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I think I have read Midsummer Moon and Uncertain Magic before, but I don't remember them at all. And I had previously gotten halfway through The Shadow and the Star but never finished it.

I suspect none of them made an impression on me previously because I read them when I was looking for angsty angsty romance, particularly from Kinsale. It's a delight to find her funnier books, and I think I am more kindly inclined toward light romances now.

( Midsummer Moon )

( The Shadow and the Star )

( Uncertain Magic )

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The two bloggers behind snarky romance review blog Smart Bitches, Trashy Books wrote this. I don't know if the book matches the expectations of their readers, since I don't read the blog, but it is definitely snarky and full of man-titty, swearing, and double intendres.

I also read this two or three weeks ago and returned it to the library, so I tack on my usual warning that my memory is like a sieve.

Much of the territory in the book is not particularly surprising to me, even though I don't read as many romances as most romance fans. Wendell and Tan go through the origin of the term "bodice ripper," talk about the alpha hero and the TSTL heroine, and mention the problem of rape in romances. They are more feminist and snarky than most romance reviews I have seen in the past, but they are still not feminist and snarky enough to satisfy me. I kept wanting to push them on the alpha hero and "forced seduction" and the status of the heroine, because yes, like them, I am glad of the changes that have been taking place in the genre, but I want it to go SO MUCH FURTHER. Also, I think they are much more tolerant of asshat heroes than I am.

I vaguely remember them discussing sexual agency in the hero and the heroine, but I am not sure if they mention how rarely we get a dominant woman (either in terms of BDSM or just taking the lead in the bedroom).

There's also a chapter on race and sexual orientation in romance that didn't go nearly as far as I wanted. Wendell and Tan talk about bookstore categorization and the way Black romances are usually shelved in African-American fiction, but I don't think they go much into racism in romances themselves, from Orientalism and exoticism to Magical Indians and we-sha-sha to What These People Need Is a Honky. They talk a little about the rise of gay romances, but I wish they would examine the appropriation of gay romance more closely.

I say all this, but I was also very entertained by the book. There's a Choose Your Own Romance game, there's snark at covers, there's poking fun at all the same things I poke fun of even as you can tell Wendell and Tan love romances.

So... a fun and fast read, and with more critique than other books on the romance genre I've read, but I keep wanting a much more radical critique than I get.

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Lucy Waltham has long been in love with her brother's friend Toby, but he seems to think of her only as a little sister. She decides that the best course of action is to seduce him, especially as he seems intent upon proposing to someone else. Unfortunately, she hasn't had much practice in seduction, so she decides to try on her brother's other friend, Jeremy Trescott, Earl of Kendall, first.

The beginning of this book is a fairly standard but fun Regency romp, in which Jeremy keeps trying to deny his attraction to Lucy and completely failing, having slight angst over her adoration of Toby, and overall being rather lost. Lucy is adventurous, loves hunting, and is trying to get rid of her reputation of being "one of the boys" to be more attractive, but there's not much makeover in the book, thank goodness.

One unexpected bit was Lucy's eventual friendship with Sophia Hathaway, her romantic rival, and I had a lot of fun reading about the two girls giggling and laughing with each other.

Then there's an abrupt switch in plot type in the middle, which I was first pleasantly surprised by. Sadly, the pleasantness of it decreased rapidly as Jeremy began to revert to somewhat annoying behavior thanks to his Angsty Backstory (why am I not surprised that a) he has one and b) it makes him behave badly?). I didn't believe the motivation for him to act as he did, it took away much of the initiative that Lucy had had in the first half, and the entire conflict largely depended on the two not interacting, thereby depriving me of a lot of the fun of the first half.

Overall, not bad, but it doesn't end nearly as well as it began.

(Also, I was annoyed at mentions of the West Indies. Yay, your relatives run plantations there. Let me count how many ways I do not find that sexy, exotic, or romantic.)

Links:
- oracne's review

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Soria is a Dirk & Steele agent who can understand and speak any language someone living is speaking. Karr is a long-imprisoned shapeshifter whom no one can understand. Together, they have adventures!

First, I would like to note that Soria's superpower is the one I currently want most. OMG. Immediate language proficiency! I swoon at the notion!

Second, Soria has one arm due to an Angsty Background that is later revealed. I am ambivalent about this. I love having a romance novel heroine with a disability in which she is portrayed as attractive, sexy, capable, and strong. Thankfully, Soria's superpower is not "compensation" for her disability and she seems to avoid many (but not all?) tropes out there. On the other hand, I was bothered by the focus on arm loss as Angsty Background (a la so much manga) and the relative dearth of characters with disabilities sans Angsty Backstory or characters with disabilities who have had a disability for a while and are living with it fine thank you.

It feels as though the stories All About Ablism or about people first adjusting to having a disability are written for people without disabilities to give them an easier way to sympathize with the character and to emphasize that having a disability is the exception and Other, and it reminded me a lot of books about characters of color that are all about OMG Racism! It Exists! And Sucks!

I am still trying to educate myself about a lot of this, so I may very well be totally wrong. I also do not want to discount the positives of having a POC (!) heroine with a disability (!!) be sexy and awesome (!!!): ergo my ambivalence. I just want more so that we aren't counting on a handful of characters to represent vast continuities of experiences.

I also found the commentary on shapeshifter interbreeding interesting. Had it been someone other than Marjorie Liu, I would have been annoyed at the implications re: mixed-race people, but since Liu has so many multiracial characters in all her books (including Soria), the chimera can be read as chimera instead of as metaphors for people. (Other SF/F authors who use supernatural creatures as metaphors for real people, please take note.)

