Var. romance novels by Susan Wiggs
I picked up a couple of Wiggs’s books a while back because I vaguely remembered enjoying one of her books a good while back, and I was in the mood for historical romance novels that (A) weren’t westerns and (B) weren’t set in 19th century England. And then I kept reading until I came across one I didn’t care for. (The Drifter. It had the kind of alpha hero I really dislike, sans rape, and the rest wasn’t enough to make up for it.)
Despite having some of the typical problems of romance novels of the era (though not nearly as bad as many, many others) I liked the mid-90s books the best for the most part, as I thought they had the most interesting plots and settings. Some of these are out of print, but according to the author’s website, they’ll be reprinted soon-ish.
Trilogies:
Tudor Rose Trilogy: These books are rewritten from the original versions, though I don’t know how extensively. I recognized a lot of plot points that aren’t overly common in the last book, so I assume that’s the one I read. Then again, one particular bit in the second struck a cord, so maybe I actually read two. The trilogy follows three generations of the de Lacey family through the reigns of the three most famous Tudor monarchs. Of the two trilogies I read, I much preferred this one.
At the King’s Command: This is the first one that actually caught my eyes due to the fact that the heroine is a Russian princess out for revenge who has been traveling Europe with a gypsy band for years. But it sounded like it could still end up being mostly a Marriage of Convenience plot, and…well, it was mostly a Marriage of Convenience plot with not enough revenge for me (and I raise my eyes at her disguising herself as a gypsy) but pretty good. Not to mention possibly the first historical I’ve read that actually dealt with asthma. Good, but I actually preferred the other books in the trilogy.
The Maiden’s Hand: In this one, the heroine has a totally-not-approved-of-by-her-elderly-husband hobby of rescuing Protestants from executions under Mary Tudor’s reign. The hero is the asthmatic kid from the first book. There are all sorts of politican and inheritances shenanigans that I can’t recall at the moment because it’s been a while since I read it, but I know I liked it at the time, and that there were some things that usually annoy me that didn’t. And while I’m not always fond of “moralistic wallflower reforms debauched playboy” plots, this one worked for me.
At the Queen’s Summons: This is the one I’m pretty sure I’ve read before. Or at least, I’ll be surprised if there are two books that have certain plot elements align the same way. The heroine is the long-believed-dead daughter of the leads of The Maiden’s Hand (her fate is alluded at the end of that one, and her identity is pretty clear throughout this one) who has amnesia regarding her early life and is now a sharp-tongued street performer. When she insults the wrong lord and doesn’t hustle away fast enough, she throws herself on the mercy of a gentleman who is nearby, and who rescues her on a whim. He, conveniently enough, is an Irish lord With Secrets who has come to England to protest Ireland’s occupation. It’s much more politically driven the other two, but that’s not a bad thing.
Chicago Fire Trilogy: A trilogy about 2 students and 1 maid from an upper-class girls school who get caught up in the Chicago fire of 1871. Aside from Miranda, these have the most “typical” plots, though they’re still a bit out of the ordinary.
The Hostage: Heiress’s father misused poor island folks, island dude comes for revenge, ends up kidnapping heiress instead, yada yada. With bonus city burning down at the beginning. It was good, but the plot played a bit too close to Stockholm’s for me. It does, however, create an excellent portrait of the conditioned passivity and propriety of young women of that class, and I liked that the hero was never described in traditional romance novel terms.
The Mistress: Ok, first of all, I have no idea what’s with that title, as the heroine isn’t a mistress either in the terms of being a “kept woman” or of ruling/running a place. This starts off a standard Cinderella story with a maid impersonating an heiress at a ball and falling for a hunky rich dude every other girl wants and then ending up running from the fire with him, during which he makes all sorts of promises for restoration. Except, whoops, he’s actually a penniless conartist who was just trying to impress her because he thought she was rich and he liked the way she looked at him when he was being heroic. (Variations of “he is inspired to do impressive things to get her approving gaze” shows up a few times in Wiggs books.) And then she finds out and harangues him into keeping every one of his promises, and then some.
The Firebrand: The bulk of this one actually takes place several years after the fire. The crux is that the suffragette heroine adopts a baby she finds in the fire, and finds her father (who thought the baby was dead) years later and they end up in a Marriage of Convenience rather than fight over her. It..is well done, but the Victorian/Edwardian-era romances novels where a central conflict is that the heroine is a suffragette and the hero is adamantly opposed to the movement never really work for me. I think because, while it’s realistic, I’m never really convinced that he comes to see her POV as much as he…indulges her, I suppose.
