Passing as Elias by Kate Bloomfield

Passing as Elias Reviews

• 
  Bárbara Sousa

  It was an okay read. I skimmed through the beginning bc it was the “straight” part lol and it was not what i wanted to read, but since I was excited to read about what would happen next, I kept on reading and I gotta say I loved the ending. Glad they got their happy ending despite all the hardships they had to face.
• 
  Simon

  I like girls-dressed-as-boys stories and was looking forward to this, but unfortunately, the writing was not very good (and an 18th century apothecary would not recommend vitamins, which weren't discovered until the 20th century!).
• 
  Frankiejohnny

  I guess I didn't read the description very well, because I did not realize this was a lesbian romance. But I found the story to be very entertaining (several typos aside). It was mostly about Elizabeth and her struggles with inequality as a woman in 18th century England, and not focused on the sex (although there is some).
  
  Happy reading - Frankie
• 
  Nikki Hastings

  The author states that the story is set in the 18th century, yet they obviously have not done their research on what life was like during this period. There were several anachronisms that felt jarring, such as using milligrams as a form of measurement, or commenting when a lady did not wear underpants (no women wore drawers until the the 1830s, and even then they were not in common usage for another few decades).
  
  I love a good historical romance as much as the next girl, but I felt let down by the author's lack of understanding and research of the time period.
• 
  Tara Chevrestt

  Too many missing apostrophes. Needs one more round of edits. The story is also far too rushed for all it contains and very repetitive. The heroine comes across as a little girl on one page and a 20 yo the next. Inconsistent.
• 
  Artemis

  Yet another "just okay" book. It's not that bad but it felt a bit rushed towards the end, literally packed probably the work of two chapters in the epilogue, but it was an entertaining 2 hours spent on this book.
• 
  Katia M. Davis

  No stars. Horrendous, so badly written and if I was Sarah Waters, I'd be ringing a solicitor. This was another book for research and to hone my editing skills. So far this book needs a lot of editing skills! The style seems forced and does not read smoothly at all. Dialogue is stilted. There are large chunks of information dumped on the page to fill in the back story of the characters and I've only read 14 pages so far. This book is teetering towards my abandoned shelf but I'm forcing my way through in order to learn more about what NOT to do!
  
  Update: I've figured out one of the main things wrong with this text. The author is trying to write with 19th century expression, but it is way off. It feels as if they have grabbed a few words such as UPON instead of on, FOR instead of because, SHALL instead of will, MAYHAP instead of maybe and then flooded the otherwise modern text in the hope that it sounds olde worlde. It doesn't, it sounds stupid and trite. Only problem, if you are going to write expressively in an older style, your entire text needs to reflect this, not just a few choice words. There is also a healthy splattering of typos which really distracts and looks unprofessional. I don't think this book has seen a spellcheck let alone an editor or even a friend of the author to give it a read before someone hit the 'publish' button. It is clear that the author needs to do a lot more research into the time period. Not sure how they figured you'd need a sovereign (20 shillings or 1 pound) to pay for a glass of mead in the 1800s, that would be like paying £400 for pint in the pub today, and I'm not sure what the two silver pieces someone was using to pay for drugs was supposed to be.
  
  Update: As I have continued this book i have become increasingly convinced that the author is trying to emulate Sarah Waters and doing a terrible job. Then when I got to page 83 I spotted "me, she thought amusingly, in love with another woman," and alarm bells went off. Then on page 90 and read, "You are a man, Mr Searson, and may do as you please. I am a woman and may do as I am told." That's not like Sarah Waters, that just about IS Sarah Waters, aside from the name, pretty much straight out of Fingersmith! Now I am disgusted, not only is this book badly written with poor editing, and terrible research into the time period, the author could not even think up their own sentences and resorted to plagiarism.
• 
  girlwithglasses

  I couldn't work out when or where this novel was supposed to be set, and I'm not sure that the author knew either. This set the whole novel off-kilter, both through anachronistic language ("mayhap") and interactions between the characters that would not be appropriate for any of the time periods the book might be set in. The exposition about the law and women's rights was clumsy, and there were a number of lines that I swear came straight out of "Tipping The Velvet." I would suggest that the author do more historical research--or at least read a few works of fiction from the appropriate time period--before attempting a period piece again.
• 
  Tobi

  Didn't actually finish it, even though it was only short. What I had anticipated as being an interesting view of the time period and genderqueer fiction, sadly started out with a very straight (and surprisingly descriptive) straight 'romance' (quote marks because it seemed convenient and mostly one sided). A little warning of that would have been nice as it is really not my bag.
  Shame really.
• 
  Tressa

  I found it boring and couldn't force myself to finish it. Book may be based on a true story, but when heroine got all her problems solved without any real difficulties (and most of the time without any difficulties at all) it started to look more like a mary-sue fanfic.
• 
  Joshua Garrison

  Descent and lacking at the same time
  
  This book was a great easy read...and also not that predictable. The romance comes at the latter half of the book and I was hoping there'd be more of it throughout, otherwise awesome book
• 
  Kay

  I loved this book. I like books the include grammar from "days of yore",LOL. Very erotic, quite suprising, sadly short. But i enjoyed it!
• 
  Mary

  This ended up being a sweet story (despite the lack of women's rights during the time period).
• 
  Lynn High

  I love the emotions and the twist at the end.
• 
  Whoopy

  just a nice story with a .... ending. Happy to have read it.
• 
  Natsu

  It was an okay read. Some typos here and there. I like the lead characters enough so I had to up the star by 1. I can't put a finger on it but I feel that there's something missing.
• 
  lov2laf

  I think I got a later version of this story and found it quite enjoyable and well-written. I recommend reading it.
• 
  Shaunette

  Wow
  
  So much deception, and the freaking plot twist. I loved it. Maybe I should have seen it coming but I really didn't. It's a win, for me!