Unfortunately, while I thought a lot about things in the book, I wasn't that into the book itself. There was a lot more adventure and not as much character/relationship, which may work for some people but didn't as much for me. I know Liu frequently has characters who are irrationally attracted to each other and trust each other, and in some of her other books, I believe it more than in this one.

Still, I loved the return of several minor characters from previous D&S books (older women for the win!), and I continue to be taunted by the presence of Eddie in books not about him!

Overall: fast-paced with lots of plot, but it didn't actually stick that much in my brain.

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Jasper Renshaw, Viscount Vale, has recently had one fiancee defect on him, and his second has just left him at the altar. Melisande Fleming sees her chance—she's plain and has never attracted his attention, but he's not really in a position to be picky now. So begins the marriage of convenience plot coupled with the loved him from afar plot!

Alas, Jasper is busy figuring out who betrayed his company when they were in the Colonies, leading to their being captured and tortured by Indians.

...yes. Tortured. By. Indians.

Suddenly, my DW has become "rant about race in romances" all day all the time!

Leaving that aside for a little, there are the standard Hoyt things in here that I like a lot. The heroine is more sexually aggressive than the norm in romances and neither the hero or the heroine are described as attractive, although I could have done without the descriptions of the heroine's skin being so white you can see her blue veins through it.

However, the revenge plot is a little too similar to The Serpent Prince for me, with more ARGH moments (Indians! ARGH!) and fewer bits I like.

And did I mention the tortured by Indians thing? I like Hoyt, but I tried reading the first book in this quartet and could not get through it because I was still so mad about the presentation of Native people in romances. I'll probably be skipping the rest of it until she comes out with a new series that hopefully does not have eye-rolling race issues.

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This related to Bound by Your Touch in that the heroes know each other, but they barely show up in each other's stories (I like that, although YMMV).

British spy Phineas Granville meets American flibbertidget Mina Masters in Hong Kong (why all the "exotic" settings WHY?), where she saves his life at some cost to her own. Four years later, Phin wants out of the spy game, but Mina is in trouble, and he's the only person she can think of to go to for help.

Thankfully for my blood pressure, the book gets out of Hong Kong fairly quickly, so I can not have British colonialism shoved in my face again. That said, there are still mentions of Phin's older spy missions, all of which are exactly as imperialist as you might think and focus on his white man angst instead of the brown people being screwed over, but at least it's not the main plot. It's so sad that nowadays, I almost prefer that romances stay all white and all in America or Western Europe and ignore the POC there, because when they don't, there's so much fail. I managed to not think about it so I could enjoy the book, but it's still there.

Anyway! With all that in mind, I actually loved this. Mina is an excellent heroine: she is stunningly gorgeous and knows it and uses it to her advantage, she detests being caged, and she is incredibly smart. One of the most frustrating yet most rewarding parts of the book is watching Phin find this out. At first, he suspects her of pretty much everything, leading to some standard "I loom over you to threaten you and make you talk" scenes, but Mina won't have any of it. I loved her description of one of their kisses, in which she mentally notes that it's very skilled, but forced seduction is both boring and predictable.

She has constructed an entire facade that almost everyone buys into because no one, not even Phin at first, believes she could be as intelligent as the evidence shows. I was so happy when she calls Phin out on how he assumed someone had to be behind her because of course she couldn't possibly have done it herself.

I also love her entire brainless bombshell routine, as it feeds into my love of the Scarlet Pimpernel fop-hiding-something trope. Here's Mina telling Phin of when a priest ran over her dog Mongol and she used it to blackmail the priest for chocolate:

"Blackmail? We called it a friendly agreement. By the end of the year, I wished I had another terrier for him to kill. But not really," she added quickly. "Wouldn't that be too bad of me! I much preferred Mongol to chocolate. Dogs are always much better than chocolate, of course, because they're alive." She paused to frown. "Then again, if one counts mold, I suppose some of the chocolate was also alive in the end... the cherry-filled ones, you understand; I never liked cherries. Well, it's all rather confusing."

After Phin gets over his misunderstanding, he turns out to be a rather nice hero, even though I still wanted to bash him over the head in the final conflict. I liked how he actually bothers to listen to Mina, that he understands her jokes and what it means for her to call his body "beautiful" and to comment "Why you're a pocket Venus write large, Ashmore."

Sex-wise, I wish Duran had gone farther. I feel bad for pushing for dominant heroines in every single romance review I do ever, given that it's not for everyone, but there's just such a lack of them! I can still count the number of dominant heroines on one hand. It was especially frustrating because Mina clearly gets off on it in an earlier scene: she's bored until she makes Phin lose control, backs him up against a wall, and marks him. She also makes a move to blindfold him and possibly tie him up later, but then Duran turns the tables on her. I did appreciate Mina thinking that even blindfolded and tied up, she was still choosing what to give and what not to, but it was so close! I'm so frustrated by how almost all the romances I read never have the hero tied up, or even if they do, they still manage to give him control. Even with these complaints, Duran still manages to pack character and relationship development into the sex scenes, which impressed me given how hard it is to do.

And as mentioned previously, the issue of control isn't a passing one for the book. Mina has fought tooth and nail to control her own life, which is one reason why I would have liked to see more of that in the sex, as well as why I was so annoyed by the final conflict and how it's all about Phin's issues and resolving them instead of Mina's.

