Frederica - Georgette Heyer

Frederica is a wonderful story, to put it plainly. It chronicles the transformation of the Marquis of Alverstoke from a bored, careless nobleman to a man who cares for not only the heroine Frederica, but her entire family.

After being solicited to help her beautiful (but birdbrained) sister Charis enter society, Alverstoke finds himself accepting Frederica's proposal, mostly because she is the first person in a while whom he finds interesting. Generally bored with everyone and everything around him, Alverstoke is cynical and sarcastic; he loathes his two gossipy sisters and only trusts his secretary Charles Trevor. After meeting Frederica, a twenty-four year old spinster and her siblings, Alverstoke begins to come alive and to care for other people. And, of course, falls in love with the witty and caring Frederica.

As in The Grand Sophy, Frederica is not just a dip into the world of Regency England, but a plunge. Never have I read a novel where the period comes more alive (even if a lot of the cant used was rather confusing). And despite that, all of the characters are relateable and believable, especially with the transformation of Alverstoke. Slowly he begins to care for Frederica and her younger brothers Jessamy and Felix, who place their trust in the Marquis easily and look to him for advice and guidance, something Alverstoke has not experienced before. His prized bachelor status is in jeopardy after meeting Frederica, also. And who wouldn't fall in love with Frederica? She's charming, she's intelligent, she cares for her family deeply, but still sees through Alverstoke's haughtiness and lordliness to see what's beneath.

This is a wonderful love story, not to mention amusing in parts and poignant in others. Highly recommended.

Overall Grade: A

MMKAY!

In historical novels, I'm generally pretty ambivalent to anachronisms. It's only if they're glaringly obvious (cars in 1810, or something stupid like that) that I get annoyed. The exception to this, however, is the word "okay." Nothing annoys me more than hearing the Earl of Wherever say "okay." Kills it for me every time.

So out of both curiosity and boredom, I looked up the origins of the word okay, something that people (especially Americans, methinks) use all the time. And according to Wikipedia (Wiki is always right!), the word popped up during the American Presidential election of 1840:

"In a second phase, O.K. was boosted by the 1840 presidential election, and thus marked to outlast the acronym fad from which it came. Democratic supporters of candidate Martin Van Buren equated "Oll Korrect" with "Old Kinderhook", which was a nickname for Van Buren, a native of Kinderhook, NY. In response, Whig opponents attributed O.K., in the sense of "Oll Korrect", to Andrew Jackson's bad spelling. Thus, the election popularized both O.K. and a folk etymology that the acronym came from Andrew Jackson." (Wikipedia.org)

So although I, personally, would avoid the use of "okay" if I were writing anything before the 20th century, I am now able to swallow its use in a book I'm currently reading, which is set in 1890. When the word became apart of our everyday vocabulary, though, is up for debate.

But, please, for the love of Baby Jesus, avoid using the word in Regency England, okay?

Thunder and Roses - Mary Jo Putney

This is my first experience with MJP (yes, lots of firsts lately) and I'm quite glad that I picked her up. I always have a tendency to avoid authors that are extremely popular, mostly because they are usually overrated. With Thunder and Roses, however, I was far from disappointed.

The story begins with the daughter of a Methodist preacher Clare Morgan going to the Demon Earl, Nicholas, for aid. Her village, and in particular the dangerous mine there, is in need of help, and Clare is desperate enough to petition Nicholas. He is uninterested in helping her or the village, but on a whim decides that he will help her if she will stay with him for three months--and, obviously, ruin her reputation in the process. Not one to back down from a challenge, Clare accepts.

This was a wonderful story between two people who desperately needed one another. Nicholas is half gypsy and believes to have been sold by his own mother to his grandfather, the previous earl. Shadowing his inner pain with both humor and cynicism, Nicholas remains a sexy hero despite his goal of ruining Clare's pristine reputation. Clare is also a lovely character, capable and insightful, who sees through Nicholas's bravado to discover the rather lonely man beneath. Despite that, she also struggles with her faith and with giving in to Nicholas's seduction; she is probably the only heroine I've read of who truly believes pre-marital sex was immoral. I also loved the friendship that blossomed between Nicholas and Clare before they made love: it made their relationship that much deeper. And add to that the inclusion of the story being set in a Welsh village and details about mining and billiards 200 years ago--this is definitely a novel to be treasured.

