Brockway, Connie - Bridal Favors and The Bridal Season

Actually, The Bridal Season comes first, but I read them in reverse order.

Bridal Favors: loved. It's a giantly fun Victorian romp with spies and a wedding and a spinster. And yet, it is in no way as stupid as it sounds. It could just be me, but the ugly spinster plot usually annoys the hell out of me. Evelyn Whyte is the aforementioned spinster -- she's actually not that old, but she's been told she's ugly and has been determined to absolutely ignore that and be as indispensable to her family as possible. And while some of the "oh he could never be attracted to me" thing got a little old, it was nowhere near as annoying as it usually is. Plus, Evelyn is smart and doesn't angst about it. And bonus points to Brockway for not having the stunning transformation effected after the heroine loses her glasses, which is of course the point the hero finally notices her. Instead, we've got Justin the spy, who does a bit of a Scarlet Pimpernel thing and acts about as silly and as foppish as possible. I adored Justin -- it's so nice to have a hero who isn't broody or macho at all. Justin falls for Evelyn (or Evie, to him) pretty quickly and in general has a great time talking to Evelyn and teasing her.

This is even more extraordinary when we find out that Justin had to give up his military career to be a spy and that his grandfather thinks he's the scummiest thing to walk the earth because of this. And yet, no angst! He's very blase about it and doesn't really care what his grandfather thinks because his parents were supportive anyway. Added to this, he loves Evelyn and thinks she's gorgeous without the entire glasses-makeover bit. So finally, a book in which the heroine isn't prettied up at the end and doesn't turn out to be drop dead gorgeous under the ugly dresses and the glasses. Plus, the book was just giantly fun to read, and I found myself laughing out loud for the sheer fun of it.

The Bridal Season: loved it even more! Because while I adored Justin, I adore Elliot even more -- nice, quiet, reserved hero. I like nice heroes. And Letty is an ex-confidence game runner! Seems like this is the thing suddenly going through all the romances I'm reading right now. Read the review at All About Romance, and they didn't like it quite as much, I think because they thought Elliot was boring. The premise sounded much worse -- Letty is running from Nick Sparkles, a con man she used to work with, and by chance happens upon a train ticket that belonged to an eloping wedding planner. She takes advantage and decides to be the planner for a day or two and then high tail it, but of course, emotional bonds ensue, she has to help out the family, and Elliot, the local magistrate, starts intriguing her.

And Elliot, the thoroughly respected, well loved guy in the town, gets to loosen up a bit. I don't know. I think I'm making it sound utterly stupid. But there's just something about the shyness and the seriousness of him that gets to me. Plus, I really like Letty as a heroine, who is not the sweetly innocent, absolutely darling girl that most heroines are. She is sweet in her own way, and innocent in her own way, and charming in her own way, but she doesn't grate on my nerves like most saintly heroines (or "spirited" ones). I am also a complete sucker for books when the hero falls in love with the heroine first and she turns out to be the skittish one. And by this I mean emotional commitment, as opposed to the I lust for you and will knock you down with my powerful kisses but will not love you because all women are money-grubbing sluts syndrome.

ETA: I also appreciate how there's a trial at the end in which Elliot does not try his best to get Letty off. Probably still some miscarriage of justice here, but not like the "trial" at the end of Oklahoma, which still annoys me.

I suspect the next post is going to be on romance kinks, which will probably be just too much information for everyone involved ;).

ETA:
coffeeandink's review of The Bridal Season

Firefly 1x02-1x03

I love this show!

( Firefly 1x01-1x02 )

Looking for new authors

Have about read all of Connie Brockway's backlist by now, still digging up more Crusie's and digging up the Wyckerley trilogy for Patricia Gaffney, but I've run out of romance authors again.

Tried trolling around All About Romance to check out the Desert Island reviews, but a lot of those are hit or miss with me, so asking for recs right now.

On my list, next time I visit Book Rack:
- Laura Leone's Fallen From Grace
- Anne Stuart, Moon Rise
- Tracy Grant
- Judy Cuevas, if I can ever dig her up
(all stolen from melymbrosia)

I dislike: heroines who are too stupid to live, too spirited in that Judith McNaught way, too cute, or too perfect. I have tried and do not particularly like Jo Beverley, Mary Jo Putney (I've read three, China Bride being the last, and yes, I really did throw that against a wall), Judith McNaught (outgrown), Teresa Medeiros, Jayne Anne Krentz/Amanda Quick, Robin Schone, Johanna Lindsey, Brenda Joyce, Andrea Kane and probably a ton of others I've never read. Wow. I think I'm pickier than I realized. I also tend to dislike alpha bastards with tortured pasts, but if they have tortured pasts and turned out to be nice, give 'em to me. They are also acceptable paired up with a cold, alpha-ish heroine.

I like: Connie Brockway, some Patricia Gaffney, Jennifer Crusie, Nora Roberts (sometimes mediocre but never so bad I can't read them), Laura Kinsale, Judith Ivory (well, often admire but can't get in, but they are still eminently readable). I also adore Shana Abe's The Secret Swan but hated her Rose in Winter, so she's still up in the air. I also have a thing for Elizabeth Lowell (hey, first author I read) even though she's got horrible bastardy heroes and too-sweet heroines and really awful language (must all the heroines smell like a certain flower?). I also love strong yet quiet heroines, books that turn around genre tropes, and most importantly, good writing. I just tried Mary Balogh and found for some reason I'm not in the right frame of mind for the language. Ditto with Jo Beverley.

I'm a sucker for any kind of childhood unrequited crush that gets requited (is that even a word?), heroines who have had their hearts broken, heroes who fall in love first and aren't scared to admit it, nice guy heroes who lose control, and quiet heroes and heroines with a lot of hidden angst (All Through the Night!). Unequal power in favor of the alpha hero tends to piss me off. I'm very fond of American historicals when done right, almost anything turn of the century, westerns, and the Victorian period. I also like a delicate balance between PC-ness and period correctness.

I've started and never finished: Christina Dodds, Lorraine Heath, Mary Balogh, Julie Garwood (oh wait, have, oops), and others.

I am very sick of most romances that go along the Judith McNaught or Elizabeth Lowell vein (innocent, dewy-faced young heroines protesting their innocence to older men who think women are just for sex). But, hey, the right writer could work wonders...

Um. Any recs? Or did I just scare everyone off? =( Maybe I will (finally) pick up Heyer...