Kinsale, Laura - Midsummer Moon, The Shadow and the Star, and Uncertain Magic

[oyceter]

I think I have read Midsummer Moon and Uncertain Magic before, but I don't remember them at all. And I had previously gotten halfway through The Shadow and the Star but never finished it.

I suspect none of them made an impression on me previously because I read them when I was looking for angsty angsty romance, particularly from Kinsale. It's a delight to find her funnier books, and I think I am more kindly inclined toward light romances now.

Midsummer Moon - Merlin Lambourne is an absent-minded inventor who only wants to work on her flying machine. Ransom Falconer, Duke of Damerell, is trying to get a hold of her inventions to benefit the English in the Napoleonic wars, while also attempting to keep Merlin from being abducted by the French.

Merlin is absolutely adorable and completely absent-minded, and their meet-cute is one of the cutest things ever. Also, there is a hedgehog. And I sympathize greatly with Merlin's inability to figure out the Name/Title formula and go for Duke of Falconer or "Mr. Duke," as I frequently have that problem as well. And I love the inversion of the usual male inventor/female love interest trying to keep him connected to the real world.

Unfortunately, I also greatly dislike Ransom, who is extremely controlling and loves manipulating people. I did like that it is his greatest flaw and that everyone is subject to it, not just Merlin, but since it's coupled with the "I will prevent you from doing what you most want in order to protect you!" (he's scared of heights, she wants to build a flying machine), it really irritated me. Though I loved the end bit on how Merlin gets him in a plane. Also, I think the side romances/characters could have been fleshed out much better. Still, charming as long as Ransom isn't much in there.

The Shadow and the Star - I know this is almost everyone's favorite Kinsale, but alas, not for me. I never found myself greatly sympathizing with Samuel, despite his angsty background, probably because I skipped all the flashback chapters or anything that had much to do with his ninja training in Hawaii. OMG. The Orientalism is SO BAD. I was able to ignore it in most of the sections, but not when it was continually dwelt upon in the flashbacks!

As such, I adored Leda and her "dear sir"-ing and her injunctions against swearing, but never quite got a hold of Samuel. He's not an alpha jerk, thankfully, but I also didn't really see him as in love with Leda either.

Uncertain Magic - Roderica Delamore has the unfortunate gift of being able to overhear people's thoughts when she encounters the Devil Earl, Faelan Savigar. She can't hear his thoughts! He needs money to save his darling estate, Iveragh! Clearly they must get married!

I feel like I should not have liked this, given that Faelan keeps thinking Roddy is sleeping with or pining after her first crush and acting foolishly because of it, the age difference between the two (she's 19, he's 35), and that he keeps calling her "little girl" or "child." And yet! It is so utterly charming that I do not care.

This is also one of the more Gothic-y romances, particularly because we only get Roddy's POV through most of it. I love the take on Gothics, especially with all the ominous warnings being delivered via Roddy's psychic-ness as opposed to the usual mysterious people popping in and out going "Doom!!!" without providing illuminating and helpful details.

I also like that even though Faelan falls prey to several Big Misunderstandings, they are actually cleared up fairly quickly and he doesn't do anything too horrible. Plus, as previously mentioned, watching Roddy and Faelan interact is usually so cute that I gave the book a lot of leeway.

Also also, there is a pet pig!

Comments

[daedala]

I was a lot more forgiving of Mr. Duke, probably because the author treats it as a really bad fault rather than evidence of his Awesome Manly Protectiveness or something. I find I'll forgive almost any flaw if and only if the author realizes it's a flaw. For that matter, I think I'll forgive almost any degree of plot cracktasticness if the author realizes her characters' flaws are flaws.... This is something that Kinsale is generally pretty good on. Except for the NWL (nice white lady) racism.

I was embarrassed by how much I liked The Shadow and the Star even when I read it, which was before I understood just how bad the Orientalism was. If I reread it, I think I'll skip all of those sections, too. Aie. At least, having read them when I was stupider, I still remember some of the impact.

Uncertain Magic is like pure Gothic crack. I mean, all Gothics are crack, but this is crackier somehow. I could have done without the mother issues but was too delighted with the crack to really care. I also liked the way she thought out the mind-reading: how even being able to read surface thoughts didn't mean she really knew people.