Standalones:
Lord of the Night: This is actually the first one I read, and the one that prompted me to check her out, even though At the King’s Command was the one that first caught my attention. This is actually one of those books where I kept thinking I should be objecting to things more than I was, then realizing that what I kept wanting to object to was certain bits of historical accuracy (like a 20~ year age difference between the leads) that doesn’t crop up much in romance novels unless it’s something like Bertrice Small writing “sexy” rape scenes. But this is probably one of the most interesting plots I’ve come across in a romance novel. Set in Renaissance Venice, the heroine, Laura, is a courtesan-in-training who wants to be an artist, and the hero is the (much older) patrician head of the police course, investigating a serial killer who keeps crossing Laura’s path. Aside from one really gross scene where he tries to show her the danger of the life of a courtesan, I wasn’t particularly bothered by the romance and liked both leads, but I mostly liked the plot. And, unlike most (of the very few) romance novels with non-evil courtesans, the lifestyle isn’t romanticized, but women in it aren’t disrespected. It did introduce me to the concept of the Trentuno though, which was rather scarring. The Trentuno is when 30 upper class men abduct a courtesan and spend the night raping her (often resulting in a dead courtesan) and publish an announcement that she pleased them all. I did an internet search and found nothing and wondered if it was one of those historical bits that authors make up/build way up to traumatize us/make a point, and then read Margaret Rosenthal’s biography of Veronica Franco and learned that nope, it was pretty much how Wiggs described it. Also, while the ending is somewhat deus ex machina, I was thrilled when Laura wasn’t revealed to be some patrician’s secret daughter, but instead remained an orphan of unknown parentage.
The Lily and the Leopard: This one is my favorite! It’s starts in 1414 and covers through the battle of Agincourt, and is mostly set in France. Between that and the title, you pretty much know what it’s about! Our Hero is one of King Henry’s knights who Henry betroths to a French heiress, who is adamantly against icky English kings taking over France. Due to plot contrivances, they meet, fall in love, and have lots of outdoors sex without either realizing the other is the unwanted betrothed. Then it goes something like this:
RAND: Wait, you are my French soon-to-be-wife? This is such a relief!
LIANNA: WTF? I thought you were French! I did not intend to spend a lot of time sexing up an Englishman trying to take over my lands!
RAND: But this is a good thing! We already know we love each other, so now you just need to agree to support-
LIANNA: PATRIOTISM BEFORE LOVE!
RAND: I…see this might be difficult. What’s your favorite flower?
There are misunderstandings, but they make sense, and the conflicts largely work. Also, while there are certain historical periods where romantic plotlines with the lovers on opposite political sides don’t work for me, this is one of the ones where it usually works very well for me. And since this is an older medieval, the story actually takes place over several years and is more about learning to live together despite their political views, unlike the more recent books, where the book tends to end shortly after the leads realize they’re in love.
Briar Rose: This is an 80s medieval and one I’d like to see how it turns out if Wiggs rewrites it like she did the Tudor books. Like The Lily and the Leopard, it’s rather “love at first sight” but mind. I did mind that it was an Evil Stepmother (and Evil Other Woman) plot, with the Evil Stepmother trying to have the heroine killed so her own daughter can inherit (it’s one of those romance novels where the heroine’s family got a special dispensation from some monarch or another where the title and lands passed through the female lineage yeah I know it’s a trope ok?). The interesting thing, though is that this is possibly the only romance novel I’ve read where not only do they actually discuss the Ban, but the hero and his lands are under the Ban. It’s actually one of the few romance novels I’ve read (and the list doesn’t get a lot longer if you remove “romance”) to actually get into how important religion and the power of the church were to day-to-day medieval life. Sadly, it really shows in the second half that it was an early book, as the plot, which was pretty solid in the first half, is almost entirely maintained by an endless succession of misunderstandings and complications, both of which largely feel like they’re just trying to keep it going longer.
Winds of Glory: Another 80s book, and like Briar Rose, it shows both that it’s an earlier book and that it’s an 80s romance novel, but not nearly as much so as other romance novels of the era. This one is set during the American Revolution, which is a setting I often avoid in romance novels due to how they tend to have revolutionary heroes being judgey and distrustful of Tory heroines who Must Learn The Error Of Her Ways. My annoyance with the trope has nothing to do with my opinion on which side is supported and everything to do with the preferred-by-modern-folks political stance being used to inevitably have women learn that they’re wrong and men are right. This is somewhat present in that the hero, an indentured bondsman, is clearly In The Right, but Bethany isn’t treated as if she’s wrong so much as simply on the other side. This is also one of those where they’re in love early on and most of the book is them trying to make life together work. There are a lot of things I don’t miss about older historical romances, but that isn’t one of them. Unfortunately, like Briar Rose, it’s laden with misunderstandings all over the place, though not as concentrated.
Miranda: The only Regency in the lot! The blurb and the first few pages made me think this one was going to have a heroine who was an amnesiac super spy. Alas, this was not to be. The heroine, Miranda, has amnesia after a fire, and has two men claiming to be her fiance, at least one of whom thinks she’s a traitor and spy. This is largely enjoyable, but we know which is lying and which is telling the truth from the start. And since it’s a historical romance novel, we know that the liar is The Hero (because of this, we actually start heading in a direction of very dubious consent, though that’s avoided before we get to dangerous waters) and so there will eventually have to be something Wrong with the actual fiance. I think this one would he worked better as a Trad. Regency, where it isn’t always immediately obvious who the heroine will end up with, and that and the romance being more secondary would have suited the plot better.