Of Swords and Parasols

What are you currently reading
7 Seeds Vol 22 Tamura Yumi. Almost caught up! Then I will have to sit down and organize my thoughts. Which, currently, are mostly that I have feeeeeeelings. Mostly about Hana, Natsu, Matsuri, Ayu and Aramaki right now.

i'm still reading Heyer's The Black Moth in bits and pieces. I think I'm about halfway through now? It's entertaining enough.

What did you recently finish reading?

Seduction in Silk by Jo Beverley. Georgian-set romance novel in which Our Hero inherits a much-contested family estate from a distant relative, on the condition that he marry the niece of a woman the relative wronged years ago, because said woman also laid a curse on his family that all their children would die until the wrong was righted, and his intended bride is the daughter of a man reputed to have been mad. It's a pretty straightforward "forced to marry a stranger, how will we make it work" plot,and a well done one, with characters managing to have conflict while still acting like mature, intelligent adults capable of of clearly communicating with each other. Unfortunately, I felt like several chapters developing the family feud and the curse (and it seems too be leading to a major plot development, and then...doesn't), as well as Our Hero's conflict with his family ended up being cut out, and so I felt like I somehow missed part of it when I finished.

Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks. Like The War At Ellsmere, Friends With Boys focuses on a young woman entering a school environment completely unlike any other she's known. The main character, Maggie, has been homeschooled her whole life, and has had little interaction with other kids close to her age outside of her three older brothers, who all started going to public school when it was time for them to enter high school, and now it's Maggie's turn. She isn't used to her brothers having friends outside their family, and has difficulty making new friends until she befriends a pair of "punk" siblkings-Alistair, who appears to have a silent feud with a number of other kids at school, including one of Maggie's brothers, and Lucy, who is obsessed with the supernatural but scared of anything resembling a scary movie. To complicate things, Maggie is frequently haunted by the ghost of a woman from the 18th century, who has visited her many times over the years. It's not as wildly entertaining as The Adventures of Superhero Girl, but is more poignant, and holds up as a cohesive whole better than Zombies Calling or The War at Ellsmere.

Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn. Somewhat-different "human befriends dragon" plot. Set in an AU where dragons emerged from hiding shortly after WWII and now live in various territories with no communication with humans, a teenaged girl accidentally crosses the border to North America's dragon territory, and befriends a curious young dragon. Human/Dragon relations slowly start to deteriorate around them while the two explore the possibilities of working together, and the history of human/dragon relationships before dragons went into hiding in the middleages, and how those previous relationships could translate to modern times. Very interesting and enjoyable. It leaves things open for a possible sequel, but doesn't actually need one, as all necessary elements are wrapped up.

Midnight Pearls by Debbie Viguie. Part of Simon & Schuster's "Once Upon A Time" fairy tale series, this time for "The Little Mermaid." It has the classic tale (through the Disney lens) as well as a genderswapped version throughout. The main character, Pearl, was found by a fisherman during a storm as a child, is scared of the ocean, and is secretly friends with the prince, who has to chose a bride soon. It doesn't go the way it looks to be going early on, which was nice, and is generally pretty solid. It's not the best book in the series (that's probably Snow, of the ones I've read) but it's better than some of the others, and is pretty decent as a fairy tale retelling in general.

Interesting sidenote that I'm not entirely certain what to make of:

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The Wallflower Vol 28-30 by Hayakawa Tomoko. Leave it to this series to have an in canon AU crackfic set in the Edo era. Then again, I think most of the storylines in the series are like crackfic prompts after a while. "Auntie moves in, the gang joins forces to find her a boyfriend." "Kyohei and Sunako catsit." "Ranmaru is banned from dating." "Kyohei becomes class president." etc etc. I've accepted that the series has had about as much character growth and plot progression as the mangaka is going to allow before she decides it's time to start wrapping things up, and I think I'm ok with that, as it entertains me regardless.