[oyceter]

Yeah, I definitely did like that it was treated as a flaw. And that even in attempting to correct it, Ransom still did the same things! What really did it for me was (spoilers) his tricking Merlin into marrying him when she had amnesia! I was not sure why she was not angrier than she was, although I can also see some of it being, "Oh Ransom. Really? No, really?"

Haha, I guess most of the angsty Samuel stuff must have been in all those chapters I skipped! It's funny, I probably would have tolerated the Orientalism more a few years ago, but a few years ago, I probably wouldn't have appreciated Leda as much!

OMG Uncertain Magic is total Gothic crack! I think that is why I love it so and am less annoyed with Faelan's Big Misunderstandings. I kind of love the whole setup with the "did he? didn't he?" in Gothics + mindreading + time loss! And okay, the mother thing was super annoying, especially since I feel it doesn't explain everything, and I wish there had been more in the denouement (like, I think Faelan figures out Roddy can read minds, but I wanted more fallout or discussion or something), and I am still sick of faeries/the sidhe, but the Gothic crack! Plus, Faelan and Roddy together are kind of adorable a lot.

[daedala]

Yeah, the spoilers thing was stupid. I thought it was really bad. I could, however, belive that Merlin was too busy with her flying machine to notice it much. *snrk*

I really loved Leda. I would have put up with a lot for Leda. *repressed Victorian swoon*

I think that if they get cleared up quickly enough, they don't qualify as Big Misunderstandings. Stupid Misapprehensions, maybe. But... I also think he had more justification than most romance heros. I can't remember in detail, but I had the impression that she acted sometimes in a way that implied she knew stuff that whassface wouldn't have told her or talked about around her unless he were sleeping with her or she could read his mind, and hey, mind-reading is not the first thing I'd jump to for an explanation.

Oh, I thought of another reason we love this: the hero is a victim of the Gothic as well, and actually has been for much longer. OK, now I have another Plot of a Story I Am Not Going To Write Any Time Soon.

[oyceter]

I feel he does as well, although I was still annoyed at the "Come up with a reason for heroine to end up naked in someone else's arms" thing. Also, even though he gets fairly growly and angry about the Misapprehensions, he didn't seem to be a total jerk? Like, going off in the middle of the night to plow a field seems a much better way of coping than trying to rape the heroine! Oh romances. You make my standards so low...

And usually I hate the whole hero trying to use sex to keep the heroine with him, except I wasn't here! I think it's because like you say, he's kind of a victim of the Gothic plot at all and has an amazingly small amount of Manpain. And a sense of humor.

I was reading this and totally wanted to do a gender-swapped Gothic with the mysterious, sexually experienced, possibly murderous heroine and the hero who is befuddled by his irrational attraction to her and completely undone whenever she touches him and risks his reputation and his life for her despite all evidence to the contrary saying she is a murderer or something.

[daedala]

Do you ever get the idea that we should collaborate on a romance novel?

I mean, I have no idea how to write with someone else, and yet WE CLEARLY WANT TO READ THE SAME THINGS. It is scary.

[oyceter]

I KNOW! Well, mostly I don't want to write at all, but damnit, I want to read this stuff and it seems like no one is writing it =(.

[rachelmanija]

Like, going off in the middle of the night to plow a field seems a much better way of coping than trying to rape the heroine!

So true!

Oh Uncertain Magic, so insane. I love all the random retainers and Fae folk and rebels sort of randomly popping in and out of the story:

Ancient retainer: "BEWAAAAAARE!"

Heroine: "Of what?"

Ancient retainer: "Just BEWAAAAAARE!"

[oyceter]

I know! So funny! (Also, sorry, trying not to use "insane" or "crazy" on my blog if you don't mind?)

I love all the "DOOM!!!!!" going on.

[rachelmanija]

Oh, I'm sorry! How about "so random?"

[oyceter]

No prob! That works too ^_^.

[oracne]

DOOM!!!!!

*evil laughter comes down the stairs*

[oyceter]

So true!

[lnhammer]

The Shadow and the Star is also not my favorite Kinsale -- that would be Flowers in the Storm. Which is, yes, one of those with the least humor in it, but so it goes.

---L.

[oyceter]

Hee! My fav. is Shadowheart for absolutely cracktastic plotting and the heroine!

I sadly think I wouldn't like Flowers in the Storm as much on a reread, because I remember the hero being a little overbearing for me even when I read it a few years ago, but I also remember really liking the heroine and the religious dilemma in it.

