Just Read: Diamond in the Rough by Jen Turano

Diamond in the Rough is the second book of Jen Turano’s American Heiresses series. (I included a mini-review of the first book, Flights of Fancy, in my post Just Read: Hope By the Book Reading Challenge Pt. 2.)

Turano’s trademark wit comes out in full force, not only in the banter between the main characters Poppy Garrison and Reginald Blackburn but also in Poppy’s interactions with friends Murray and Beatrix. The dialogue had me laughing out loud as well as the antics of Poppy’s lovable group of friends.

What kind of antics you say? Oh just diving over a balcony, chasing down bandits, giving romantic advice here and there. But I think what I loved most were the amount of people who encouraged Poppy to be herself. And while Poppy does want to make her grandmother happy, she knows who she is and who she isn’t, and she doesn’t want to be someone she’s not. Then there’s the wonderful subplot about her family. I don’t want to spoil it, but the lesson there about family bonds was spot-on.

If you’ve read several or all of Turano’s books, you may be excited to know that there are some crossover characters from another of Turano’s series. I won’t spoil the fun, but I found myself delighted to see some familiar faces and to hear of some familiar antics. It almost felt like an Easter egg hunt to see if I could remember just who they were talking about and where those characters fit in her other series.

The only downside to this book was that I’m not quite sure I bought the crazy villain. Her motivation was a bit odd to me, but everything else about this novel was amazing. I’m excited to see what Jen Turano has in store for us next. I’m hoping Beatrix will get a turn. I’ll just sit here and try to wait patiently until the next book comes out.

More Info

If you want to grab a copy of Diamond in the Rough for yourself, click the cover to purchase it on Christianbook.com. To keep up with what Jen Turano’s coming out with next, check out her website, Facebook, or Twitter.

Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.