In conclusion: I loved this, even though I wanted it to go farther and wished it hadn't had scenes in Hong Kong. I'm also extremely frustrated, because Duran is clearly a good writer doing interesting things, but she also seems to be very into the whole "exotic" setting with white people frolicking about, which means I will probably avoid many of her books. (I couldn't even get past the first chapter of Duke of Shadows because it pissed me off so much.) These settings are not exotic, they are not backdrop, they have people who live there and speak the language and grew up there and have relatives there. And the time period these books take place in is one that devastated the places being used as mere stage settings, these places that are people's homes.

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Lydia Boyce is a spinster interested in her father's archaeological expeditions in Egypt. James, Lord Sanburne, somehow gets his hands on some Egyptian stela for purposes that I have completely forgotten. Lydia exposes Sanburne's acquisition as a fake, and sparks ensue.

I read the first three-quarters of this while not in the mood for romance, and as such, I do not remember much of what happens at all. Also, it didn't help that the spinster-meets-wastrel is one of my least favorite tropes right now in romance. And finally, I spent the entire book ranting in my head about how these people were just going off and stealing Egyptian property to study, that it was all about Egypt as this distant land way out there where these things happened, that the action was as usual all about the white people.

Yes, it was nice to know that the heroine engaged in Egyptian-government-sanctioned trade, but given the power dynamics of the time (Victorian England), how much leeway did the government have, really? Especially since this book takes place after the construction of the Suez Canal.

When I managed to not be overcome by rage, the prose was indeed lovely, and the character growth was interesting, although I am completely unconvinced of the resolution of Sanburne's storyline re: his sister.

Overall, it may be a very good book, but still. RAGE.

Links:
- oracne's review

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For anyone picking this up, the back cover copy LIES! It makes the book sound much darker and angstier than it actually is, even though it does indeed contain a female swordfighter with stigmata and amnesia and a soldier for a king in exile.

Jack Marstone finds Catherine de la Fer in an alley and rescues her, only to discover that she doesn't remember who she is or how she got there. She convinces him to teach her to swordfight, and I think he decides to take her on in order to get closer to her family or to be rewarded or something. Amazingly, there are nearly no misunderstandings!

Sadly, I read this a few months ago and no longer remember most of the details, so most of the above could be very wrong.

Mostly I remember liking how unexpectedly sweet the romance was, given the plot description (Harbaugh is very good at sweet). Like Harbaugh's Night Fire, I also liked the inclusion of religion in the book, given the time period, although I rolled my eyes at all the random French.

In conclusion: cute, less dark than the supernatural elements and the plot would make you think, and likeable, albeit not terribly memorable.

Links:
- rachelmanija's review

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This is a trilogy of books centered around Psyche Hathaway, who grew up with Eros as her not-so-imaginary best friend. She calls him "Harry" due to mispronouncing "Eros" as a child, and together, they wreak havoc and sometimes romance in the love lives of the Hathaway siblings.

Cupid's Mistake - Cassandra Hathaway is a bluestocking invested in improving the lives of runaway boys. Lord Blytheland has sworn to never fall in love with someone like his wife again: she was a bluestocking whose radical notions about love led her to cheat on him and then die birthing another man's child.

Harbaugh notes on her website that she tried cramming in every single Regency stereotype possible, and oh yes, she does. I don't think she quite succeeds in making the book transcend the stereotypes; rather, it's sweet and cute enough that I can ignore the stereotypes. Psyche and Eros are rather annoying in this one, and I say this despite my fondness for annoying younger sisters. I also wanted more about the effects of Eros' arrows on people, which Harbaugh does address, but not quite to my satisfaction as far as I remember (I read this a few months ago).

Cupid's Darts - Kenneth Hathaway has just come home from war, and the only thing that's sustained him is the memory of his sweetheart Aimee Mattingly. But thanks to an arrow gone wrong, he seems more in love with her portrait and her memory than with the woman herself.

Psyche's a teenager in this one, which makes her a little less annoying, and I was very amused by the scene of random dart shooting in the midst of Almack's. Harbaugh also tackles the subjects of over-idealizing and PTSD in this book, although as usual, her touch is very light. Kenneth does have a lot of angst, but it doesn't show much in the book, and I especially like Aimee's growing frustration with his refusal to see who she actually is, as opposed to who he wants her to be.

Cupid's Kiss - The Greek gods are fading from this earth, and soon they'll disappear, unless Eros can find the reincarnation of his long-lost wife Psyche.

Psyche and Harry/Eros' book! Unsurprisingly, I liked this best of the bunch, probably because Harbaugh didn't have to cram the entire romance into 200 or so pages, thanks to having room in the previous two books to develop Psyche and Harry's relationship. There are no silly misunderstandings in this; Harry and Psyche talk fairly openly about the possibility of her being the reincarnation of Psyche, along with other issues. And as I'm very fond of friendship-turned-romance stories, I liked this a lot. I also liked the side plot regarding Artemis and her broken heart much more than I had anticipated. There's a fair amount of angst in here, but most of it understated and quickly resolved, and my favorite parts are probably how things are resolved without the characters acting stupid.

I do wish there had been a little more about Psyche getting used to the idea of being a reincarnation, not just Psyche Hathaway, though.



Overall, the three books are fairly slight but cute and non-offending, and I am very fond of the last book.

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I found Elizabeth Hoyt via recs from Dear Author and oracne. So far, I've read four and a half of her books (I'm stuck on To Taste Temptation). Hoyt writes Georgians, which is a nice change from the perpetual Regencies. So far, her characterization is much better than usual, she occasionally has non-alpha men, the sex is less vanilla than usual (low bar, but still), and quite a few of her characters are explicitly described as ordinary, not pretty, or not handsome.

