Your Scandalous Ways by Loretta Chase

[meganbmoore]

Note:  Despite the length, all plot details are either on the back, or in the first few chapters, so I don't consider this spoilery beyond the one hidden bit.  Which is also in the first few chapters.

James Cordier is a spy for England in 1820, using his looks to seduce women suspected of being enemies of the crown. He knows that he’s expendable and can be easily replaced by another good looking guy willing to do all for king and country, and so he does his best to both get the job done without annoying his superiors, and to not get killed by his enemies. His latest mission is to go to Italy and seduce Francesca Bonnard, a woman who supposedly has letters that could prove her ex-husband a traitor, and reveal his entire network. Francesca, of course, isn’t about to give up the leverage she has on him, and has proved to be more than a bit recalcitrant when asked for the letters in the past. So James is sent to seduce them out of her. Insert romance novel game of cat-and-mouse. And since it’s Loretta Chase, you know it’ll be pretty good. Ignore that book with the blond haired, blue eyed Arab spy masquerading as a Frenchman. Every author is allowed a dud. Possibly, it was the result of a Gundam Wing induced fever dream.

Except, did you catch that one word? The “ex-husband” one? In 1820? There weren’t exactly that many reasons to end up divorced then, and not that many options open for divorcees. You see, five years ago Francesca had an affair to get revenge on her husband for his own affairs. In response, he saw to it that her father was driven out of England as a con-artist, and dragged her through the courts as an adulteress, destroying her reputation, before throwing her penniless into the streets. Normally in a romance novel, some kind friend or relation will come and pack the heroine off to the country, or she will change her name and become a companion to some elderly lady in the country. She will live in guilt and shame, fearful of her secret being discovered, until the hero comes along and his healing love brings her out of her shell, and she timidly goes out into the world, fearful of rejection.

Francesca? Moves to the continent and becomes a courtesan. A high class courtesan sought after by princes and dignitaries. She never feels shame for what he did to her, and never apologizes for who and what she is.

Cue the romance novel community going insane. A promiscuous heroine? Who feels no shame? Who actually likes sex? Who doesn’t need the hero’s approval? The most awful thing they’d ever heard of! The wank was amazing. People swear to never read Loretta Chase again. They say this is the most revolting plot they’ve ever heard of. They are appalled that she actually likes sex before meeting James, and that she isn’t ashamed of it. My favorite but, I think, was when they talked about how no well bred woman would become a courtesan if she had a choice, that being a divorcee was a bad thing that cut off options, etc. Basically, they didn’t even bother to read the book. Otherwise, they would have noted that that was rather the whole point: that her life was destroyed, and that the only option she had was that or starving. I’m sure they especially went ballistic when she had sex with another man after meeting, and even making out with James. Even worse, the other guy wasn’t revealed to be OMG EVIL BECAUSE ANYONE SHE LIKES AFTER MEETING THE HERO HAS TO BE!!! And that Francesca and James even helped matchmake him and her friend.

But Chase doesn’t stop there. She goes even a step farther. You see, the whole “spy who sleeps around a lot as part of his duties” bit is pretty popular with romance novels. He’s always angsty. Oh so very angsty. And noble and heroic and ohnononono…he isn’t a prostitute with the government as his pimp! Really! James? Is pragmatic, angst-lite, and well aware that a prostitute is exactly what we is, and nothing else. He wants out because he’s tired of it. In fact, he wants to go to England and dance at Almacks with dim little virgins hunting for a husband. He wants the life most romance novel heroes avoid like the plague.

Loretta Chase, as a general rule, is quietly subversive. She twists and bends romance novel tropes all over the place while working squarely within them. Here, she kicks them in the face. The “virgin or shame” rule? Torn into shreds. The “noble manslut for king and country” trope? Exposed as the shallow excuse (and pretty much lie) that it is.

The result? A book worlds better than most of its target audience will ever appreciate, because it exposes the problems with so many of its comfort zones, while presenting a hero and heroine who would mop the floor with all their “acceptable” and “proper” heroes and heroines. 
 

