This post's purpose is to collect my common tags in one place, so readers (and I!) can easily access entries on several subjects.

Surrender of a Siren, Tessa Dare: this is second in a trilogy, but not dependent on the first. I enjoyed it quite a lot; like Dare's first novel, Goddess of the Hunt, old tropes are given new life via delicate twists of characterization.

The heroine, Sophia, is an heiress whose family's sole desire is that she marry well; not only does she think they don't understand her, they really don't understand her (this is not hammered home). She's an artist and wants more, and has spent her life making up stories and/or lying about things to make them more interesting. When the book begins, she's run away from an engagement and is trying to find passage to Tortula. She lies in her note to her family, saying she ran off with the mythical French artist Gervais, and she lies to the ship owner, telling him she's traveling to take up a post as a governess, when actually she plans to travel further once she's overseas. Waht I liked about this crazy plan is that it felt true to the character. She wasn't "too stupid to live," just impulsive and desperate.

The hero, Gray, is an excellent match because he's also done stupid and impulsive things in his time, mostly as a result of guilt issues related to his family. His recently-widowed brother, Joss, is the son of his father and a slave, and their relationship is wonderfully rich and complex - I would love to see a book about Joss. We don't meet his sister until the end, but she's the heroine of the third book in the trilogy. Gray is trying to reform from having an impulsive, dangerous lifestyle as a privateer. He wants to set up Joss for life with a shipping company and give his sister a season in London so she can marry. Then he meets Sophia, and is unbearably tempted by her.

The best thing about this book is the characters, though I also enjoyed the ocean voyage details. The ending might seem too dramatic, but I thought it perfectly suited these characters and the book's themes.

So far, everyone I've asked has liked the first book more than the second, and I will admit the first one has one of my bulletproof kinks, the Stoic Hero. But this one is just as well-written and entertaining, and deserves equal attention.

I've read a lot of good books lately.

Carol Berg's Flesh and Spirit was first, a large but very involving fantasy about an outcast who stumbles into plots upon plots. I devoured it in two days, mostly because I loved the protagonist, who doubts himself and denies his kind impulses but proves himself all the same; also, he makes real mistakes, which made the story almost compulsive for me. The book ends on a semi-cliffhanger, and I have the second one ready to go as soon as I have a couple of days where I can read non-stop!

Flesh and Spirit


The rest are historical romances, all set in England.

Jo Beverley, The Secret Wedding: I'm a Beverley fangirl, so I enjoyed this, even though I felt that the characters hiding their identities from each other was a bit contrived (though they did have good reason to do so). The secret wedding happens when the two are teenagers and one rescues the other from a nasty seducer; they're then forced to marry. The cool part is that she works in details about new Georgian marriage laws and when they came into effect. The hero and heroine go their separate ways and each eventually is told the other is dead. Until they realize that wasn't true and try to discover the truth, which leads to pseudonymous adventures, affairs, etc.. The ending is engineered somewhat by Rothgar, the series Deus ex machina, but I didn't really mind.

The Secret Wedding

Meredith Duran, Bound By Your Touch: second book by this author. It's a Victorian setting, featuring a frivolous uncaring hero at war with his father and a classically educated heroine who serves as her archaeologist father's agent in England. They're drawn into working together by a possible forgery plot in which they are both involved, and the heroine, initially disdainful, begins to realize the hero is much more than he seems; smarter, for one thing, and also truly attracted to her. And it's pretty hot. The overall tone reminded me of Judith Ivory, so yes, I really liked this. She has a third book out which I'm saving for a bit.

Bound by Your Touch


Tessa Dare, Goddess of the Hunt: this is a new author, whose second book comes out today. It's a Regency, and uses a lot of tropes common to Regency historicals, but makes them seem new by giving new twists or simply by having her characters react in unexpected ways. Her hero is the heroine's brother's grim and angsty friend; the heroine is a tomboyish, independent young woman who thinks she's in love with someone else. Despite the familiarity of the setting, and elements of the plot, it felt fresh. Which is pretty impressive, I think. I've pre-ordered her next two books already.

Goddess of the Hunt

Carla Kelly, Marrying the Captain: Carla Kelly is one of my favorite romance writers--in the top two of my all-time list for the genre--so atfer saving this one for a while, I savored it, or tried to; I ended up finishing it in a single day.