The Princes trilogy is about three men who know each other via an agricultural society; the stories are stylistically connected by the retelling of three "prince" fairy tales within the books. One of the pluses of the trilogy is that the stories are only slightly interconnected; there are no match-making characters, secondary character sex, or cute babies.

The Raven Prince - Anna Wren is having a difficult time keeping her very small household afloat when she's nearly run over by Edward de Raaf, the Earl of Swartingham. Edward, on the other hand, keeps scaring away his secretaries. When Anna volunteers, it seems as though both of their problems are solved.

This is Hoyt's first book and the weakest of the trilogy. I dislike the trope it relies on midway through (sex in disguise), and the employer-employee relationship almost always squicks me out, particularly when it's male employer and female employee. I don't remember much of it, save that Edward is very paranoid about his face and upper body, both of which are scarred from a childhood encounter with smallpox. I liked that the scarring, while related to his childhood traumatic incident and to his current insecurity, isn't the result of some heroic injury, that it is described as off-putting, and that it's not one of those stupid tropes in which the hero angsts about his ugliness for chapters and chapters, only to have the readers discover that he only has two dashing scars on his cheekbone or something.

There is a subplot regarding courtesans that I wasn't much for, as some of it skirted around the Courtesan with the Heart of Gold trope, as well as a subplot involving Anna being blackmailed. Also, the fairy tale isn't integrated in the story as it is in the later two books, although I briefly smiled at it because it reminded me of Princess Tutu.

Still, the character interaction was interesting, although it was a bit of a disappointment after the other two books (I read the trilogy backwards).

The Leopard Prince - Lady Georgina Maitland is checking out one of her estates when a series of sheep murders breaks out. Unfortunately, the suspect is her trusty steward Harry Pye! Even more unfortunately, she has begun to notice that Harry has very nice wide shoulders and a very muscular build...

This was a very fun book, although I think it might have been improved with less Harry angst in the end, as that didn't work with the frothier tone in the beginning for me. Hoyt manages to skirt around my employer-employee squick with the lighter tone here, as well as by making the woman the employer and the man the employee. Harry's pretty alpha, so there was less imbalance in the power dynamics of the relationship. (Which is not to say that this works in real life, because NO. But enough to get me to read.) Also, I think Janssen's The Duchess, Her Maid, the Groom, and Their Lover does a more interesting version of the class differences between the hero and the heroine.

I enjoyed George, who's very fashionable, somewhat harebrained, but actually extremely smart underneath the ruffles, and I was very fond of her and Harry as a couple. There are some missteps when it comes to George's many brothers and her sister; I thought the subplot about her sister again didn't work with the fluffier tone for me, and I completely didn't believe the resolution of the George-Harry romance.

Most of my quibbles are that it felt like Hoyt was still figuring out tone and how to balance a comic tone with slightly more serious matters. That said, I had a lot of fun reading this.

The Serpent Prince - Lucy Craddock-Hayes lives a fairly staid life—she's slowly being courted by the local vicar and is a Pillar of the Community. That is, until she finds Viscount Simon Iddesleigh naked in a ditch, beaten nearly to death. Unbeknownst to Lucy, Simon is intent upon finding the men who conspired to kill his brother and killing them via duel. What follows is a very traditional-feeling love story with very little flash but a lot of emotion.

This book doesn't do much with gender roles, save that Simon is not an alpha bastard. He's of the "secretly angsty but hides his angst under foppishness and drivel" category that I have great fondness for (see: Scarlet Pimpernel). Lucy herself is very honest and very straightforward, but not in a flirtatious or spunky manner. She reads as very solemn and serious instead. My favorite part of the book is the romance between Lucy and Simon: they fall in love fairly quickly but they both realize it's not likely for the romance to succeed. In spite of that, Simon proposes. The bulk of the novel is not about their sexual chemistry, but rather about how they will make the relationship work when Simon is intent upon destroying himself.

I mentioned the romance felt "traditional" to me; a large part of it is because the focus is on the emotions of the hero and the heroine and not about the sex. There's also the fact that they first have sex after being married, that the first time isn't perfect, and even that there is a divide between the more knowledgeable guy wanting sex with the less knowledgeable woman not being so sure. It sounds odd that I'd appreciate this, but I do. I like how Lucy learns about sex, as opposed to instantly thinking it's awesome, and while I raise my eyebrow at Simon at times, I like that he is actually very protective of Lucy, and not in a snarly animalistic way.

Despite the massive amounts of angst, this read as very sweet to me. It's about two people who very much love each other, even as they're still learning about the other person. And while I could critique the female-savior/male-sinner dynamic, I think Hoyt makes it work extremely well by virtue of her characterization.

---

Hoyt is also offering a free online novella, The Ice Princess, which is the story of the courtesan with the heart of gold in The Raven Prince. Given the title, the fairy tale it references, and the way the story has been going so far (hero not using sex to seduce a courtesan!), I like it a lot. Here's hoping it ends well. Warning: the first chapter is in an incredibly annoying format.

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Mine to Possess - Clay Bennett and Talin McKade were childhood friends, but one night of violence tore them apart. Talin let Clay believe she were dead the past twenty years, but now that someone is kidnapping the street kids she's been working with, she thinks Clay and the DarkRiver leopards are the only ones who can help her.