Comments

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Will definitely skip this one.

They both sound well-adjusted (unbelievably so, in fact, considering their professions) which is great for them, but for angst junkie like me? Means instant pass :)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Pity. It's vastly better than the last several dozen romance novels I've read.

I'll never understand why "confident and functional" means "boring and angstless" though.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Confident and functional people might not be boring, but they are generally angstless. A lot of angst(or tragedy) willresult in you not keeping your well-adjustedness/functionality, you know? If you cope with every tragedy in super-well-adjusted fashion, that's actually pretty praiseworthy but also creepy. Horrible things are supposed to break you down, you know. Or your fighting against them will still show your strength but 'confident and functional' would not be the way I'd describe the person. ngsty, yes :)

Also, it's a moral issue. In most circumstances I find people who sell themselves for sex (men or women) and seem to find no shame in it, and treat it as another profession (whether they are a courtesan, a spy, or whatever) unappealing. I don't think they should be burned at the stake, and there are plenty of situations where this might have been their only option to survive, but there is a difference between doing it because you have to, and doing it because you have to and because you think it's a great job. I am not one of those feminists who finds prostitution ennobling.

Now, does this mean I would never want to read a novel about a courtesan? No, not true. If the novel did not revolve around the issue of love, I might have loved to try it, despite that. One of my favorite novels is Thais of Athens, about a legendary Greek hetaera who was definitely not ashamed of her profession (and did not end up with some savior otp either). But not only is there a mental difference between a courtesan in 19th century and a hataera, Ivan Efremov was an author I knew and trusted and it was not a romance novel, which is by definition supposed to be about fuzzy romantic feelings.

Anyway, this is turning into a rant :) Sorry!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Ah, but it's a survival issue where she refuses to feel shame for surviving, and decides to find ways to still enjoy living despite being forced into a life her upbringing says she should despise. The profession is never portrayed as ennobling, just her refusal to hang her head in shame or die in a gutter.

I find the angst of characters who deal with it and keep going with life much more compelling than the ones who make it their lives. Angst wallowing and characters who let angst rule their lives is, more often than not, en extreme turn off to me, at least partly because healf the time, if they'd just shut up and deal, they'd be a lot happier.

[calixa.livejournal.com]

I like the ones who go on living normally and don't let on that they're angsty but secretly inside they are dying of it. It's the stoicness that gets me.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yup. And really "not letting on," not that "I talk like I'm good with it but I make sure everyone around me can tell" garbage.

Clamp and Saiyuki characters are an exception. They just have too much angst for that to work no matter how nobly they try. Especially Fai.

Otherwise, I demand text that treats it as screwing them up, not making them hot. Or that it be played up for cheese and crack, or the the character be an uber-dork, like Zuko or Kougaiji.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

I, on the other hand, just added it to my list. Some you win...:-p

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Reactions to it seem to be mostly based around what a person wants from romance novels. *been looking back over reviews and reactions now that I've read it*

I do agree with some that the ending is a little too "everything is better now," but I'll make allowances, as it kinda feels like an editorial requirement.

[swanjun.livejournal.com]

... You've actually made me kind of want to read a romance novel. A rare feat, I assure you.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

There are good ones mixed in. You just have to wade through the cheesy wangstfests with doormats and alpha jerks to find them.

[swanjun.livejournal.com]

One sub-genre I find wholly unappealing is the whole "who do I want to boff more, the sexy vampire or the sexy werewolf?" thing. There seem to be tons of these out now.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Oh, there have been many, many rants about that here. The UF genre itself I love, but the endless love triangles make most impossible for me to read.

[siedhr.livejournal.com]

I feel pretty much the same way.

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

Your posts are bringing back so many memories for me. I used to love Loretta Chase's regencies. I'm glad she's still writing.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

She's one of the few I used to read that I still read, and really the only "big" name writer that's been big for a while for reasons other than sex scenes who isn't just rewriting her old stuff.

