In deliberate 'not-thinking-about-election' news
I just finished Lauren Willig's newest, The Betrayal of the Blood Lilly.
Not as fond of it as I have been previously (romance really taking a toll on the spycraft, Eloise bits getting more annoying, overused phrases annoying me as a stylistic thing), but I did appreciate one thing:
The heroine had an adulterous affair.
No, this isn't me saying, 'Yay adultery!' or anything. But I thought that it was very ballsy. I'm looking to certain friends on my f-list *coughcoughtouchthesoulcoughcough* but I'm fairly sure that adultery is not high on the list of acceptable heroine behaviors. I mean, granted, it had all the excuses you'd expect for it--
*forced marriage
*lover was the heroine's OTL
*husband had ensconced his mistress in the zenana wing (book takes place in India)
*etc etc etc
--but it was still kind of a surprise. The book ends pretty much the way you'd assume, but it was still nice to see a heroine taking her sexuality into her own hands (pun incorrect but three-quarters intended) and not ending up dead by the end of the book. It wasn't a 'lost to passion' kind of thing or a 'we're trapped in a deserted cabin in a snow/thunderstorm' thing, it was an 'I desire you, let's have honest sex.'
Very interesting, especially since the novels take place during the Napoleonic Wars and we seem to share their sensibilities to some extent--it's okay for our young, virginal heroine to give into passion, but Marriage Vows Need To Be Adhered To Until Husband Is Conveniently Killed Off. This one kinds said, 'screw that noize' and just ran with it.
(Sorta.)
That being said, MOAR SPIES DAMMIT.
That's really why I picked up the series.
Not as fond of it as I have been previously (romance really taking a toll on the spycraft, Eloise bits getting more annoying, overused phrases annoying me as a stylistic thing), but I did appreciate one thing:
The heroine had an adulterous affair.
No, this isn't me saying, 'Yay adultery!' or anything. But I thought that it was very ballsy. I'm looking to certain friends on my f-list *coughcoughtouchthesoulcoughcough* but I'm fairly sure that adultery is not high on the list of acceptable heroine behaviors. I mean, granted, it had all the excuses you'd expect for it--
*forced marriage
*lover was the heroine's OTL
*husband had ensconced his mistress in the zenana wing (book takes place in India)
*etc etc etc
--but it was still kind of a surprise. The book ends pretty much the way you'd assume, but it was still nice to see a heroine taking her sexuality into her own hands (pun incorrect but three-quarters intended) and not ending up dead by the end of the book. It wasn't a 'lost to passion' kind of thing or a 'we're trapped in a deserted cabin in a snow/thunderstorm' thing, it was an 'I desire you, let's have honest sex.'
Very interesting, especially since the novels take place during the Napoleonic Wars and we seem to share their sensibilities to some extent--it's okay for our young, virginal heroine to give into passion, but Marriage Vows Need To Be Adhered To Until Husband Is Conveniently Killed Off. This one kinds said, 'screw that noize' and just ran with it.
(Sorta.)
That being said, MOAR SPIES DAMMIT.
That's really why I picked up the series.