It's nice that this is the first Psy-Changeling book starring a human character (Talin), although I felt it made some of the aggressiveness from Clay even less acceptable to me (I have ongoing issues with the whole dominance and marking and whatnot that goes on with the Changelings). Although I very much liked that Talin and Clay had a backstory, I felt Singh didn't illustrate it as much as I wanted, and given the circumstances under which they parted, I really really really really REALLY did not like Clay getting into Tally's personal space. REALLY did not like. I can handwave the whole "the leopard in him hated that she was afraid of him" thing, but honestly, the reaction to her being afraid to you is not to crowd her!

In terms of worldbuilding, I like that the plot in this book leads much more seamlessly into the next book (below), as well as how we're getting more and more hints as to what's going to happen with the Psy and Silence. I particularly like that Singh is starting to add humans back in; in most of the other books, they seemed like the neglected third corner without any nifty powers.

Also, as fond as I am of awkward infodumps, putting an infodump in the prologue that basically reveals the Big Reveal at the end of the book is possibly not the best idea.

Hostage to Pleasure - Ashaya Aleine is an M-Psy (medical Psy) who has been researching something that may enslave the Psy race. When Dorian Christensen helps her out in Mine to Possess, he finds himself strangely attracted to her, despite the fact that his sister was killed by a Psy serial killer and that he hates all Psy.

For some reason, the chapter headings here vary from quotes from Ashaya's personal journal, usually commenting on how Dorian affects her, to notes from the mysterious Iliana, to notes from a burgeoning rebellion. I have no idea why there are quotes about Dorian in the header, as they are anvilly and add nothing to the emotional development (and if they did, I feel the editor should have moved the development into the actual chapters instead of the headers). The others might be nice random background, but the treatment of the quotes is extremely inconsistent. I ended up ignoring most of them.

I originally did not want to read this at all, given the back cover copy—Ashaya is a mother and an M-Psy, and I very much didn't want a story about healing and maternal love. The maternal love is still there, but I liked how Ashaya's M-Psy-ness is at a DNA-level, meaning that she works more in labs and not with people at all.

Also, there is a not-too-spoilery element that makes this one of my favorite books in the series: ( Minor spoiler! )

Oh, also, warning for lots of food skin descriptions (made up example: "Your skin is like chocolate and cream! I want to lick you up and eat you.")

---

As with all the other Singh books I have read, I have the same problems with male dominance, female acceptance of that dominance, the inclination toward aggressiveness and violence in the men, and the way the emotional tension disappears halfway through the book.

I'm sure people are like, "Well, why do you keep reading?"

I do because I'm interested in the worldbuilding, which probably isn't on the same level as sf/f worldbuilding, but reminds me a lot of some manga worldbuilding (i.e. "Whatever we can think of! Then we'll proceed from there. Maybe with zombie angels if that makes things better."). Although I note that there is also manga out there with impeccable worldbuilding. Sometimes it just does not give me the same rush. I really want to see how the Psy end up by the end of the series, and what that means for the rest of her world. I love the hints of backstory and generations, the story of a cultural war fought a century ago that still has impact now.

I also very much enjoy that many of her heroes are Changelings while many of her heroines are Psy, which disrupts the usual romance dynamic of the emotionally giving and understanding woman and the cold but sexual man. Obviously I have issues with the Changeling Psy dynamic as well, as noted above re: dominance and violence. But another result of having several Psy heroines is that because the main plot of the series is the changing of Psy society, the heroines are given a weight that the heroes do not have. They are the bearers of change, and I find that fascinating.

Another thing is my two favorite books in the series so far (Slave to Sensation and Hostage to Pleasure, above) are, unsurprisingly, the ones that focus most on female relationships. They are not perfect by any means, especially because all the other characters are enmeshed in nearly all-male networks, but it's still interesting.

Plus: multiracial characters, even if they have Starbucks skin and special eyes.

Most of all, I like that even though the heroes all inevitably have angsty backstory, the main development is with the heroines, who usually must change more, deal with more, and grow more. Their angst usually isn't as dramatic as the heroes', but I feel it's given much more weight in the story. With the heroes, their angst gets a lot of lip service, but because it doesn't directly impact the plot, it doesn't matter as much. I think Caressed by Ice may be the exception to this, but I don't remember. And it doesn't hurt that all the heroines so far have started out as icy and withdrawn.

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Francesca Brown was half of a husband-and-wife team of spiritualists, but after Lord Greyson Sheffield exposed her as being a fraud, she retreated to a small town in Scotland to watch over young Amelie Chase. Several years later, Grey makes his way to Little Firkin with his nephew Hayden in tow. Amelie and Hayden promptly fall in love as Grey tries to reconcile the emminently practical, sarcastic, and skeptical Fanny Walcott with the fey creature he knew before.

I was so disappointed when I first heard about this book: Yes, Connie Brockway was returning to historicals (yay!), but the book was set in Scotland with magic. Never a good sign. But I found it on the library shelf and figured I could always chuck it at something if I hated it. Lucky for me, because this is incredibly charming and funny. There are no mystical Scottish powers, no macho Scottish lairds, and despite the back cover trying to bill the book as a thriller-type adventure ("unseen enemy," "danger and desire" what?), it is a romantic comedy through and through. It reminds me a great deal of Brockway's The Bridal Season, albeit with even less angst.

That said, I am bothered by the portrayal of the residents of Little Firkin; we don't see much of them, but they are largely consigned to being broad comic relief, continuing that wonderful romance tradition of only allowing upper-class characters to be fully fleshed. Of course, if you are lower class and you are the hero or the heroine, you may get good characterization, but only because you are marrying "up," and quite frequently because you have secret upper-class blood flowing through your veins. Because, you know, blood always runs true...

