all i needed
I had the damnedest time trying to read The Unknown Ajax last week. It just wouldn't hold my interest. I think I may have overdosed on Heyer's style to the point of taking it for granted. I glossed and skimmed rather than lost myself in every single sentence.
But oh man, totally awesome hero and fabulously smart heroine. And their conversations were the most delightful absurdities. Loved that, loved that, loved that. The rest of the characters and smuggling history and claustrophobic setting I could have done without. And this wasn't helped one bit by the spelling mistakes I found. At one point there was even the wrong name given to the hero! *boggles* Damnit, I'm going to have to actually go through the re-read with a black pen. Bah.
On Friday I read The Reluctant Widow and that was pretty awesome. I had a total shout of mental laughter when I recognised the Jane Eyre governess premise. But oh how Heyer took it to such beautifully ridiculous heights. Bwee hee hee. She's so clever. *fangirls madly*
Loved our heroine, the strength and slight vulnerability of her. Particularly intrigued by the lack of physical detail given to our hero but omigod he was too too marvellous. He was so maddeningly reasonable that both our heroine and I reacted with the same choking indignation. Oh that was brilliant. Darling Heyer.
The Napoleonic spy intrigue was enough of a subplot for me to tolerate without getting bored. And the other characters made for a lovely mix of contrasts and humanity. Not to mention the dog! *squee* I finally realised what it is about Heyer writing animals that I love so much, that works so well. She writes them like she writes humans. There's no difference.
And I loved how bookish our heroine was! Actually, I'm fairly certain by now that Heyer's favourite Austen is Sense And Sensibility. Cos this is at least the third that references it. The other two named the novel. This one caused me no end of giggling with our heroine constantly accusing our hero of lacking all sensibility, to the point where he repeated it back to her. Too funny!
But omigod that final scene was so effective. I mean, written with such skill that I yelled about five times in my head "Kiss her! If you kiss her, she'll believe you! JUST KISS HER!" And then he did and it was perfect, resolved the scene to perfection.
Also, quite possibly one of the best last lines in a novel ever. *nods*
But oh man, totally awesome hero and fabulously smart heroine. And their conversations were the most delightful absurdities. Loved that, loved that, loved that. The rest of the characters and smuggling history and claustrophobic setting I could have done without. And this wasn't helped one bit by the spelling mistakes I found. At one point there was even the wrong name given to the hero! *boggles* Damnit, I'm going to have to actually go through the re-read with a black pen. Bah.
On Friday I read The Reluctant Widow and that was pretty awesome. I had a total shout of mental laughter when I recognised the Jane Eyre governess premise. But oh how Heyer took it to such beautifully ridiculous heights. Bwee hee hee. She's so clever. *fangirls madly*
Loved our heroine, the strength and slight vulnerability of her. Particularly intrigued by the lack of physical detail given to our hero but omigod he was too too marvellous. He was so maddeningly reasonable that both our heroine and I reacted with the same choking indignation. Oh that was brilliant. Darling Heyer.
The Napoleonic spy intrigue was enough of a subplot for me to tolerate without getting bored. And the other characters made for a lovely mix of contrasts and humanity. Not to mention the dog! *squee* I finally realised what it is about Heyer writing animals that I love so much, that works so well. She writes them like she writes humans. There's no difference.
And I loved how bookish our heroine was! Actually, I'm fairly certain by now that Heyer's favourite Austen is Sense And Sensibility. Cos this is at least the third that references it. The other two named the novel. This one caused me no end of giggling with our heroine constantly accusing our hero of lacking all sensibility, to the point where he repeated it back to her. Too funny!
But omigod that final scene was so effective. I mean, written with such skill that I yelled about five times in my head "Kiss her! If you kiss her, she'll believe you! JUST KISS HER!" And then he did and it was perfect, resolved the scene to perfection.
Also, quite possibly one of the best last lines in a novel ever. *nods*