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books
It was Beach Week, so I actually have things to say here...
just finished
Duty and Desire and These Three Remain, Pamela Aidan, books 2 & 3 of her Darcy trilogy. The sudden turn for the Gothic in #2 threw me (I get that she was setting up the foundation for the change in his behavior, but I really didn't expect Fitzwilliam Darcy to be playing the lead in a Gothic romance) but the Scarlet Pimpernel of #3 kinda made up for it. My favorite part of P&P has always been the realization that Darcy is the one who goes after Lydia and this didn't screw that up, so that was good. I continued to enjoy the view of the male side of Regency society. One thing that is always difficult to remember with Austen is just how young her characters are and I thought Aidan's use of Darcy's enthusiasm about all that was happening in the Napoleonic Wars was a nice touch to a character who is often seen as much much older than he actually is. I think I need a break from the Austen cottage industry, though.
The Pirate Next Door, Jennifer Ashley, is, as I've probably mentioned before, much much better than any book by that title has a right to be. It's not Austen, not by any means, but there were actual characters and a plot and I wanted the protagonists to overcome all the complications of being wanted by the Admiralty and hunted by vengeful pirates, etc, etc, etc. Aside from the romance-landia meet-cute, which I really could have done without (not that she went running to help but their interactions after that) and the general swooning over bodies, etc, I mostly liked their interactions. Also, I kinda liked that they didn't have to go through huge character arcs to get to the point where they could accept each other--which is *good*, given all the outside complications. I may go look for the second book in the series.
Your Wicked Heart, That Scandalous Summer, Fool Me Twice, Meredith Duran, all loosely connected Victorian romances of which I can say that I'm glad I read the first one last, as I pretty much hated it (whiny heroine, alpha-hole hero, novella so it was too short to get any kind of depth on either.) I think they were peripherally involved in the second one but I don't care enough to go look. The second book was fine, despite my thinking it was a different marriage-of-convenience trope *and* the cover put me firmly in the Regency era, not Victorian, so I kept getting tripped up by technology. The third book was nice enough to make up for it all, though. The heroine there was my favorite side character from the second book and I mostly enjoyed the Beauty-and-the-Beast thing she had going with the hero, who was just enough of a mess to counter-balance his own alpha tendencies. (hmm, I should probably remember that this writer likes her alphas and plan accordingly.)
reading now
The Lost Sisterhood, Pamela Fortier, but I'm not sure I'm going to get much further, inevitable Wonder Woman associations aside. I'm also listening to Storm Front, by Jim Butcher, the first of the Dresden books, as they are a huuuuuge deal here at the HoB and I finally wasguilted persuaded to get started on them. I'm only about 10% into the book and I can already see where all the Harry/Marcone comes from, with bonus points for having the whole thing read by James Marsters.
reading next
Possibly the next Dresden and I should really get caught up on my virtual pull-list...
just finished
Duty and Desire and These Three Remain, Pamela Aidan, books 2 & 3 of her Darcy trilogy. The sudden turn for the Gothic in #2 threw me (I get that she was setting up the foundation for the change in his behavior, but I really didn't expect Fitzwilliam Darcy to be playing the lead in a Gothic romance) but the Scarlet Pimpernel of #3 kinda made up for it. My favorite part of P&P has always been the realization that Darcy is the one who goes after Lydia and this didn't screw that up, so that was good. I continued to enjoy the view of the male side of Regency society. One thing that is always difficult to remember with Austen is just how young her characters are and I thought Aidan's use of Darcy's enthusiasm about all that was happening in the Napoleonic Wars was a nice touch to a character who is often seen as much much older than he actually is. I think I need a break from the Austen cottage industry, though.
The Pirate Next Door, Jennifer Ashley, is, as I've probably mentioned before, much much better than any book by that title has a right to be. It's not Austen, not by any means, but there were actual characters and a plot and I wanted the protagonists to overcome all the complications of being wanted by the Admiralty and hunted by vengeful pirates, etc, etc, etc. Aside from the romance-landia meet-cute, which I really could have done without (not that she went running to help but their interactions after that) and the general swooning over bodies, etc, I mostly liked their interactions. Also, I kinda liked that they didn't have to go through huge character arcs to get to the point where they could accept each other--which is *good*, given all the outside complications. I may go look for the second book in the series.
Your Wicked Heart, That Scandalous Summer, Fool Me Twice, Meredith Duran, all loosely connected Victorian romances of which I can say that I'm glad I read the first one last, as I pretty much hated it (whiny heroine, alpha-hole hero, novella so it was too short to get any kind of depth on either.) I think they were peripherally involved in the second one but I don't care enough to go look. The second book was fine, despite my thinking it was a different marriage-of-convenience trope *and* the cover put me firmly in the Regency era, not Victorian, so I kept getting tripped up by technology. The third book was nice enough to make up for it all, though. The heroine there was my favorite side character from the second book and I mostly enjoyed the Beauty-and-the-Beast thing she had going with the hero, who was just enough of a mess to counter-balance his own alpha tendencies. (hmm, I should probably remember that this writer likes her alphas and plan accordingly.)
reading now
The Lost Sisterhood, Pamela Fortier, but I'm not sure I'm going to get much further, inevitable Wonder Woman associations aside. I'm also listening to Storm Front, by Jim Butcher, the first of the Dresden books, as they are a huuuuuge deal here at the HoB and I finally was
reading next
Possibly the next Dresden and I should really get caught up on my virtual pull-list...
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What a weirdo.
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Parkour
Re: Parkour
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