Secrets of A Runaway Bride by Valerie Bowman: Wallpaper Regency Historical Romance in which the heroine's brother-in-law asks his best friend to keep an eye on her and keep her from eloping with her unsuitable Beau while he's on his honeymoon. Despite the inherently aggravating concept of the plot being fueled by one man asking another to keep a woman under control while he's out of town, and the fact that much of the heroine, Annie's, motivation seemed to be low-self-esteem (excerpt that I don't think the writer recognized it as low-self-esteem), I was actually enjoying this in a "don't think too much and roll with it" way, and intending to see if the library had Bowman's first book, until I got to the last 100~ pages and Annie's characterization took an extreme nosedive fueled by low-self-esteem motivated desperation.

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Frogged by Vivian Vande Velde. Cute MG book about a 12-year-old princess who kisses a frog who claims to be a prince, only to learn its a local boy who got turned into a frog for harassing a witch, and could only turn human if he got someone else to kiss them, which would in turn turn that person into a frog. The book focuses mostly on Princess Imogen's attempts to figure out how to break the curse without having to turn someone else into a frog, and her effective abduction by an amateur theatre troupe who decides to use a talking frog in their act.

I read about 2/3 of the first volume of Haruka Beyond the Stream of Time, and was mostly confused. Then I remembered that I read it back when Viz first started releasing it and was thoroughly lost then.

What do you think you'll read next?

I have a lot of manga checked out from the library, though admittedly, most is is "I haven't read this/think I read a bit of this a while back, and the library has it so ok" so that. I also have Kelley Armstrong's newest book, but I kinda did that automatically and I think I want to find people who've read it before I do, just to make sure I don't get a Clayton/Elena thing again.

This is another in Beverley’s seemingly endless Georgian series about the Mallorens and everyone they ever met. Thankfully, she doesn’t fill the book with references to previous books, but I maintain that it’s time to write Georgians independent of the Mallorens already. It’s a good thing I like Rothgar, though.

The book starts near the end of Winter Fire, with Damaris Myddleton learning that her almost-fiance, Ashart, is going to marry someone else instead, and is just barely saved from making a complete fool of herself by Ashart’s friend, Fitzroger, who’d been trying to distract her Ashart and Genova in WF. Damaris was largely portrayed as a stereotypical Evil Other Woman in WF, and I pretty much always approve of stories that decide Evil Other Women are just as human as Perfect Heroines (not that Genova was a Perfect Heroine, but…) instead of tools to make them look good. Damaris was raised in near-poverty, only to learn that her father left her a fortune that her mother, who hated her father, was too proud to use, and she decides to use that fortune to “marry up.” Fitzroger, having come to rather like her during his distracting assignment, suggests she holds out for a bigger fish, and that she shamelessly use him for a flirtation to prove to everyone that she isn’t pining and heartbroken. He suffers. Truly.

Fitzroger is also Sekritly A Spy Bodyguard assigned to protect Ashart from unexplained danger, but when plot machinations result in Damaris, Genova, Fitzroger and Ashart travelling together, it becomes questionable rather Ashart of Damaris is the target. Oh, and Damaris and Genova become friends, making them part of a teeny school of fish that represent women who were romantic rivals and become friends. This teeny school of fish stands string against the endless tide of men in fiction who show their manly bonds of friendship by not letting silly women come between them and treating her as a plot device to highlight their manly bonds. Things in fiction that make me happy also bring out my bitterness over annoying tropes. Sad but true.

This is one of Beverley’s more adventurous books, with chases and poisonings and attempted murders and secret marriages and conspiracy theories and even some swordfighting. It’s not her best, but it’s quite fun.

Unable to get along with her stepmother (who is not an Evil Stepmother, they just don’t get along) Genova Smith becomes the companion of two elderly sisters. On the way to a family gathering, they come across a stranded carriage and agree to take the passenger’s baby and nursemaid along with them to the inn. The woman never arrives, though, and when the man Genova was told was the father arrives, he claims it isn’t his. Soon, she learns that he’s Ashart, the ladies’ nephew, and they end up being forced to pretend to be engaged.