[danyellalot.livejournal.com]

This sounds really interesting, actually...

I hate when people are so quick to call a character a slut just because she's had sex before.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

If she's had sex before, she's a slut. If she hasn't, she's a frigid prude...

SPOILERS!!!

[estara.livejournal.com]

You know, if your description had been all I read in the book, I'd have kept it as a keeper, but I got annoyed in the long run, when Francesca shows occasional traces of being ashamed of her job, after all.
And one commenter somewhere said she couldn't see them as husband and wife in deep love for the rest of her life, but thought they'd make a great amour fou and eventually good friends after their desire had burned out (and I have to agree, I didn't get love vibes, I got major lust vibes from both of them).
I also thought the idea of enobling James at the end and having a pardon for Francesca and welcoming them back into London society was an unrealistic cop-out by Chase, it just wouldn't have happened with such a notorious courtesan as Francesca was purported to be.
In other words, if she had stuck to her guns completely, I WOULD have adored the book, this way I feel cheated and will pass it on to a friend of mine, maybe she'll like it better.

Re: SPOILERS!!!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I never detected any shame on Francesca's part. Not being as in love with it as she sometimes claimed and missing her old life, yes, and being pissed off at Magny's attitude over it, but never shame. I never got the feeling she felt any shame at all for her decisions.

Like element's of Joanna Bourne's The Spymaster's Lady I suspect the Care Bear ending was an editorial demand. I'm actually surprised either were allowed to do nearly as much as they did.

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

I loved this book and the reactions to it just showed how I don't understand the general romance reader community sometimes.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

You don't have a strictly black and white view of the world that says being female and having sex with anyone but your True Love is bad unless you're ashamed of it, and that mansluts are cool and hot and angsty and just need either a pristine virgin or a widow who's never been in love.

I've found that romance novel readers fall into 2 categories:

1) Those who want stories from a female perspective, that focuses on her story, not her function in his, about people falling in love with some semblance of equality(which is rarer than most suspect) that's driven at least in part by the heroine's growth or coming of age.

2) Those who want a very black and white story focusing on the hero saving her from a "lesser" life (be it varieties of povert or an ivory or glass tower) while she heals his angst.

Most want #2, which is also most shoujo and kdramas.

Which would explain why I bounce off so many of them.

From what I gather, though, most detractors don't even bother to read it. They hear about the plot and automatically give them and it attitudes and cast moral judgements, or they get far enough to realize she's a genuine courtesan-not someone who's had one or two discrete lovers-and that she doesn't hate herself, and they run away before their strict ideas of acceptability are challenged.

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

I have been wanting to give Loretta Chase a second chance after the secret baby novel.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The only problem I have with the secret baby novel is how that subplot played out. Too easy. But the dialogue in it was amazing.

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

I liked this book an awful lot, with a few quibbles, and when I'd finished I kept thinking, "this is what's got so many people in a tizzy?" It's so weird to come at all that discussion about this book with the mindset of fandom, where pretty much anything goes--I keep forgetting how restrictive the moralities of some romance readers are.

Their loss, I guess. I really hope the furor over this book has been enough to draw in enough new readers to offset those who were so scandalized that they'll never touch another of Chase's books.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

What got them in a tizzy is that it kicked a lot of the hypocrisy of the genre in the teeth. It's like how people read a few chapters of Wallflower and run away, because that one rips into every shoujo "he-harem saving shy girl" trope ever.

[artillie.livejournal.com]

I was tl;dring this post really hard until I saw the phrase "noble manslut for king and country." And then I looked it up on Amazon--none of the reviewers can bring themselves to type out the word "whore." That's hilarious.

I don't read romance novels--okay, yes I do, but only every once in a while--but I'll give this one a shot. Someday. You know, when the library actually has it. All right, I have it set to put it on hold for me as soon as it comes in. But I don't read romance novels. >_>

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The best part is that he calls himself one within the first few pages. Well...whore or prostitute, I forget which. But he's very honest with himself about what he is, which most such heroes aren't.

