St. George, Nonnie - Courting Trouble

[oyceter]

I think this is the Regency equivalent to those old screwball romantic comedies. This is, by the way, a very good thing ^_^.

There's really absolutely nothing special going on in terms of plot: The Duke of St. Fell wishes to marry the very rich Arabella Swann for her money, but while they have oodles of sexual tension, she has decided she wants to marry for love. Although part of this may be a disguise for how she really just wants to be a rake. Add to this another rake who recites poetry starting to pay court, an overprotective father, and some rather nosy chaperones, all of whom read Minerva Press romances, and you get quite a bit of chaos.

I had a giant amount of fun watching the author snidely poke fun at most romance conventions via the Minerva Press books that everyone read, but no one admitted to reading.

"In any event, everyone knows rakes make the best husbands. Just ask your papa. He used to be a rake."

Which was one of the reasons he was so skittish about gentleman callers. It was completely unfair.

"Times were different then. Used to mean something to be a rake. Nowadays every man who can waltz thinks he's a rake."

"There you are, Arabella," Aunt Ophelia said. "Perhaps the Duke of St. Fell is merely a rogue."

Needless to say, there was an immense amount of snerking and giggling on my end while reading. The only quibble I have is that I wanted the poking fun at romance convention to manifest itself in the plot as well the dialogue. And while I like how they all eventually come to the conclusion that Arabella really does want to be a rake and go out and have her fun, I was still a little uneasy over the power dynamic. Plus, too much panting over the duke, even though it was funny panting.

There's an At the Back Fence that says the book can get a little tiring after all the jokes flying around. It is rather fast-paced, but that's part of the fun of it, I think. Though it would be hard to have a steady diet of them.

Oh, also, it takes place around the same time as St. George's first book, The Ideal Bride -- I think St. Fell and Gabriel are good friends in that book, though I had totally forgotten. And Gabriel and Nola (along with the Countesses Belcraven) show up as well, in a non-annoying way. AKA, they are not the blissfully happy couple who have dropped babies left and right and still have the best sex life ever who lecture the h/hr of this book how to love/confess love/be nice/whatever.

And, Nonnie St. George has written what may now be one of my favorite first kiss scenes:

She opened her eyes. He had closed his. His face was very close to hers. She could see the hairs of his eyebrows. Actually, the hairs of his left eyebrow were quite unruly. Men did not likely groom their eyebrows. She could see why people closed their eyes whilst they were kissing. It was very unsettling being so close to another person's eyebrows.

I think she may be one of the only romance novels to capture what actually goes on in my mind when I kiss, sometimes.

Comments

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Completely randomly, I twitch whenever I see Arabella/Arabelle in fiction because, well, lizard.

I also still don't understand why almost everyone I've met is constitutionally incapable of saying the first A as in car, not the vowel inair. She's an Ara, not an era! */rant off*

[oyceter]

Oops! I will remember that while mentally pronounces "Ara."

[braider.livejournal.com]

Hi! I'm vectoring in from a friend's friends list. Thank you so much for introducing me to a new author. This sounds like a whole lot of fun. I'll be looking it up this evening.

[oyceter]

Hi! Glad to see you here ^_^. And always glad to proselytize on behalf of good authors.

[braider.livejournal.com]

I read Courting Trouble, and was horrified the very next day when my boss offered me some chocolate almonds. "They're really good," he said, as I struggled to contain horror and merriment. It's amazing what odd prejudices one can pick up from books. ;-)

[oyceter]

LOL! That's great ^_^.

[thinkum]

She opened her eyes. He had closed his. His face was very close to hers. She could see the hairs of his eyebrows. Actually, the hairs of his left eyebrow were quite unruly. Men did not likely groom their eyebrows. She could see why people closed their eyes whilst they were kissing. It was very unsettling being so close to another person's eyebrows.

Must. stop. laughing. long enough. to. note author. for. future reference!

OMG, that was priceless...

[oyceter]

Hee! I know, isn't it great? The best part is that it keeps going!

rofl

[(Anonymous)]

hahahahahaha......that quote is great. my own similar thoughts during first kisses.

(anlee)

Re: rofl

[oyceter]

LOL! I know, isn't that awesome??

Hands down my favorite part of the book.