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meganbmooreI read a bunch of Sabatinis last year (largely his earlier books, which are in the public domain) and they were fun, but kind of blended together in my head. Mistress Wilding, which uses the Monmouth Rebellion as its backdrop, and which was my first sabatini for this year, largely blends in as well, but it gets special mention for some of the earlier drama, which goes like this:
OUR HERO, ANTHONY: Ruth, I have a terrible reputation that I have completely earned and am conspiring against the king-just like your brother-but am desperately in love with you!
OUR HEROINE, RUTH: Anthony, you're awfully cute, but I've done some checking around and it looks like you have earned a lot of that reputation. Also, I am a royalist, and while I can't dump my brother, I can dump you.
ANTHONY: I'll go get drunk now.
RUTH'S BROTHER, RICHARD: I am drunk and really hate that guy. I'm positive he would never do anything to the brother of the woman he loves, so I think I'll just throw my beer in his face for saying my sister has nice eyes.
ANTHONY: You. Me. Pistols. Noon work?
RICHARD: ... That did not go as planned.
RUTH: Clearly, I have all the brains in the family. Since I can't dump you and am actually a bit attached to you, I'll go try out my feminine wiles on my ex now.
ANTHONY: Ruth, I'll totally spare your brother.
RUTH: Oh, thank you!
ANTHONY: If you'll marry me.
RUTH: I knew I dumped you for a reason.
RUTH'S SPURNED SUITOR, BLAKE: Nooooes! I must have her fortune for myself! I mean, her, Totally her. Not just her money. I, too, am a follower of Monmouth, but I'll totally sell him out to get Ruth's money. I mean, Ruth.
RICHARD: Blake, my buddy, my pal, what's with this letter addressed to Anthony Wilding that details out Monmouth's plans and totally outs my soon-to-be-brother-in-law as a traitor?
BLAKE: Oh, I stole that from a messenger. We'll turn it over to the loyalist magistrate and get Wilding executed.
RICHARD: I...feel this must somehow be wrong of us to do but really, I just want to get rid of this guy.
BLAKE: BRB, gotta visit the loo. Don't do anything while I'm gone.
RUTH: Richard, what is that?
RICHARD: Ruth! You're totally free! We'll just use this to get Wilding executed. I mean, you'll be a widow, but you were literally married 5 minutes ago so I'm sure no one will expect you to dye all your clothes bla-hey, what are you doing with that!
RUTH: I don't want him dead! I just don't want to live with him!
RICHARD: But-
RUTH: SCRAM!
ANTHONY: My beloved! Are you ready for some awesome wedding night sexings?
RUTH: Actually, I was thinking I'd just stay here, in my own bedroom.
ANTHONY: Babe, I love you, but not enough to live in the same house as your brother.
RUTH: Actually, I was thinking you'd go back to your house and I'll stay right here.
ANTHONY: Hey, remember our bargain? We did just get married 10 minutes ago! And I told you you could redecorate.
RUTH: Actually, I was thinking I'd chill here and you'd go away and not bother me and in return, I won't use this letter to have you executed. And maybe crush your entire rebellion along the way.
ANTHONY: This is not going the way I'd planned at all.
RUTH: That's karma for you. Toodle-oo!
ANTHONY: Suddenly, I need a cold shower.
The other Sabatini I've read so far this year is The Trampling of the Lilies. A couple days before I started reading this, I was thinking that it might be interesting to see how the "we were friends/lovers/would-have-been-friends-or-lovers-without-pesky-class-and-allegiance-differences when young but now there is War and we are Enemies" trope would work with a romance set in the French Revolution with one a Royalist and the other a Republican*, and then I read this and that's basically what it was. In my head (and probably rather naively so) there was a lot less conspiring to force her into marriage. Then again, I kind of feel that a lot of the Sabatinis I've read might be best titled as "101 Ways To Attempt To Trick, Coerce Or Manipulate Ladies Into Marrying You Yet Somehow Remain Inexplicably Likable, With Swords and Politics Thrown In For Kicks." Anyway, largely fun book, and not as overwhelmingly biased towards one side or the other in its depiction of the revolution as most fiction set then that i've encountered.
I think I was reading Baroness Orczy's I Shall Repay at the time, which was quite fun when it was about Juliette's revenge quest but got trying when Juliette an Deroulade were trying to outdo each other in self-sacrificing.**
**A while back I conspired to get a lot of public domain books added to my work website, and they largely consisted of Sabatini, Orczy, and a bunch of 19th century (and a few Edwardian) ladies.
