Concluding the month of February...
23. Mercedes Lackey, One Good Knight
Princess Andromeda of Acadia has been a disappointment to her mother and her kingdom for her entire life. Too thin, too tomboyish, and too intelligent to be seen as a suitable princess, Andie spends most of her time researching Acadian trade and economics. She hopes that she can at least be useful in this way; and when Queen Cassiopeia and her advisor Solon find one of her reports, they actually praise her and give her more status in the castle. Things are looking up, until a marauding dragon attacks the capital, and the only Traditional way to appease him is to offer virgin sacrifices. When Andie herself is chosen to become the next sacrificial victim, she resolves to escape her terrible fate - but she’ll need some help from a Champion and a Fairy Godmother to see it through.
I’m kind of conflicted about this book. One the one hand, the plot was interesting enough to keep me absorbed in the book, because I really wanted to find out which fairy tale Lackey was going to reinvent. The first book in the series, The Fairy Godmother, was loosely based on Cinderella, and I was expecting the Andromeda story to influence One Good Knight. This expectation was completely thwarted - but if I say which fairy tale was actually used, I’d give away the ending, so I’ll refrain. I was pretty disappointed with how things turned out: the main fantasy plot was very clichéd and the romance angle was barely given any attention (not to mention that it was rather…odd). I didn’t hate this book, but I liked The Fairy Godmother better. I will probably continue with the series, but so far it’s not as good as I was hoping.
24. Clare Darcy, Eugenia
(Click here for the Amazon.com website.)
Beautiful but outspoken Eugenia Liddiard is about to embark on her first London Season. While traveling to her guardian’s country estate, she stops at an inn and runs into a man whom she recognizes as her cousin Gerry. However, the man doesn’t seem to recognize her, claims he’s never seen her before - and then faints on the floor of the inn. While Eugenia tends to him, she learns that the man’s name is actually Richard, and he is the illegitimate son of one of her distant relatives. Since he’s impoverished and has nowhere to go, she comes up with a brilliant plan: she’ll bring him to her guardian’s house and he’ll impersonate her cousin Gerry. Richard (astonishingly) assents to the crazy scheme, but complications rapidly ensue when it transpires that Gerry is wanted for highway robbery and murder - and then the real Gerry shows up! Will Eugenia be able to untangle all the madness and find true love in the process?
This book is pure Regency fluff, and it’s a substantial step down from Georgette Heyer - in fact, it’s pretty much a total ripoff of Heyer’s style and plot devices. Nevertheless, it was entertaining in a superficial sort of way. Eugenia was a likeable character: I enjoyed her forthrightness, and I liked how she broke the conventions because she simply didn’t think about them, not because she was consciously trying to rebel. Richard was a yummy hero too, although I wish he’d been developed more as a character. In fact, the whole romance between him and Eugenia wasn’t that well developed - and for a purported “Regency romance,” this is a problem. I would never re-read this book, but if you can find it at the library, it’s not the worst way to spend an afternoon.
Cross-posted to...somewhere. I don't really know at this point!
P.S. I like this icon, but I am absolutely hating the comma after the word "plot." It should be a colon, damnit!