I'm slightly mollified because it is a comedy and because Grammy Beadle is awesome, but YMMV.

While Grey and Fanny have a little angst, most of the book is about their verbal sparring, which delights me. It is actually funny! I actually like both of the characters! I can actually see why they're attracted to each other! It is sad that this is fairly rare in romances for me. I also love the portrayal of Amelie and Hayden, both of whom are very young and very much in love. They're your more standard romance novel protagonists, and it's great how Brockway and Grey and Fanny poke fun at them, even as we get to see how Amelie will most likely grow up to be a very cool woman.

Overall, everything is so charming and funny and cute! Even the threats on Amelie's life! I'm so glad I picked this up. It completely lives up to the title.

The excerpt on Brockway's website gives a very good idea of the overall tone of the book.

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Or: the shapeshifter condo book!

Lucas Hunter is the alpha of the DarkRiver leopard Changeling pack. A serial killer is currently targeting Changeling women across packs, and Lucas suspects that the killer is Psy, even though the Psy race supposedly suppressed all their emotions in a protocol called Silence in order to get rid of crime and other nasty stuff. He starts working with Sascha Duncan to build Changeling condos and to try to get more information from the Psy from her.

Sascha, on the other hand, is supposedly a cardinal-level Psy—you can tell who these Super Powerful Psy are because their eyes are all black with little white specks, like stars (I am not kidding! They also turn into rainbow fireworks when she orgasms. SO NOT KIDDING!). But her powers have never manifested, and she's spent a lifetime hiding her defectiveness from her extremely powerful mother and from the rest of Psy society.

And finally, I can say it truthfully: TOGETHER, THEY FIGHT CRIME!

Well, a crime.

(And they build condos.)

I've read several of Singh's Psy-Changeling series before, and her extremely possessive and violent men really don't do it for me. Also, Sascha is much more of a healer figure in later books, which made me much less inclined to be interested in her. Fortunately, in this book, she is all icy Psy, and she has a lot more angst than Lucas, which surprised me.

Don't get me wrong. Lucas does have angst. He is a hero; he must have angst. However, Sascha's angst is the main plot driver. Lucas' angst does have some bearing on how the relationship progresses, but almost all of the change comes from Sascha, which is sadly still abnormal in romances. Unfortunately, as with most of Singh's books, once Sascha's shields come down, the relationship suddenly becomes much more conventional and much more boring.

Also, I totally wanted more of the condos. I loved all the details about the deal negotiations and the talk of materials and such! The condos sadly go away when the serial killer plot really kicks in, but I loved what we got of them.

As noted, the book has many of the same flaws that are in the rest of Singh's books. While I like that she does have some women fighters, most of them are still men. I also continue to hate the whole Changeling mating thing and the men's possessiveness. On the other hand, this series continues to fascinate me as well, because of how things like emotional neediness and the desire for comforting touch is built into the Changelings, alpha men included. Also, Singh starts here with her trend of multi-racial characters; Sascha is a quarter or an eighth Japanese, Scottish, and I think something else. Sadly, the trend goes along with lots of Starbucks skin descriptions and frequent use of the word "exotic."

In conclusion: interesting worldbuilding, flawed prose and execution, and somewhat interesting gender and race stuff that never goes as far as I want it to.

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rilina and I were at the library today when we encountered this very memorable cover.

Groping aside, I actually want to read it now!

In other news, I have also bought the Nalini Singh book about shapeshifter condos and the first omnibus for Night World. Whoo! My sister owns Daughters of Darkness and Spellbinder in Taiwan, but now I have my own!

Also, when I was telling rachelmanija and Rilina about shapeshifter condos, they both misheard it as "shapeshifter condoms." Which, of course, actually makes more sense given the romance novel context. Now I am very curious to know if shapeshifters have very special condom needs along with condo needs.

(Hello people who found me via Wiscon! Um, I do plan on posting about serious things too. Eventually... After I stop being distracted by paranormals... Someday...)

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I realize it is a very stupid idea to try and catch up with book posts while also trying to catch up from Wiscon, but nevertheless, that is what I am doing! Also, a ton of this is from chatting with coffeeandink, so I may be stealing a lot of her insights.

Four years ago, Bryony Asquith proposed to Leo Marsden, dazzled by the younger man's self and thinking that his marrying her would prove to the world that she was worthwhile. But a year later, their marriage has been annulled, and Bryony has been going around the world to escape London. Leo has just found her in India and convinces her to return with him to England, and together, they have to get through the wild landscape and past a dangerous rebellion (oh Sherry Thomas, why did this have to be set in India WHY?).

I read the prologue and bits of the first chapter back when Delicious came out and have been looking forward to it since: icy cold female doctor! The book itself both completely surpasses what I wanted and undershoots at the same time. Many parts of the characterization are completely off or do not make sense, the setting in India is pretty much as bad as I thought, and although the ending is not as tacked on as some of Thomas' other endings, the way the romance is partially resolved midway through the book left me bored and puzzled.

The structure is much like Thomas' previous two novels, although the flashbacks are few enough that they can be contained in italicized sections, as opposed to alternating chapters. I personally am a giant flashback fan, so this did not bug me, but I know other people do not like it.

First, the bad. As previously mentioned, this is set in India, starring white people. We all know how this goes, yes? I don't know if it's good or bad that there are no speaking Indian parts. I hate that non-white people are erased and made into dangerous rebels or lackeys, and yet, I am fairly sure if they did get a larger role, it would be made of fail. Also, as mentioned, Bryony and Leo get caught in a local rebellion in Swat Valley. Oh Sherry Thomas, why must you remind me that the heroes are actually the villains? I tried skimming the India sections as quickly as possible to avoid massive FAIL, but given how much plot the fighting takes, it was difficult. It is hard reading a romance novel when you are siding with the people trying to kill off the hero and thinking, "Die, British Raj, die!"

