what she does to me
Just back from dinner at Vicini with the Aunt. Estremely good pasta, omg, done to that perfect little-too-hard-for-al-dente texture I love so much. And the most amazing bittersweet chocolate tart with vanilla bean ice cream and caramelised orange rind. Sometimes I think, aside from creme brulee, the bestest food invention ever was when someone accidentally dropped a bit of orange rind in sugar syrup and forgot about it. *nods*
But urgh, I am completely frustrated with all the romance novels I have at the moment. And I know, I don't have to read romance, there's so much else I have, all those classic novels I bought and kinda forgot about that are now sitting on my bookshelf, waiting to be steadily unravelled again. But I want to read good romance. It's just that nothing is holding my interest, not even that goddamned Anne Gracie Devil Riders trilogy. I started the second one today, His Captive Lady, and was so utterly bored less than fifty pages that I tossed it aside. Right from the opening word, it irked me.
Earlier, I tried for the second time to get into Compromised by Kate Noble because I saw it reviewed positively somewhere else and it really has one of the loveliest covers I've seen in a while. And for the second damned time, it began to really irritate me.
Cos look, there's humour and then there's humour. Julia Quinn pisses me off cos she's so ridiculous and obvious I find myself rolling my eyes at the page. I like my humour far dryer and sarcastic, like Connie Brockway where the humour is so interwoven with the intensely intelligent prose that it's in every sentence, not layered over like some frosting or shoehorned in like some farcical set piece. *shudders* And bloody Kate Noble was totally doing the frosting thing, structuring every scene to end on this note of almost cinematic comedy. And I really don't mean that in a good way. It was so tryhard I began to skimread just to spare my brain the irritation. And that's never a good sign, is it? So have given up and cast the book aside. Bother me no more, Kate Noble!
I think I've been completely spoiled by Meredith Duran. I saw Bound By Your Touch reviewed on Dear Author and bought it from Intrigue aaaaages ago. It's been sitting on the TBR section of my bookshelf for weeks now and the irony is I kept looking at it with dread, fearing it would completely disappoint me like so much else has.
Dear god in heaven, was I completely wrong. I picked it up very late a couple of nights ago cos I was so bored I was ready to risk the disappointment. And holy fucking god, from the Very First few sentences, I was gobsmacked into the realisation of pure quality. THIS is the kind of romance I've been searching for --- deeply poetic, beautifully visual, highly (almost frighteningly so) intelligent, and totally not dumbed down at all. Literature, the way Loretta Chase's Lord Of Scoundrels is, only a notch better.
The conversations were so startlingly intellectual that I wasn't even sure I understood them. Which, trust me, is an awesome thing. Seriously. Because god, I love that she didn't hold back on that at all, unabashedly intelligent which is so damned refreshing after so much romance that sometimes reads like it's been written for women of double digit IQs. *eyetwitch*
And oh man, the complexity of the characterisation. The hero had some very strange moments of dissociation but they were utterly fascinating, to the point where I began to wonder if he had Asperger's. But they made absolute sense in terms of his history and his personality and she unpacked that in such satisfying detail. Both of them were so well drawn, extremely recognisable and real in terms of their angst and intelligence and sensuality, all the layers of character that any human being has but quite often doesn't come across on the page. Admittedly, there were a few points early in the book where I winced a little at how the heroine's intellect made a bit of a fool of her but that was quickly overcome and she developed beautifully.
Their transformation arcs were pure awesomeness. From a writer point of view as well as a reader. Because they both had difficult lessons to learn and my heart kinda broke for both of them having to face horrible truths of changed perceptions. It was that wonderful thing of growing up and seeing your parents for who they really are as opposed to what you've told yourself. So very very well done. And oh christ, the symmetry of both these arcs in terms of the whole novel. Gah! *brain orgasm*
As if all this wasn't enough, the sex was marvellous. I could have done without his glamourising her in his mind but that's just me being quibbly. I still prefer a hero who doesn't actually notice first off that the heroine is gorgeous, like Elizabeth Hoyt's To Seduce A Sinner. Which is why Anne Gracie's His Captive Lady put me off from the very first word. But the sexual tension and sensuality in this was beautifully done, exactly the way it should be done, from the tiniest thing ramping steadily up to the consummation and affecting both of them in very real elegantly described fashion. Plus the heroine took it all in such wonderful stride. I liked that very very much indeed.
Some wonderful settings too which will always stay in my head, like the rooftop scene and of course the boathouse scene. I could almost feel like I was there, breathing that air and feeling the breeze on my skin. It was wonderful. The attention to detail was a joy, from surroundings to minor characters to these beautiful moments of almost metaphysical tangents. *sigh* Just the kind of book I love to read, quite possibly one of the few novels worthy to inherit the Jane Eyre mantle. Cos it combined all the things I love most about that classic novel --- the journey of self, the poetics, the fabulous romance.
Mind you, there is no fucking way I am touching her debut novel, The Duke Of Shadows. After being so royally pissed off by Loretta Chase's latest, there's no way I'm actively seeking out a novel set in British India. Oh, don't EVEN!
No, that's not fair. I'm sure at some point I will attempt it. Perhaps after a few more good experiences of Duran. Bound had an excerpt of the next one at the end, Written On Your Skin, and I was already thoroughly intrigued by both characters when they popped up in the first. The touch of drugs was verrah intriguing indeed, and I'm enough of a Jules Verne geek to love the name 'Phin'. Phineas, Phileas. Close enough, hee. :p
Pretty much the only quibble I had with this was that the cover is totally wrong in terms of the hero having a completely different shade of hair. Gah, I hate shit like that, especially in this day and age.