It's the story of a practical young woman, the illegitimate daughter of a viscount, who's trying to survive in hard times and a lonely ship captain, loyal and dedicated, who always thought marriage was a bad idea for Naval officers at war. It's set in Portsmouth during the time when England's navy was involved in an endless, wearing sea blockade because of the Napoleonic Wars in the Peninsula. Kelly includes vivid detail of the hardship that resulted for both the navy and for the people of the shore town.

Like all Kelly novels, it focuses on regular people. They're not nobility, they don't have magical powers. Miraculous social elevation doesn't happen. Her heroes aren't rakes. Her characters just want good lives and love, and gently, tentatively, with a humor, they find what they need.

Her novels make me happy. I'm going to save the next one, The Surgeon's Lady, for a little while longer.

I'm reading Ariana Franklin's Mistress of the Art of Death, first in a series of historical mysteries about a female forensic doctor in the 12th century.

I'm finding bits of it depressing, but am still very involved in the story. There is a serial killer (well, at least this one's historical!) who's killing children in Cambridge, and the local Jewish population is instantly accused of ritual murder. Two are murdered and the rest take refuge in the local castle. The detective, Adelia, is clearly a stand-in for us modern readers who are appalled by 12th century England and its mores. She's been sent, along with a Jewish spy and a Muslim eunuch manservant, by the king of Sicily to find the real killer. It isn't made clear why the king of Siciliy has an interest, but I suspect money is involved. The king of England, Henry II at this period, is also appalled, because the Jewish population - "his Jews" - are a very lucrative source of tax money. When Adelia arrives, it's been a year since the first murder and three more victims have just been found. Luckily, she saves the life of the local Prior, which gives them an entrée into the local society so they can discreetly investigate.

I have no idea how accurate the forensic science in this book might be. It's given more plausibility by Adelia's training in Salerno, a renowned center of medical study that allowed women to practice and teach. For the purposes of the story, that's been enough for me. It's been holding my attention more than most of the books I've read lately.

500 words at lunch yesterday.  I'm writing at lunch again today.

No writing last night because I went out to dinner at Susanna Foo with feklar and barbarienne. I had crispy duck.  I don't often eat duck, because it has to be cooked just right for me to like it.  This was just right.  Crispy!  I don't plan to tell the Adorable Tots I ate duck, though.  Just in case.

Sent the first bit of the pirate novel off to my workshop, assuming our schedule works out for it.

I'm devouring Elizabeth Hoyt's To Beguile a Beast.  It's third in a series of Georgian period historical romances.  You don't need to read the prior ones to enjoy this one, though they've all been excellent.  I am loving this one because the hero is a grumpy naturalist.  The heroine is on the run and needs his castle as a hiding place for her and her two children, so she basically forces him to accept her as his housekeeper.  Animal warning:  There is a sad bit with a dog but it's over quickly, then there is a puppy.

I'm reading Jean Ross Ewing's Illusion, a historical romance novel from the mid-1990s, and am most amused by its homages to Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond books, particularly the ones featuring Francis Crawford's relationship with Philippa Somerville. The angstful, brilliant hero has Secret Pain beneath Public Decadence and Depravity, and frequently quotes literature (usually the Bible) when he speaks [sound familiar?]. The smitten yet very practical heroine is an English woman who grew up in India and ended up being trained in many arts by the women of a maharaja's household after her father's death, though never actually being with a man; she is named Frances. It's full of intense emotion; also, chimneys are very important, which made me think of Dorothy Sayers' Busman's Honeymoon.

I put off reading this for a long time because "harem" stories annoy me, but little did I know I would actually be reading Lymond AU fanfic!  I laugh and laugh.  If you've read the Lymond books, you would likely laugh and laugh, too.  I am quite entertained. 

Michele Ann Young, The Lady Flees Her Lord: this is the second by this author I've read, and I enjoyed both except for the endings, which felt a bit chaotic and rushed; this second one had an even more chaotic ending than the first, with sudden reversals, lots more characters invading, and people getting shot to eliminate the problems that had beset the characters for the rest of the book.

Other than that, though, I really enjoyed it. It's a Regency-set historical featuring a large, curvy woman, which is rare enough. Her family is well-off, and when the novel opens she's married to an aristocrat. She thought he was in love with her, but by this point it's clear he despises her and only married her for her money; he constantly insults her weight, her apparent barrenness, her capabilities, etc.. When it looks as though she's about to be subjected to further awfulness at a house party of his friends, she flees.