Also, Leo basically rapes Bryony in her sleep in the flashbacks—she tells him she does not want to have sex with him when she is sleeping, but he does it anyway. Sadly, the book does not find it problematic. There are sleeping-sex scenes in the present day as well, which I am conflicted about, as Leo clearly does not mind Bryony doing it to him. Still, it makes me nidgy.

Finally, the characterization.

( Spoilers )

And yet, all that said, some parts of the book make me so happy! I love icy brittle Bryony and her affinity for scalpels and diseases even as she dislikes people, and oh, Leo. Leo is wonderful.

( More spoilers )

Another bonus point: Bryony cannot conceive and... NO MIRACLE BABY.

All in all, I am not sure this would work for people who do not have my same love of Leo, Bryony, and microscopes. Still, I am glad there were moments of squee in there, although there was a lot of unevenness as well.

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Serena Riverton was forced to marry Randy Matthew Riverton for money when she was fifteen; he trained his young bride in all sorts of debauched ways. He's finally died, and her brothers want to marry her off to someone else. Serena runs off rather than marry again, and is rescued by Francis, Lord Middlethorpe. As an attempt to repay him and keep him with her, she basically molests him, rapes him, and takes his virginity in the middle of the night, as she believes all men want sex always.

I tried reading this many years ago and didn't finish because I had wanted Serena to be icier and colder than she was. Despite her sexual experience, she and Francis are both very much like ingenues. Serena has no idea how to deal with people who are not cruel to her, and Francis has no idea what to do with this lovely stranger he should probably leave.

I very much like Serena and Francis, particularly how Francis is not your average alpha male, and it's especially interesting to see a guy who is not in control of the sex scenes at all. However, much of the book is taken up with an incredibly stupid series of Big Misunderstandings that had me rolling my eyes the entire time, and then Serena meets the Company of Rogues. There are entirely too many of them, and I did not need to see all the former couples being happily couple-y or how much amassed social power the group has.

I was also unsure at first as to how I felt about Serena and Francis playing at bondage after her experience with Matthew, but I think that I like how it says that it's not the sexual practices that are wrong—I hate the romance shorthand of indicating someone is villainous by showing their non-vanilla sex life—but it's a matter of how it is done and with whom.

I'm still not sure Beverley is for me, particularly given the massive sequelitis, but this one is interesting in spite of its flaws.

Links:
- rilina's review (vaguely spoilery)
- rachelmanija's review

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This is the first book in the de la Fer series. I found Harbaugh when coffeeandink re-posted her old romance recs list; I hadn't realized prior to that that Harbaugh was POC. I'd read one of her Regencies back in high school (The Vampire Viscount) and remember thinking that there was not enough angst and brooding and alpha male posturing.

Oh younger self. It's too bad you didn't find Twilight.

Night Fires is set during the French Revolution and is very much influenced by The Scarlet Pimpernel; since my younger self read Baroness Orczy back in eighth grade and desperately loved it, I do not find this to be a problem. However, as with many French Revolution portrayals, this book is highly sympathetic toward the aristocrats.

Simone de la Fer is an outcast from her family, having been turned into a vampire in a rather scandalous manner. She returns to find them all dead and kills all the killers. As a way to repent, she vows to go after evil-doers and to take no more lives, and does so as a hunchback wrapped in rags calling herself "La Flamme." As one does!

Michael Corday is a British spy. They meet and distrust each other and then decide to work together. I think there is something involved about uncovering a mole in the British spy ring and/or rescuing some people from a Parisian prison. Quite honestly, I have no idea.

The prose is not particularly wonderful; there were definitely too many random French phrases for me. I also dislike the notion that both Michael and Simone think she is strong, but that most women are not. I am not sure if we are supposed to agree with them or not. Given that the same sentiment is in Harbaugh's other de la Fer book, I have no idea.

What I did enjoy about this book was the reversal of the usual paranormal vampire tropes. Simone is afraid to sleep with Michael, yes, but mostly because she is afraid she will succumb and bite him. She's also not a timid virgin, and moreover, she has had sex without love and the book does not really condemn her for it.

There's also a strong religious presence throughout, which I found realistic and actually rather interesting, given that many historical romances don't imbue their protagonists' lives with religion. Here, it's something that is fairly central to Simone's character, despite her vampire-ness.

Still, I have to agree with younger self a bit... I wanted more angst and UST-full neck gazing and licking, though I was pleased to have less alpha-male-ness. I'm afraid Vampire Knight may have spoiled me a bit for all following vampire things.

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Ha. And of course after I post saying I can't keep up with LJ, I spam you all with book posts. I am sure the deluge will stop as soon as I stop procrastinating!

I liked this a lot more than The Vampire's Claim, probably because the worldbuilding involves heaven and hell instead of vampires.

And mermaids.

Actually, wait. there are vampires too.

I mentioned Joey Hill's cracktasticness before, right?

This is the sequel to Hill's angel-mermaid romance A Mermaid's Kiss, which I did not read because it looks like one of those "beautiful angelic (but not actually an angel) mermaid heroine saves the actually angelic but bitter and guarded hero" things. Also, reports of pixie/normal-sized-angel sex scared me.