[heresluck]

Oh, Kinsale. I inhaled all her books a few years ago when I read something like 80 romances in a year; thoroughly enjoyed them all except for the medieval one whose name I can't remember (did love the sequel, though). I'm not sure I would have enjoyed them so much if Mely hadn't warned me about the cracktastic plots; I sort of suspended my WTF reaction before going in, which is perhaps part of how I slid by the ninjas and orientalism on a light gloss of "oh REALLY now."

I note that Kinsale has a new book coming out in February. Hmmm. I haven't really been in the mood for romances for a couple of years now, but there are a few authors -- Kinsale, Crusie, Brockway, Chase -- whose books I'm generally ready to read anyway.

[oyceter]

OMG I was looking through old LJ entries, and apparently I haven't read new Kinsale since 2005!! Good lord. It's been a while! I'm kind of glad I saved these. I still have My Sweet Folly unread, but I don't have very high expectations for that one.

Bwahaha, I just reread parts of For My Lady's Heart (the medieval one) yesterday and started a real reread (as opposed to the good parts reread) of Shadowheart too.

I am so excited! New Kinsale for the first time since 2004! And it looks like a comedy! I am sadly skipping the latest Chase b/c of the Orientalism (can we stop with the white girls in harems now?), but super excited Brockway has returned to historicals... her last one (So Enchanting) was funny and charming and featured a rather cynical hero and heroine and lots of hijinks, and I'm really looking forward to her next one, which is supposedly a very traditional Regency.

It's weird... I hadn't been reading romances between 2006-2007 or something, and then I started on the paranormals and BAM! I have been on a serious romance spree lately, thanks to school.

[daedala]

There is something about nice, fluffy romances that helps grad school go by.

I am kind of looking forward to more substantial reading, but really can't manage it now. The last time I had more than a couple of weeks off was summer 2007.

[oyceter]

Yeah.... I am totally not up for substantial reading. I mean, right now, I am still congratulating myself for making it back to books, as opposed to endless games of Spider Solitaire.

[heresluck]

Yeah, I think I'd managed to read pretty much all of them by the time Shadowheart came out, so that was the last one for me. I'm trying to remember My Sweet Folly -- honestly, with such cracktastic plots you would think there's no way they'd all blur together, and yet! -- and... you know, going into a romance with low expectations is never a bad thing, but I seem to recall quite liking that one, although at this point I have no memory of *why*.

For My Lady's Heart is the only Kinsale that I sold back when I was done with it; I could tell that there was just no way I was ever going to re-read it, not even a good parts reread. It made me too insane.

And WORD on the white girls in harems thing. There are far too many authors to whom I want to send a copy of Mernissi's Dreams of Trespass.

I didn't realize Brockway had gone back to historicals! Must check this out! I wasn't really following her contemporaries -- I read one and it was charming but didn't really ping for me.

[oyceter]

(Sorry, trying not to use words like "insane" or "crazy" on my blog right now if you don't mind.)

I am still so sad I didn't like For My Lady's Heart, because it sounded so promising, and yet, no =(.

I never managed to try Brockway's contemporaries! I have one or two on my shelf and read the first few pages and just... wasn't interested. I was so excited when I found out she went back to historicals.

[heresluck]

Apologies for the vocabulary -- my bad, and thank you for the reminder.

And yeah, the one of Brockway's contemporaries that I tried just... didn't ping for me. But that could also be me; Crusie's the only author doing contemporaries whose work I've consistently liked. Mostly I look at the premises of contemporaries and just think "meh." Apparently I can only deal with romances at a certain historical remove -- it makes them safer, or makes me less likely to get upset about the gender politics, or something.

[oyceter]

No prob, and thanks!

Yeah... I've found I don't read many contemporaries, unless you count paranormals. I think I would like them, but a lot of the romance tropes used that work in historicals or with paranormals do not work at all with me for "RL." Gender politics, race stuff, class stuff, so much!

[coffeeandink]

You are 100% right about the Orientalism in The Shadow and the Star, but it is my favorite Kinsale anyway. Leda! So determined! Samuel! So confused and repressed about family and sexuality both! I just adore it to bits.

Midsummer Moon doesn't seem to get high ratings in general, which I just don't understand. It has Merlin and a porcupine hedgehog!