My February Reading

February is my All Romance month, and with a couple of notable exceptions, I succeeded with five romances.

The DNF romance I read leads me to protest that writing a romance is not an exercise in connecting the dots unweighted by lack of research and basic writing standards. The condescension and disdain with which that book was written, while assuming that of course it'll be well-received, made me gnash my teeth while soundly DNFing it.

Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas
Categories: Victorian Romance
Comments: With this book, rather than the two that preceded it, I feel that Kleypas has returned to her historical roots. She's found her feet again, and her voice is assured, her comedic wit is balanced, and her characters tender and big-hearted. Despite various naysayers, I liked the heroine and how she's such a perfect foil for the glossy urbane hero with her imperfections.

"She objects not only to me, but to the institution of marriage itself. The title, the fortune, the estate, the social position...to her, they're all detractions. Somehow I have to convince her to marry me despite those things. And I'm damned if I even know who I am outside of them."

I enjoyed seeing how Pandora struggles to assert herself and her rights as an entrepreneur in a Victorian society where a woman becomes the property of her husband after marriage and anything and everything she owns becomes his by right. I loved how Gabriel works to resolve this and workaround the day's existing laws.

One of the things that stood out for me is how much he respects her business acumen and innovation in the face of her other bumbling qualities. He wholeheartedly accepts every facet is her personality. This is a person who's allowed to be a person despite his exacting standards of himself. At the outset he saw her as a disaster and an antithesis to everything he had hoped for in a wife and future duchess. However, over time, he realizes that she is the perfect wife for him.

A Lady's Code of Misconduct by Meredith Duran
Categories: Romance, Victorian
Comments: What a great book! Duran has yet to disappoint me and this is no exception. I consider her one of the finest historical romance writers writing today. This book is a political Victorian story involving a Member of Parliament and a woman raised in a political family and a mystery they must unravel else their lives are at stake. It is also a story of trust and an amnesia trope. But with Duran, a trope's never a tired execution, but something fresh and new. That is what I really like about her writing. My review is here.

My American Duchess by Eloisa James
Categories: Regency Romance
Comments: I really enjoyed the book till the hero and heroine get married and then it went flat for me from there. But the first three-fifths were great with snappy dialogue, great characterization, and a good plot. Merry Pelford is an American heiress on the catch for a titled English gentleman. She has gained a reputation for being fickle because she has jilted two American men. So she's been brought to England, where she may have a clean slate and a wide selection to choose from. When the story begins, Merry has just been proposed to by Lord Cedric Allardyce, the twin brother of the Duke of Trent. Cedric is a virtual Pink of the Ton and very persnickety in his tastes. Merry has some idea that she's being courted for her money, but she's captivated by Cedric's good looks and fine address and believes him to be sincerely fond of her. So she accepts his proposal. However, the same night Merry has a run-in with the Duke of Trent. Neither knows the other out on the darkish terrace. And what ensues then in them revealing their true selves to each other in a refreshingly fresh, witty repartée. They find that they have instant chemistry. And so begins a triangle. My review is here.

A Lady Without a Lord by Bliss Bennet
Categories: Regency Romance
Comments: I was very much taken with Bennet's assured writing, complex and unusual characterization, and verve for storytelling, all highlights of a much more experienced author. Harriot is the steward's daughter at the Saybrook estate, but in reality, she's keeping the account books in light of her father's increasingly poor grasp of reality. She's also taken up other steward duties, such as repairing tenant roofs, supervising the sheep shearing, negotiating the vehement opposition to the annual village fête, and so on. In the meantime, Theo, Viscount Saybrook, has discovered that he's been embezzled out of 12,000 pounds. He abandons his libertine ways in London to get down to the root of the problem despite his mathematical disorder. This book is a romance, a mystery, and a coming of age story for Theo. Bennet has done a superb job of showing the progression of Alzheimer's disease and the complexities of dyscalculia disorder in an era when their causes and diagnoses were unknown. If you've never read Bennet before, I recommend you read this book. My review is here.

The Viscount's Bride by Lindsay Downs
Categories: Regency Romance
Comments: By God, this was a definite D.N.F.!!! The sheer arrogance with which the historical atrocities (i.e., factual mistakes) were made is breathtaking. He's a member of RWA. Surely, he could've attended a few of the workshops and perhaps signed up on the Beau Monde email loop to avoid some of the most egregious of mistakes. Heck, even picking up a single research book would've solved some of his basic issues. Then there's the writing. And the lack of editing. Here's the last paragraph of the book:

Kathleen, this has to have been the most interesting commission I've ever been given. I meet and marry my true love, help solve several murders, and catch the killers all the while designing pavilions for here and your parents'," Matthew declared wrapping an arm around Kathleen's waist. (punctuation his)

We Are the Change We Seek: The Speeches of Barack Obama Edited by E.J. Dionne Jr. and Joy-Ann Reid
Categories: Nonfiction
Comments: I'm loving this collection of the most prominent and noteworthy of Obama's speeches throughout his eight years in the White House. This is an ongoing reading project, so it'll show up on these monthly reading round-ups for a while.

Becoming the Parent You Want To Be by Laura Davis & Janis Keyser
Categories: Nonfiction
Comments: As with most parenting advice, this book's contents are not rocket science, nor are they at the epiphany level. But many times, things that you've read in the past and not connected with suddenly resonate with you when explained differently. Such is the case of this book. And while it claims to be only for small children, I think the book applies equally to older children.