But oh yes, Meredith Duran. Pure excellence. I can't wait to get the next one. *jiggles impatiently* No wonder Anne Gracie seems utterly dreary and mechanical in contrast.
Ah, I forgot about doing the answers to that first lines of favourite books meme. For shame, flist. *shakes head*
But urgh, I am completely frustrated with all the romance novels I have at the moment. And I know, I don't have to read romance, there's so much else I have, all those classic novels I bought and kinda forgot about that are now sitting on my bookshelf, waiting to be steadily unravelled again. But I want to read good romance. It's just that nothing is holding my interest, not even that goddamned Anne Gracie Devil Riders trilogy. I started the second one today, His Captive Lady, and was so utterly bored less than fifty pages that I tossed it aside. Right from the opening word, it irked me.
Earlier, I tried for the second time to get into Compromised by Kate Noble because I saw it reviewed positively somewhere else and it really has one of the loveliest covers I've seen in a while. And for the second damned time, it began to really irritate me.
Cos look, there's humour and then there's humour. Julia Quinn pisses me off cos she's so ridiculous and obvious I find myself rolling my eyes at the page. I like my humour far dryer and sarcastic, like Connie Brockway where the humour is so interwoven with the intensely intelligent prose that it's in every sentence, not layered over like some frosting or shoehorned in like some farcical set piece. *shudders* And bloody Kate Noble was totally doing the frosting thing, structuring every scene to end on this note of almost cinematic comedy. And I really don't mean that in a good way. It was so tryhard I began to skimread just to spare my brain the irritation. And that's never a good sign, is it? So have given up and cast the book aside. Bother me no more, Kate Noble!
I think I've been completely spoiled by Meredith Duran. I saw Bound By Your Touch reviewed on Dear Author and bought it from Intrigue aaaaages ago. It's been sitting on the TBR section of my bookshelf for weeks now and the irony is I kept looking at it with dread, fearing it would completely disappoint me like so much else has.
Dear god in heaven, was I completely wrong. I picked it up very late a couple of nights ago cos I was so bored I was ready to risk the disappointment. And holy fucking god, from the Very First few sentences, I was gobsmacked into the realisation of pure quality. THIS is the kind of romance I've been searching for --- deeply poetic, beautifully visual, highly (almost frighteningly so) intelligent, and totally not dumbed down at all. Literature, the way Loretta Chase's Lord Of Scoundrels is, only a notch better.
The conversations were so startlingly intellectual that I wasn't even sure I understood them. Which, trust me, is an awesome thing. Seriously. Because god, I love that she didn't hold back on that at all, unabashedly intelligent which is so damned refreshing after so much romance that sometimes reads like it's been written for women of double digit IQs. *eyetwitch*
And oh man, the complexity of the characterisation. The hero had some very strange moments of dissociation but they were utterly fascinating, to the point where I began to wonder if he had Asperger's. But they made absolute sense in terms of his history and his personality and she unpacked that in such satisfying detail. Both of them were so well drawn, extremely recognisable and real in terms of their angst and intelligence and sensuality, all the layers of character that any human being has but quite often doesn't come across on the page. Admittedly, there were a few points early in the book where I winced a little at how the heroine's intellect made a bit of a fool of her but that was quickly overcome and she developed beautifully.
Their transformation arcs were pure awesomeness. From a writer point of view as well as a reader. Because they both had difficult lessons to learn and my heart kinda broke for both of them having to face horrible truths of changed perceptions. It was that wonderful thing of growing up and seeing your parents for who they really are as opposed to what you've told yourself. So very very well done. And oh christ, the symmetry of both these arcs in terms of the whole novel. Gah! *brain orgasm*
As if all this wasn't enough, the sex was marvellous. I could have done without his glamourising her in his mind but that's just me being quibbly. I still prefer a hero who doesn't actually notice first off that the heroine is gorgeous, like Elizabeth Hoyt's To Seduce A Sinner. Which is why Anne Gracie's His Captive Lady put me off from the very first word. But the sexual tension and sensuality in this was beautifully done, exactly the way it should be done, from the tiniest thing ramping steadily up to the consummation and affecting both of them in very real elegantly described fashion. Plus the heroine took it all in such wonderful stride. I liked that very very much indeed.
Some wonderful settings too which will always stay in my head, like the rooftop scene and of course the boathouse scene. I could almost feel like I was there, breathing that air and feeling the breeze on my skin. It was wonderful. The attention to detail was a joy, from surroundings to minor characters to these beautiful moments of almost metaphysical tangents. *sigh* Just the kind of book I love to read, quite possibly one of the few novels worthy to inherit the Jane Eyre mantle. Cos it combined all the things I love most about that classic novel --- the journey of self, the poetics, the fabulous romance.
Mind you, there is no fucking way I am touching her debut novel, The Duke Of Shadows. After being so royally pissed off by Loretta Chase's latest, there's no way I'm actively seeking out a novel set in British India. Oh, don't EVEN!
No, that's not fair. I'm sure at some point I will attempt it. Perhaps after a few more good experiences of Duran. Bound had an excerpt of the next one at the end, Written On Your Skin, and I was already thoroughly intrigued by both characters when they popped up in the first. The touch of drugs was verrah intriguing indeed, and I'm enough of a Jules Verne geek to love the name 'Phin'. Phineas, Phileas. Close enough, hee. :p
Pretty much the only quibble I had with this was that the cover is totally wrong in terms of the hero having a completely different shade of hair. Gah, I hate shit like that, especially in this day and age.
But oh yes, Meredith Duran. Pure excellence. I can't wait to get the next one. *jiggles impatiently* No wonder Anne Gracie seems utterly dreary and mechanical in contrast.
Ah, I forgot about doing the answers to that first lines of favourite books meme. For shame, flist. *shakes head*