I was a little hard on Secret Society Girl, so I’m happy to report that Under the Rose addresses both major defects I complained of in the first novel: less heavy-handed telegraphing of evolving plot points, no deus ex machina.
Amy Haskel’s breezy narrative voice is if anything even more assured, and the novel was more satisfyingly structured. Again the major plot driver took several chapters to emerge, but I was less bothered by that than in the first book. Some of the supporting cast is a little thinly developed, and the who-is-he-again? confusion is exacerbated because many characters are referred to both by their real names and their “Rose & Grave” society nicknames, but the publisher helpfully includes a key at the front of the book. And maybe I would have been less confused if I hadn’t been flipping the pages so gosh-darn fast.
Finally, to borrow one of Peterfreund’s devices — I confess: One of the situations set up in the first book didn’t resolve as I had expected after all.
Needs More Demons? Not this time.
Needs More Demons Or Not 