This is the umpteenth or so of Beverley’s Mallorean series, with Ashart being Rothgar’s enemy and cousin. I wasn’t sure for most of the book if I was supposed to remember Ashart from other books, but it seems I wasn’t from Beverley’s afterword. Probably for the best. When villains from previous books become heroes of sequels, I tend to be expected to forgive things like attempted murder, blackmail, slander, abduction, unreasonable levels of deceit, and attempted rape. Wait, the last may just be Christina Dodd. Anyway.

Genova and Ashart are fun, both individually and together, especially when they bicker, even if Ashart ends up being one of Beverley’s heroes who makes a huge blunder late in the game and never quite manages to recover from it. Unfortunately, it’s the umpteenth book in the Mallorean series, so they almost end up secondary to everything else in their own book as we catch up with everyone’s babies and family secrets and Men Working Out Issues. (Which I didn’t sleep through only because Rothgar and Ashart are actually interesting.)

Though I didn’t realize it until I started The Stanforth Secrets, these books are connected. Though written a year later and released by a different publisher (though I suppose one of these could be a rerelease) The Stanforth Secrets is technically a prequel to Lord Wraybourne’s Betrothed, though it really only has a supporting character, Randal, in common, and neither book gives any indication to any events or characters in the other, barring a brief nod to Randal’s plotline in Lord Wraybourne’s Betrothed at the very end of The Stanforth Secrets.

Jo Beverley’s historical romance novels tend to be set apart by usually having nice people in what should be a straightforward romance caught up in an unusual plot. Her regencies, on the other hand (and keeping in mind that I’ve read fewer of them) seem to have nice people in a straightforward romance that’s set apart by a less-than-typical execution.

In Lord Wraybourne’s Bride, everyone thinks Wraybourne chose Jane Sandiford, a young woman raised in the country by near-puritanical parents and who has never interested with many people outside of her family, as his bride because he needs her money. In truth, he wanted someone honest and who didn’t play games. Before he can marry her, though, he has to get her used to more people, and so he and his sister, Sophie, use a house party to introduce her to society. I’m a bit put off with how Wraybourne wanted to mold Jane into a certain type of lady, but relieved that he never seems particularly bothered when she ends up crafting herself into something else that she determines. Jane is also one of the few romance novel heroines I’ve encountered who actually gets to notice that other men are sexually attractive after falling in love with the hero.*

In The Stanforth Secrets, Chloe has just finished her period of mourning for her husband, Stephen, and is only staying at his family home until his cousin, Justin returns to claim it. Several years before, Justin and Stephen broke Chloe free of her control freak parents and encouraged her to join them in various escapades, and when Stephen proposed, Chloe jumped at the chance of permanent freedom, only for her and Justin to soon realize (just before he ran away to war) that the wrong cousin asked first. Now, they’re older, wiser, and much more respectable. There’s also a plot where a spy sent secrets about Napoleon to Stephen inside a wax fruit, and no one can find it, but that’s kind of there so they’ll have something to do while they work out their feelings. Unfortunately, they work things out with a little too much plot to go, resulting in Beverley creating a Big Misunderstanding that causes Justin to engage in some idiocy that he never quite recovers from. Beverley also attempts the address some of the class issues in most romance novels. The results are mixed and I’m not quite sure she succeeded, but I do admire the attempt.

*Without amnesia, rape, accidental or forced bigamy, or being sold to Sexy Fetishized Non-White Non-European Male Who Will Teach Her Tricks Before She Is Reunited With The Noble White Englishman, at least. (Once you’ve encountered Bertrice Small, your brain will never escape.)

 When they were fifteen, George Connaught "Con" Somerford, the second son of the Duke of Wyvern, and Susan Kerslake, the illegitimate daughter of the local smuggling captain and a local noblewoman, became friends and then lovers.  Except that Susan, desperate to escape the polite pity and disdain of her heritage, only became Con's friend because she thought he was the heir, thinking he would rescue her from her life, and when she learned the truth, she told him so.  Ten years later, her brother, David, is the new captain and Susan is working at Crag Wyvern as the housekeeper (looking for gold, of course) when Con returns home as the new Earl of Wyvern.

