was looking forward to watching him deal with that once the romance begins, but he was fine with everything once they started hooking up. No inner demon to confront. No conflict at all beyond making sure no one finds out about them. That was a bit of a let down.

All in all, it was alright. This was my first book by this author, and while I'm impressed with the quality of the writing, I won't be hurrying out to buy her next book anytime soon. ...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Maria rated it really liked it

I truly enjoyed reading this. The characters are well developed and likeable. First you get a slowly building romance and in the second half of the book a bit of adventure and excitement.
I loved New York of days past and the cold of the snow storm. Very nicely written.

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Apr 15, 2012 Wusswoo rated it it was amazing

I did really enjoy this! It's given me a bit of a craving for some more historical novels! ...more

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Oct 22, 2011 Samington rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical, somehow-i-still-like-it, questionable-power-dynamics, businessmen, in-the-closet

Not as strong as Whistling in the Dark, particularly the resolution of the robber plot and what happens to a couple of the characters, but overall a good showing. Allen's writing is crisp and does a good job bringing the reader into the time period; the characters are engaging; the relationship sparks. I was able to trace out Reid's story arc fairly early on, but the ride was good enough that it didn't bother me. ...more

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