In the fleeing, she ends up with a street child, and keeping the girl helps to hide her from her husband. She sets up in a village as a widowed woman and her daughter, and is there fairly happy. The romance, after a rocky start, evolves between her and the local lord, who's just returned from the Napoleonic Wars, wounded and angstful (yes, that was one of the reasons I bought this). He comes to admire her organizational abilities and bravery, and also thinks she's hot.

I liked that there was a real barrier keeping them apart--she's still married, and afraid what will happen if she's found; she also mourns having to hide from her beloved family as well as from her husband, which I think she does to protect them, not because she thinks they will not protect her. The hero's angst revolves around the deaths of his mother and, later, his Spanish wife. This hampers them, but doesn't stop them becoming involved. I think I would have liked this a lot more if their problems had lasted longer, and been more difficult to resolve. The parts I did like, I liked a lot.

Judith James, Broken Wing: set in the Napoleonic period, the hero is a former orphaned child raised as a prostitute and the heroine is an unconventional widow who wears trousers and studies astronomy. The book has a very old-school feel; the traveling adventure section in the middle section reminded me of novels like Captain Blood. At the same time, the romance is very tender and emotional. Definitely worth reading, even with what I felt were pacing problems..

It could have been a much longer book. The middle section, in which the hero is off having adventures he doesn't really want to have, and experiencing more angst which he will have to overcome later, has some summarizing, and much of what the heroine's doing during that period is only shown briefly. I found myself getting impatient to have them meet again, so we could get back to the romance, instead of simply enjoying the renegado mercenaries and bloody boy's own adventures and such. By the time I reached the last section, when the hero returns to Europe, I was ready to skip ahead of the final problem hero and heroine must overcome, and had to restrain myself from doing so. I was glad they overcame their problem by actually talking about it.

The book's from Medallion Press, who specialize in romances that are a little bit different, for example a couple set in Australia after World War One, and one set in 11th century India. I'll be interested to see what James does next.

Jade Lee, Tempted Tigress: an adventure story set in China during the Opium Wars, with the White heroine (raised in China, by British nuns) involved in the opium trade and the Chinese hero trying to bring the trade down as both policeman and executioner. Lots of gritty historical detail, which sounds accurate so far as my knowledge goes.

I wouldn't have been surprised if this story had ended badly, but luckily, it's a romance. I think that's the only trick to liking the book; you have to remember that it's a Romance, and the happy ending has to happen, so seemingly insurmountable cultural/political issues must be overcome.

( Spoilers and commentary. )

If you've read this one, or any of these, what did you think?

Victoria Dahl, A Rake's Guide To Pleasure (Zebra Historical Romance): I don't think the title was accurate, but the book was certainly hot, hot, hot, especially because both characters were smart, and I love smart characters who can figure things out instead of stumbling along being idiots solely to make the plot more tangled. Emma is pretending to be a widow and Hart is pretending his interest in her is only sexual. They manage to transcend that, and the whole journey was emotionally gripping. I had writing to do when I read this a few weeks ago, and I kept reading anyway. So I recommend this one.

Victoria Dahl, To Tempt A Scotsman (Zebra Debut): I enjoyed aspects of this book, but will admit I'm not usually a fan of the super-young heroine, even in historicals. She was nineteen, completely old enough to marry and run a household in her own time, but I still cringed a bit every time I was reminded. Which leads me to think that, usually, I just ignore the youth of the heroine in historical romance. I just couldn't this time, because it's mentioned several times, and in fact made sense of some of her actions in the plot.

It wasn't just that, though, that made me like this book a lot less than Dahl's A Rake's Guide to Pleasure; I also had trouble taking a couple of plot elements seriously because I'd seen them so many times before, and I felt a bit manipulated. I think one of the reasons Dahl's second book was so much more to my taste was that those plotting problems had been overcome. So I am still very much looking forward to her third book.

Liz Carlyle, Never Romance a Rake: this is the latest from one of my favorite historical romance writers, and it has some great angsty tension throughout which I loved.

( Cut for length and quite a lot of spoilers. )

Madelynne Ellis, A Gentleman's Wager: Historical erotica from Black Lace, in which the heroine seeks fulfillment of more than one sort. Some male/male action. The story didn't propel me madly along; it was more something I read in small, yummy bites. I didn't necessarily like the characters, but I did like what she did with them; as I often do when reading erotica, I was studying what she wrote and how she wrote it. It was a nice change from all the erotic romance I've been reading.