This book started hitting my "no way, walk away" buttons almost in the first chapter.  Giant mistrust issues festering for a decade, perception of a wrong done to the male (and in historical romance novels, the gender is very significant, as that's where all the power lay) and the heroine as the hero's servent, even if she could have walked away at any time.  Yet, I kept reading.  It helps a lot that Susan actually did do what Con thinks she did (rarely the case) and that she was very upfront about it, and is very honest with herself about her reasons.  Con, for his part, largely avoids being hateful, and keeps himself from crossing my "ok, go die now" line in these books.

If it makes sense, I'm not really sure how much I liked the book, but I do think it was pretty good, and, as is often the case with Beverley, I'm very appreciative of the fact that she can make me buy into a plot that should make me run for the hills.  That said, Anne, the woman Con was planning to marry(they're almost always planning to marry someome else...)?  I think I recall the other book where she almost married one of Con's friends.  After all this talk about how she perfectly nice and respectable but dull by the men, I hope she gets a moment to shine ans figuratively give them the middle finger when/if she gets her own book.  I'm also very glad Con's brother was dead the whole book.  I've read Beverley characters like that who aren't dead, and don't care to again.

 

Diana Westmount is the Countess of Arradale. Her father’s only child, she was trained from an early age to take over his role after his death, making her the most powerful woman in England, after the queen, and has long since decided that she will never get married, if she has anything to do with it. Though well known among the nobility, she escapes the king’s notice by staying well out of sight and out of mind in the north. Until, that is, she petitions to be allowed to take her father’s seat in the House of Lords. What? Scandalous! That woman must be married off quick! Too much time without a man to do the thinking for her has caused bad ideas to start eating her brain!

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As a side note, it’s been a while since I read a romance novel several books into a series, and I was not prepared for all the babies. Now, I’m a supporter of "and then they made babies"(I don’t remotely demand babies in my fiction-with a few exceptions-or situations leading to babies, but I don’t really understand this mass "Eeew! Babies! People happy with babies instead of running around and trying to get themselves killed! Eeew!!" thing that the internet seems to have) but I was not prepared for three books worth of characters trotting out their pregnant heroines and happy, chubby toddlers at the beginning of the book.

Though marketted as a historical romance, The Shattered Rose is more about making a marriage work after one party makes a horrible mistake. 

Set in 1100, TSR is about Galeran, a crusader who returns home after two years away to find his father and brother preparing to lay siege to his home.  On questioning them, he learns that this is because his wife, Jehanne, as borne another man's child while he was away, and installed the man in their household.  As an even bigger blow, he soon learns that his own son, born after he left for the crusade, has died.

Jehanne is not, of course, an evil adulturous child killer.  Driven mad by her son's death, shortly after receiving-obviously-false reports of Galeran's death, she sought comfort in the arms of Lowick, who has loved her since they were children together.  While she soon regained her senses, the damage was already done, and she was carrying her child.  Galeran, who still loves his wife even though she betrayed him, has to find a way to save face and position without doing what society says he should do, which is, at the most generous, kill the lover, dispose of the child and send Jehanne off to a convent.  Only the first part holds any appeal to him.

While there are many ways Beverley could have taken with this book, she doesn't take them.  Galeran held to his own marriage vows while away, Jehanne was not raped, Lowick is not evil. Lowick genuinely loves Jehanne and wants to take of nboth her and the baby, and truly fears that Galeran will harm them, as most men of the time would have(and as most expect Galeran to do) while Jehanne never stopped loving Galeran and regretted her affair with Lowick as soon as it happened.  For that matter, both view their own actions as being rape-Lowick because he didn't reject Jehanne when he knew only grief drove her, and Jehanne because she knows she took advantage of feelings she didn't return.

It's not an easy story, nor do the characters face easy choices.  It's a book that seems to be disliked by most romance fans and, honestly, I can see why it would alienate some.  It breaks most of the rules of romance novels, and takes hard roads instead of good.  Which is what makes it a good book instead of just another medieval romance that blends in with the rest.