Overall Grade: A

The Grand Sophy - Georgette Heyer

The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer is a classic in the romance genre, and for me, my first Heyer novel in general. It is the story of the irrepressible Sophia Stanton-Lacy, who enters the world of her relatives Lord and Lady Ombersley and their children—and in particular, the life of her orderly cousin Charles Rivenhall—and turns everything upside down, generally for the good of those around her.

Sophy is a wonderful heroine who never enters the realm of being TSTL despite her fixation on messing with the world around her. She is capable and independent, and is one of the few heroines I’ve encountered who truly does not worry over how others see her. Her predilection for scheming, however, is usually seen through by Charles Rivenhall, the eldest of the Rivenhall children. Normally responsible and staid, the entrance of Sophy shifts the axis of Charles’ world the most in the story, usually involving him losing his temper quite often with Sophy. In the end, however, with Sophy’s schemes coming to a climax, Charles finally recognizes his love for her, despite also wanting to wring her neck from sheer frustration.

One of the best aspects of this book was the sheer Regency-ness of it: you truly felt like you had been transported back 200 years. So many historicals lately seem more like contemporary characters dressed in costume, yet Heyer’s worlds are permeated with details about life during that time, not to mention the dialogue that is used (and yet never comes off as awkward or forced). The second greatest part of her story was each and every character. Not one is simply a cardboard cutout designed to fill in space: from Sophy’s lackadaisical father to Charles’ snobbish fiancée, each character leaps off of the page. And, believe me, there are a bunch of characters in this story, yet not one is without personality or individuality.

The only problem I had with The Grand Sophy was Charles Rivenhall. Throughout the entire story, it seemed as if he was always yelling, which is especially shown through Heyer’s predilection for many exclamation points in dialogue. Charles feels unmanned by Sophy and loses his temper with her often, yet so much of the book was him yelling at her (or at least exclaiming) that reading it was rather tiring. Sometimes I just wanted to tell Charles to take a deep breath: he always seemed about to explode every time he came onto the scene. Even by the end of the story, he’s close to strangling Sophy from sheer frustration when he asks her to marry him. Granted, Sophy is probably the only one who could see through his temper and not be offended by his insults. But I’ve never encountered a hero more prone to apoplexy. This was the only aspect of the book that I had a hard time liking.

Overall Grade: A-

If You Desire - Kresley Cole

If You Desire is the second book in Kresley Cole’s MacCarrick Brothers trilogy, the first of which was the 2005 release If You Dare. This particular story is about the second son Hugh MacCarrick and his childhood love Jane Weyland.

Hugh, an assassin for the Crown, returns to England after discovering that the woman who teased him—and with whom he fell desperately in love—all those years ago is in grave danger from a now rogue assassin. To protect Jane, Hugh is forced to marry her and take her away from London and her rather scandalous cousins.

Jane is a "wild child": in particular, she and her cousins attend a orgiastic party just for the thrill in the beginning of the novel. It's a bit jarring, though, and takes away the feel of it being in Victorian England; it has a rather contemporary feel to it. It was interesting, though, to see a heroine who isn't thoroughly innocent (she is still a virgin, however).

Unbeknownst to Hugh, Jane has been in love with him ever since he left her ten years ago, and is known as “Tears and Years” MacCarrick in her circle of cousins. And, as usual, the two cannot be together due to Hugh’s big secret, which is really the only thing (besides Jane’s “wild” side) that brings down this story. Hugh’s secret is typically tragic and unconquerable, yet in the tradition of HEA romance, there is always a way around it, which makes the secret not so tragic but just silly.

Despite the rather cliché secret plot point, I quite enjoyed this newest offering by Cole. Her novels are enjoyable, quick reads with interesting characters and, as always, hot love scenes (although there was only one in this story, surprisingly). Hugh may tend to be a broody hero but not enough to make him exasperating. The same with Jane: she may be a tease, but Cole manages to make her a likeable and believable character. These two stubborn characters’ love story is sweet and delightful, and if you can get over the secret plot point, (which really did not bother me very much) it’s a book to be recommended.

I’m now definitely looking forward to the last in the trilogy to come out at the end of this month, If You Deceive, featuring the scarred and surly Ethan MacCarrick.

Overall Grade: B