Kelly, Carla - Beau Crusoe

James Trevenen has just returned to London after being stranded on a desert island for five years. While he's there to be awarded for his scientific treatise on crabs (the crustaceans, not the VD), he'll be staying with Mrs. Susannah Park, her parents, and her sister. Mrs. Park ruined herself years ago by eloping with some not-Society person who died of cholera shortly after. They fight crime fall in love!

I've actually only read one Kelly before this, but other people have previously remarked on how kind Kelly's characters are; this holds for Beau Crusoe as well.

Even so, James has a whole lot of angst, possibly more so than most non-Kinsale romance novel heroes. At least, I think so, though I am probably biased because he is amazingly polite throughout, despite his penchant for white lies. He quickly manages to fix many of the broken aspects of Susannah's household, including getting rid of some annoying toucans and softening Susannah's sister Loisa, who has nursed a grudge for years on Susannah's ruins and the ruins of her own prospects.

I really loved all the characters here; Loisa's softening may have been a bit quick for belief, given how long she had held her grudge. But I believed it, because of how long she had held it -- I think sometimes people get into the habit of resenting something and are tired of it but just don't know how to change it. Loisa's situation struck me as something like that. And I like that she doesn't lose her prickliness and that she gets her own happy ending thanks to the sheer force of her personality, despite being rather homely. It's a nice contrast to the normal romance tradition of "Oh! I am so ugly! But actually I am gorgeous once I take off my glasses and get new clothes!"

I would have loved James and Susannah more had Kelly not thrown in one of my least favorite romance plot devices ever: the Slutty Former Flame. Seriously. If I hadn't enjoyed the book so much till that point, I would have tossed it at something. I mean, really! Slutty Former Flame had so many lovers she couldn't keep their names straight, liked a variety of sex positions (particularly being on top) and *gasp of horror* actually would work toward her own orgasm!

Yeah.

Anyway, I was actually horrified by the revelation of James' Big Secret, despite having guessed it long before, and I enjoyed the rest of the book that didn't focus on Slutty Former Flame.

Links:
- pocketgarden's review
- gwyneira's review

Chmakova, Svetlana - Dramacon, vol. 01-02 (orig. Eng.)

Go read this.

I speak as someone who is not generally a fan of most OEL manga out there, and as someone who was pretty wary about the premise of the series. I mean... the series has love triangles in it, and I still loved it.

Christie has just written a manga with her artist boyfriend Derek, and they're off to try and sell it at Yatta Con, along with a few friends. It's Chriss' first con, and it's a whole new world. And then, she bumps into a guy in sunglasses and a long flappy coat of angst (Matt), and the fun begins.

Volume 2 takes place a year after Chriss' first Yatta Con, and she's now back as a con veteran (sort of), with some friends in tow.

Even though rachelmanija has been reccing this to me for a good year and a half now, I just never got around to reading it until now. This is partly because despite Rachel's many assurances, I didn't want to read some cutesy thing on cons with a billion in-jokes and other things on anime fan culture.

Then I was reading Off*Beat yesterday night, except it had a lot of the things that generally turn me off OEL manga: too many panels per page, way too much text on a page, and an aesthetic and storyline that felt more indie comics instead of shoujo manga. For some reason, I flipped to the back and found a small excerpt from Dramacon. I read it, laughed out loud, and then rushed to get my copy of vol. 1 and devoured the entire thing.

This is, by the way, at around 3 in the morning.

( The art )

( The characters )

( The story )

( Race and gender )

In conclusion: I really loved this. I was so delighted with vol. 1 that I ran to Borders today to buy vol. 2, and now I am irritated that I cannot read vol. 3 right this second because it hasn't been published yet.

Even if you don't think it's your thing, just try reading the first few pages in a bookstore or online to see if it grabs you -- reading these two volumes made me so happy that I want to make other people read too!

ETA: Also, Chriss literally clocks someone in vol. 1!! yes i am twelve