Your Scandalous Ways by Loretta Chase

[meganbmoore]

Note:  Despite the length, all plot details are either on the back, or in the first few chapters, so I don't consider this spoilery beyond the one hidden bit.  Which is also in the first few chapters.

James Cordier is a spy for England in 1820, using his looks to seduce women suspected of being enemies of the crown. He knows that he’s expendable and

Comments

[artillie]

I was tl;dring this post really hard until I saw the phrase "noble manslut for king and country." And then I looked it up on Amazon--none of the reviewers can bring themselves to type out the word "whore." That's hilarious.

I don't read romance novels--okay, yes I do, but only every once in a while--but I'll give this one a shot. Someday. You know, when the library actually has it. All right, I have it set to put it on hold for me as soon as it comes in. But I don't read romance novels. >_>

[meganbmoore]

The best part is that he calls himself one within the first few pages. Well...whore or prostitute, I forget which. But he's very honest with himself about what he is, which most such heroes aren't.

The "Noble manslut for king and country" is a pretty popular romance novel trope (actually "noble/angsty manslut" in general, not just romances) and one that most love, and one that I kinda hate, so I loved seeing it exposed for the hypocrisy it is.

MORE SPOILERS!!!!

[estara]

Yes, that was one of the most fun parts, when he does a bit of self-inspection when coming clear to Francesca about why he was set upon her - the bits where SHE flies into an Italian rage (even though being British), and he remains calm and then remembers he's half-Italian himself and goes cursing after her until they make up.

Or later on, when she wants to pacify one of the baddies with jewelry and he gets really upset because he's also a jewel thief and can't handle her wanting to give away the jewels, and then she calls him being upset like "watching opera" and when he looks at her murderously she says "You're beautiful when you're angry" - waiting for him to lose it and he almost does and then laughs out loud.

I guess I'm disappointed because these bits are in the book too, and I wanted to like it more on the whole

Re: MORE SPOILERS!!!!

[meganbmoore]

I think the annoying bits don't bother me because I'm on a listserv with a lot of regency authors, and there've been discussions about bits that editors make you include and such, so there's a lot of things in romance novels that I look at and go "yeah, the editor made that happen before they'd let it get published.

Re: MORE SPOILERS!!!!

[redbrunja]

Oh, I loved those scenes you mentioned - especially the 'you're beautiful when you're angry' one.

Re: MORE SPOILERS!!!!

[estara]

So did I, which is why I'm especially disappointed on the whole. Ah well. I have lots of others of her books that I really like.