(no subject)

Don't know why I keep doing this to myself -- went to bed last night at 4:30, have to get up at 8 for work. There's not even a good reason I stay up so late, because half the time I'm just wasting time anyway.

And from the week I had a cold, I was going to bed and getting 10 hours a night, and wow, it felt good. No bleary eyes in the morning, improved temper, bouncier all around. So I know doing the whole sleep deprivation thing just puts me in a bad mood to start out with, which is something I really don't need. And yet, I keep doing it.

Stupid me.

St. George, Nonnie - The Ideal Bride

My very first Regency!

Really loved it. Like Brockway's Bridal Favors, it made me giggle a lot, maybe even more so than Bridal Favors just because of the narrative voice. One of my favorite bits:

He groaned.
"You are in excruciating pain!" She flew to the bed and landed on his knee. He doubled over in excruciating pain.

It's got a great little tongue-in-cheek humor that never fails to amuse me. Of course, I could very possibly be amused by stupid things, but it's just this slightly dry little voice, and the characters really do get in the most ridiculous situations! More Monty-Python-esque than straight out farce, imho.

Anyway. Gabriel Carr, stunningly handsome and rich businessman, is looking for his perfect bride, because he means to be married before his thirtieth birthday. Lady Nola's looking for his warehouse. Collision, Gabriel promptly determines she in no way fits his list (literal) of ideal bride attributes, chaos ensues from there. There is a bevy of matchmaking people, meddling relatives and servants, an ugly dog, and much discussion over Nola's attributes.

Small thing, but I really like how Gabriel thinks she's really very not-impressive-looking at first and then gradually begins to think she's more and more beautiful as he gets to know her.

Very light-hearted and cheerful. Very glad I bought it instead of just borrowing. I think this will be one of the ones I read when I'm feeling down.

Are most Regencies like this? Wow, I've been missing out.

Must try to dig up more.

Romance pet peeves

Because oracne's been asking a lot of fun questions lately about genre books... this is here because I figure my answer to her post on romance peeves is probably too long to leave in a comment.

So:( cut for length )

Rosenthal, Pam - Almost a Gentleman

This book made me so happy because there were so many places it could have gone bad and didn't.

The heroine, Phoebe, has been disguising herself as the dandy Phizz Marston for the past three years, until of course, she meets the hero (David Hervey, Earl of Linseley). I love how she gets to do the things that she never had the independence to while married or as a girl. I especially love how she has hired a male prostitute. There's an especially wonderful argument later after David discovers her lover and gets incredibly pissed off (veering in bad territory), but the author rescues it by having Phoebe discover that David probably slept around with half the prostitutes of London in a phase of his life and calls him on his hypocrisy.

Plus, there's the fact that they have something that resembles real sex, and that there's even a scene in which they make fun of "manhoods" and etc.

I did figure out the villain in the first few pages, but oh well.

Lovely sexual tension and just a very refreshing take on gender dynamics.

( Spoilers )

Links:
- pocketgarden's review