Unfortunately, she doesn't. Though it's not true of all her characterizations in TSB, she misses the mark on a few of them. For example, she wrote when introducing Quentin:
An inveterate bachelor, he was the sort of philanderer whose faĤade, Barnabas knew, hid the soul of a man who secretly feared and despised women. He charmed them with ease, and abandoned them just as quickly once he became bored with them. And he made no apologies for his behavior. A sinister and elegant exterior hid an empty shell, callous and compassionless.
Oh really? Did she watch the parts of the series when Quentin fell wholly in love with Amanda and Daphne? Perhaps we can excuse her for missing the latter storyline, but Angelique was certainly around to taunt Amanda. As as I said, this is only one example for one character.
I had a bit of trouble with that introduction as well. Even Dan Ross did a better job at characterizing Quentin in his later novels. ...
I agree with both of you -- that aggravated me too. Now, given, I have run into a lot of fans who DO think that Q is that way, not taking into account the maturation of the character from the self centered rake of the first 1897 eps. However, I gave Lara credit for better judgement than that. Then again, perhaps she gets her impressions from fans as much as the eps, since from what a number of posters have said her episode watching has been somewhat limited.
As to the dysentery of the adverbs, hey I am used to Dickens and the Brontes, so that probably sailed right past me.
On the whole, I found the book interesting, more so, I must admit in the historical portions. Then again, its open territory as to how to write Miranda, Judah, et al; not enough established that you can say one way or the other that something's off.
As to actors writing novels about their characters, my friend Toni (who is NOT in DS fandom) described it very well when an actor from a show called Blake's 7 decided to write a novel (and got it published) about his character in the show.Read better fanfiction, read worse fanfiction. Its {actor name's} fanfiction.
I think that covers this novel too. Some stuff I could see, some stuff made my teeth hurt, and the ending did not appeal.
On the other hand, in talking to LP the feeling I got is that she is really interested in turning out something that appeals to the fans. Not something I can exactly describe, but there's a type of questions a writer asks when they just want you to tell them you like it -- and the kind they ask when they care that you enjoyed it and want to find out what would make you like it better.