Monster romance novel post (mostly Mary Balogh, assorted others)

[hesychasm]

Oh, man. I finally got into Pottermore and was happily clicking around, then left the house to run an errand, and now I'm back and the site is down for updates. Where is magic when you need it

Comments

[minnow1212]

I went through a ton of Balogh's backlog earlier this year, and yeah, yeah, when she's on she's on (though when she's off, there's a hell of a recoil). Total agreement on A Summer to Remember--that was my favorite as well.

Simply Perfect-argh, yes. I adored Claudia, she's one of my favorite heroines ever, and despite the fact that I'm older than she is I kind of want to grow up to be her. But the treatment of disability was kind of faily, and though I didn't actively dislike Joseph, I rolled my eyes at him kind of a lot.

[hesychasm]

I now want to round off this Balogh binge by re-reading A Summer to Remember. Hee

[musesfool]

Wow, I thought I'd read a lot of Mary Balogh, but I don't think I've read any of these but Lord Carew's Bride, which, yes, he was awesome! I may have to check some of these out.

Right now, I'm finally reading Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series, which I'm enjoying immensely.

[hesychasm]

Cool! Her backlist is absolutely huge because she's so prolific -- I read one interview where she said she wrote one of her novels in two weeks; I'm so jealous -- so I'm not surprised at the lack of overlap. Hope some of my comments help you pick!

I've been meaning to check out Julia Quinn since I see her get rec'd a lot. Bridgerton series is now on my list!

[vonniek]

I went through a Balogh binge a couple of years ago, although I've read so many, I barely remember which one is which. But you are me re. A Summer to Remember, which was my favourite by far. It had such lovely wistfulness, and I recall bawling my eyes out at several points, even though I cannot remember any details now.

Oh, man. Judith Ivory. She's awesome. My favourite of hers is Black Silk, which is a weird book and (I think) not altogether successful as a traditional romance, but it's *so interesting*. It's a Victorian romance with a fantastic heroine -- a quiet, self-possessed widow who was actually in love with her late husband, with unshakable, non-judgmental moral rectitude at which the hero (a damaged but charming rogue with a great wit) keeps chipping through the novel. When she finally gives in to him, it's both incredibly hot and super-dysfunctional and kind of sad. The writing is dense and unusual, and Ivory makes these interesting digressions into character backstories. Worth a look if you are in a mood for something

[hesychasm]

Yes, wistfulness! And yes, bawling! I really think Balogh is at the top of her form in that one.

I have Black Silk in a pile of books here -- I will try it soon! Especially because I'm a little burnt out on Regency now so I'd love to try Victorian era. I'm intrigued by how you describe the characterization!

I've never heard of Meredith Duran but I'll check her out. Egyptian archaeologist, hee! Seems to be a minor sub-genre of its own as I've seen a few such characters from other authors.

[ursule]

Yay, long book post!

I spent my Friday night reading Rose Lerner's new book. (I don't know if you've seen any of her stuff-- she's a fellow alumna.) I like the way her heroines deal (and struggle) with wanting to be in control of their feelings.

[hesychasm]

Wow! I had no idea. I want to give her the Obama fist bump of solidarity or something. So cool. Thanks for pointing her out -- I will look for these.

[hesychasm]

Hee! I used to just read them on my own, and only leave fly-by comments whenever I saw LJ folk talking about their latest reads. But before doing this post, I was curious and checked out some websites devoted to romance discussion, complete with long author interviews, and now I'm a lot more curious about the meta and history. It's a genre for women, you know?