There's a sequel, Phantasmagoria, which is on my TBR pile--it looks like it has a Gothic plot, so might have a much different feel. Am looking forward to seeing what she did with it.

Lee Rowan, Ransom: this was a male/male romance from a publisher called Linden Bay. It's set in 1796, and the heroes, Davy and William, are in the British navy, so Their Love Is Forbidden. But they and their captain are kidnapped! And Davy must consort with the kidnapper to save the lives of his friend and his captain though it could end his career! There is angst! Also a lot of nifty stuff about how they escape.

The only thing I didn't like was that William seemd to be an homage to Horatio Hornblower (who was inspired by Admiral Nelson among others): really smart and creative, good at math and navigation, tone-deaf, doesn't like horses, motherless; William's father is a vicar instead of a doctor, at least. If I wasn't so very familiar with the C.S. Forester books, I doubt I would have noticed, as most of those details are peripheral to the story, but as it was, I found them distracting. I further had the sensation of "serial numbers scraped off" because the blond Davy's last name is Archer, which reminded me too much of Archie, the blond buddy on the tv version of Hornblower, and about whom much slash has been generated.

I plan to read the sequel. It was fun once the plot got moving.

Kalen Hughes, Lord Sin (Book One: Rakes of London): This book had exquisite sexual tension throughout and scads of vivid, realistic Georgian period detail. I loved the historical detail as much as the sex scenes. Is that kinky?

The heroine, George, is notable for being "one of the guys" and a widow who truly loved her husband, who died young. The hero, Ivo, fought a duel to protect her, years before while she was still married, and at the beginning of the book has just returned from the resulting exile, during which he privately obsessed over George even though he knew it was improper. However, upon his return he learns that she is now a widow, and notorious for only granting men a single night in her bed. Ivo bargains her up to six, one for each year of his exile.

The one thing I didn't care for so much was the vengeful serial killer subplot. I am kind of tired of those in historicals, and this book had ample plot tension without it.

I am looking forward to Hughes' next one, which is on my TBR stack.

Christine Merrill, An Unladylike Offer: Oh, this was fun. Esme has escaped from an abusive father and run to the arms of the rakish St. John, who has Napoleonic Wars angst and is getting himself hooked on laudanum while trying to reform himself and reconnect with his brother, to whom he did Bad Things--there is a distinct hint of Dorothy Dunnett in their conflict, which I loved.

Madeline Hunter, Lord of Sin: I loved the suspense plot! It was all about engravings, and had lots of excellent engraving-neep, as well as a little lithography-neep. Also, I think Ewan MacLean might be one of my favorite Rakes ever; he's sexually adventurous, but nice! And has intellectual interests in engraving! Ewan and Bride, the heroine, have real conversations about engraving! They have things in common! And when they have misunderstandings, or conflicts, they talk about them!

A very satisfying romance.

Elizabeth Hoyt, To Taste Temptation (The Legend of the Four Soldiers): I loved this--Georgian period PTSD! And class issues! And all the sex scenes included characterization! I particularly liked that both hero and heroine had a sense of desperation about them, for different reasons, and manifested in different ways, and found a resting place in each other. Eventually.

I liked Hoyt's previous three books a great deal, and this one even more; I think the structure is much tighter, and interacts well with the fairy tale chapter epigraphs.

I would say more, but I'm not feeling critical of this book.

Madeline Hunter, The Sinner: Another complex and devious evil plot underlies the romance between a rakish but honorable hero and his brother's former fiancée. As usual, the evil plot interested me less than the rest of the book. I was torn between wanting more of the historical setting and the heroine's associated charitable works (early industry! Miners! Railroads!) and the relationship that develops between hero and heroine, which I loved a lot because the two characters were friends and enjoyed talking with each other as well as feeling physical attraction. I felt the heroine had a valid reason to fear physical intimacy, and I liked reading her struggles between her fears and her desires. Perhaps if I could keep what I got, and also have more of the history, which Hunter works in well, I would have been totally in love with this book.

Madeline Hunter, The Romantic: the taciturn, intelligent hero has a lifelong crush on the sweet, loyal heroine, who unfortunately married someone else years ago. Her husband, alas, turned out to be Evil. Now she's separated from her husband, but he wants her back to produce an heir. The hero, her solicitor, both wants to keep her safe and get her free so he can declare himself. This one would make a fun movie, I think. All sorts of dramatic confrontations and escapes and trials and such. I liked this one the best of this series.