I picked this book up because the Dear Author review notes that the heroine is the sea witch Mina, who is half Dark One (read: half-demon). Also, she has tentacles and half her body has been eaten away by fish thanks to a childhood incident. The angel David has been sent to guard her and to keep an eye on hher, as no Dark Spawn (I want to be Dark Spawn!) has ever been not-evil before. The angels are afraid that Mina will join the Dark Ones and wreak havoc with her very considerable power.

I love Mina. She is grumpy and not good and determinedly neutral. She hates pretty much everyone and subscribes to the Sanzo school of showing affection via putdowns. And although Hill changes her a little by the end (which I dislike), she remains herself through most of the book. Also, she makes declarations of love by asking David to kill her if she goes evil! I also love that even though David uses his dominance in sex to help Mina control her Dark Side, he generally backs off and lets her set her own pace and her own terms. Also also, even though he has substantial angst, most of the book is about Mina.

Other cool things/cracktastic bits: Even though there are angels, the main deities are the God and the Goddess. The Goddess seems to be the deity most in play. There are wounded wings AND eye loss! And! My favorite: ZOMBIE DINOSAURS!

The plot finale is spectacular and epic; I actually wished at times it were manga so I could get the visuals. However, despite the coolness, I'm not quite sure what happened, a la Yuki Kaori. That said, I am fairly certain there was a lack of zombie angel embryos. Unfortunately, the way Hill solves the problems presented by the finale reversed a lot of things I liked about the book, and the epilogue features a baby.

In conclusion: I liked this better than The Vampire's Claim, especially when it came to the characters, but it's still flawed. On the other hand, so much crack!

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Lydia Joyce writes gothic romances, some more gothic than others. This one felt very gothic, given the use of spiritualists and seances. Thomas Hyde, Viscount Varcourt, has been suspected of killing his older brother for years. His mother is currently enamored with spiritualism, particularly the veiled spiritualist Esmerelda. Thomas is worried Esmerelda is using his family to further her own ends and tries to drive her away from his mother.

Em is using her role as Esmerelda for reasons we don't know, and soon, Thomas coerces her to investigate what his mother knows about his brother's death. I don't particularly like Thomas, but I find his relationship with Em fascinating. There's a lot of power play involved, and although Thomas does the stupid alpha male thing of thinking it's okay to be threatening non-virginal women, Em responds not by protesting her innocence, but by continually forcing herself to be icy and unafraid. It has the effect of making the reader and Thomas judge his actions without the "this would be okay if she really were a Gypsy*/fallen woman/whatever." Also, as we all know, I am a total sucker for icy women.

This is definitely a dark romance, and I don't buy the happy ending at all. However, unlike Anne Stuart's Moon Rise, I like that the darkness in this book is more centered in the heroine, as opposed the more traditional innocent heroine/dark and mysterious hero dynamic. Also, as a plus, Joyce's plotting doesn't completely fall apart as much as it usually does. There is still a totally random solution to one mystery (who killed Thomas' brother), but since I didn't care about that one, I was okay with it.

... Now I want to read a gothic romance by Joyce that features a non-aristocratic hero and a brooding, secretive, possibly murderous heroine.

Actually, I would read a book like that by anyone!


* Am annoyed with the book's use of the Roma, and while it's in character for everyone to think of them as Gypsies, they're basically used as exotic flavor. There's only one speaking Roma character, and most of it is about Em and how she fits in or doesn't with the Roma community. Bah.

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I blame this on Dear Author! They had previously written up some of Joey Hill's other books and mentioned that she does dominant women and submissive men, which is a huge chnage from so much published in romance.

The Vampire's Claim is set in the same world as the Dear Author reviewed books that intrigued me, The Vampire Queen's Servant and Mark of the Vampire Queen. It's set in 1950s Australia, when Lady Daniela (Danny) is trying to win back her territory from an evil vampire guy. She meets Devlin, an angsty guy, and ends up marking him as her servant (this takes several stages). Together, they fight crime they have a lot of explicit sex!

To begin with, I have zero knowledge of Australian vocabulary, so when I say it sounded very forced to me, I am basing this on nothing whatsoever. Dev is a quarter aboriginal Australian, although he has red hair and green eyes. I felt the use of his ancestry was extremely problematic; Hill refers mostly to his Scottish and Irish ancestry when she's talking about him and only notes his aboriginal ancestry when she goes on about how great he is at navigating the wilds of Australia and walkabout and what an awesome hunter he is blah blah blah. Also, she dresses the Japanese character Chiyoko in Japanese clothing... cheongsam. ?!?! I thought this might be a mistake, but Hill later refers to another character wearing Japanese-inspired clothes described as having a mandarin collar and frog closures. Hint: if something is "mandarin," it is NOT Japanese.

That said, I didn't actually get too mad at the book just because some of the writing was not so great. It is definitely not on the level of burping penises or spinning like a top while having sex, but a good deal of it is over the top, and I could have used with much less description of Danny's spun-gold hair and brilliant blue eyes.

Even so, the book is interesting. I like very much that Danny is the master in the relationship and Dev is the servant; there's a bit of non-consensual stuff going on that I'm not quite good with, but it is different in that it's a woman having the power to do something non-consensual to a man. I like that Danny's physical power is never downplayed, and that she is clearly dangerous and scary. On the other hand, I wasn't too caught up in the worldbuilding, and several of the sex scenes felt perfunctory, particularly the ones that include Lady Lyssa, the main character of the other vampire books.

So I'm not quite sure what to think! The book is extremely, extremely flawed, but on the other hand, it's also tackling things that I don't get to see very much in romance at all, which I like.