The "Noble manslut for king and country" is a pretty popular romance novel trope (actually "noble/angsty manslut" in general, not just romances) and one that most love, and one that I kinda hate, so I loved seeing it exposed for the hypocrisy it is.

MORE SPOILERS!!!!

[estara.livejournal.com]

Yes, that was one of the most fun parts, when he does a bit of self-inspection when coming clear to Francesca about why he was set upon her - the bits where SHE flies into an Italian rage (even though being British), and he remains calm and then remembers he's half-Italian himself and goes cursing after her until they make up.

Or later on, when she wants to pacify one of the baddies with jewelry and he gets really upset because he's also a jewel thief and can't handle her wanting to give away the jewels, and then she calls him being upset like "watching opera" and when he looks at her murderously she says "You're beautiful when you're angry" - waiting for him to lose it and he almost does and then laughs out loud.

I guess I'm disappointed because these bits are in the book too, and I wanted to like it more on the whole

Re: MORE SPOILERS!!!!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think the annoying bits don't bother me because I'm on a listserv with a lot of regency authors, and there've been discussions about bits that editors make you include and such, so there's a lot of things in romance novels that I look at and go "yeah, the editor made that happen before they'd let it get published.

Re: MORE SPOILERS!!!!

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Oh, I loved those scenes you mentioned - especially the 'you're beautiful when you're angry' one.

Re: MORE SPOILERS!!!!

[estara.livejournal.com]

So did I, which is why I'm especially disappointed on the whole. Ah well. I have lots of others of her books that I really like.

[irysangel.livejournal.com]

I really liked this book...except I felt it was watered down at certain points. Frex, she....

SPOILER
.
.
.
.
.
didn't really sleep with the other guy. It was just set up to look like she was. And then there's the whole "Oh my benefactor is secretly my dad."
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
End Spoiler. I swear to Christ, I'm going to write a book with an unabashed courtesan at some point.

Overall, it was good. Francesca was a little too reluctant for my tastes, but the manwhore was awesome.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The dad reveal disappointed me because I'd pegged him as dad or uncle from the start. Chase was deliberately oblique about sex with the other guy. She never said she did, but I don't recall her ever saying she didn't, either.

I think, though, that all the quibbles are editorial panic buttons.

I can just imagine the sweating when she turned in the proposal.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Because of your review, I just ordered this book.

Sexually active women in a historical who isn't ashamed? Hell yeah!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I probably would have at that if I didn't already read Chase.

It's made clear that it isn't the life she would have chosen for herself, but it's also made clear that she doesn't and refuses to feel shame for choosing to survive and prosper into of being "proper" and dying in shame.

ETA: Oh, and she's actually friends with another courtesan, with no envy or backstabbing.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

girl!friendship for the win!

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I read this one and really, really liked it, for most of the reasons that you mentioned.

My favorite bit was at the end when Francesca and her corteasan friend where talking about the crazy lady and shaking their heads over how impractical she was, and also the bit when Our Hero is trying to get Francesca to marry him, and saying he'll put a lover in the marriage contract and then be such a good husband she wouldn't need one.

That said, I was kinda disappointed that her father turned out to be innocent - he came across as an ass to me, and I thought him being guilty really fit his personality.

So, which other books of hers would I enjoy?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I liked how he was thinking of the villainess as an evil villain, and she was thinking of her as a woman. I was annoyed about the father, too, especially since you could guess he was her father or a secret uncle from the start. I also wish it hadn't been "back to society!" at the end, but that's kind of a genre rule.

My favorites are lord of Scoundrels, The Last Hellion (ignore the first 2 books in the series) and the one set in Egypt, whose name I forget (the rest of the books in that series are also pretty good.) If you can get your hands on any of her traditional regencies (I think some have been rereleased as 2-in-1s) those are also good.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Okay, thanks. And can you believe that the library doesn't have ANY of them? I'm so disappointed.