OUR HERO, ANTHONY: Ruth, I have a terrible reputation that I have completely earned and am conspiring against the king-just like your brother-but am desperately in love with you!
OUR HEROINE, RUTH: Anthony, you're awfully cute, but I've done some checking around and it looks like you have earned a lot of that reputation. Also, I am a royalist, and while I can't dump my brother, I can dump you.
ANTHONY: I'll go get drunk now.
RUTH'S BROTHER, RICHARD: I am drunk and really hate that guy. I'm positive he would never do anything to the brother of the woman he loves, so I think I'll just throw my beer in his face for saying my sister has nice eyes.
ANTHONY: You. Me. Pistols. Noon work?
RICHARD: ... That did not go as planned.
RUTH: Clearly, I have all the brains in the family. Since I can't dump you and am actually a bit attached to you, I'll go try out my feminine wiles on my ex now.
ANTHONY: Ruth, I'll totally spare your brother.
RUTH: Oh, thank you!
ANTHONY: If you'll marry me.
RUTH: I knew I dumped you for a reason.
RUTH'S SPURNED SUITOR, BLAKE: Nooooes! I must have her fortune for myself! I mean, her, Totally her. Not just her money. I, too, am a follower of Monmouth, but I'll totally sell him out to get Ruth's money. I mean, Ruth.
RICHARD: Blake, my buddy, my pal, what's with this letter addressed to Anthony Wilding that details out Monmouth's plans and totally outs my soon-to-be-brother-in-law as a traitor?
BLAKE: Oh, I stole that from a messenger. We'll turn it over to the loyalist magistrate and get Wilding executed.
RICHARD: I...feel this must somehow be wrong of us to do but really, I just want to get rid of this guy.
BLAKE: BRB, gotta visit the loo. Don't do anything while I'm gone.
RUTH: Richard, what is that?
RICHARD: Ruth! You're totally free! We'll just use this to get Wilding executed. I mean, you'll be a widow, but you were literally married 5 minutes ago so I'm sure no one will expect you to dye all your clothes bla-hey, what are you doing with that!
RUTH: I don't want him dead! I just don't want to live with him!
RICHARD: But-
RUTH: SCRAM!
ANTHONY: My beloved! Are you ready for some awesome wedding night sexings?
RUTH: Actually, I was thinking I'd just stay here, in my own bedroom.
ANTHONY: Babe, I love you, but not enough to live in the same house as your brother.
RUTH: Actually, I was thinking you'd go back to your house and I'll stay right here.
ANTHONY: Hey, remember our bargain? We did just get married 10 minutes ago! And I told you you could redecorate.
RUTH: Actually, I was thinking I'd chill here and you'd go away and not bother me and in return, I won't use this letter to have you executed. And maybe crush your entire rebellion along the way.
ANTHONY: This is not going the way I'd planned at all.
RUTH: That's karma for you. Toodle-oo!
ANTHONY: Suddenly, I need a cold shower.
The other Sabatini I've read so far this year is The Trampling of the Lilies. A couple days before I started reading this, I was thinking that it might be interesting to see how the "we were friends/lovers/would-have-been-friends-or-lovers-without-pesky-class-and-allegiance-differences when young but now there is War and we are Enemies" trope would work with a romance set in the French Revolution with one a Royalist and the other a Republican*, and then I read this and that's basically what it was. In my head (and probably rather naively so) there was a lot less conspiring to force her into marriage. Then again, I kind of feel that a lot of the Sabatinis I've read might be best titled as "101 Ways To Attempt To Trick, Coerce Or Manipulate Ladies Into Marrying You Yet Somehow Remain Inexplicably Likable, With Swords and Politics Thrown In For Kicks." Anyway, largely fun book, and not as overwhelmingly biased towards one side or the other in its depiction of the revolution as most fiction set then that i've encountered.
I think I was reading Baroness Orczy's I Shall Repay at the time, which was quite fun when it was about Juliette's revenge quest but got trying when Juliette an Deroulade were trying to outdo each other in self-sacrificing.**
**A while back I conspired to get a lot of public domain books added to my work website, and they largely consisted of Sabatini, Orczy, and a bunch of 19th century (and a few Edwardian) ladies.