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

[dangermousie]

Will definitely skip this one.

They both sound well-adjusted (unbelievably so, in fact, considering their professions) which is great for them, but for angst junkie like me? Means instant pass :)

[meganbmoore]

Pity. It's vastly better than the last several dozen romance novels I've read.

I'll never understand why "confident and functional" means "boring and angstless" though.

[dangermousie]

Confident and functional people might not be boring, but they are generally angstless. A lot of angst(or tragedy) willresult in you not keeping your well-adjustedness/functionality, you know? If you cope with every tragedy in super-well-adjusted fashion, that's actually pretty praiseworthy but also creepy. Horrible things are supposed to break you down, you know. Or your fighting against them will still show your strength but 'confident and functional' would not be the way I'd describe the person. ngsty, yes

[meganbmoore]

Ah, but it's a survival issue where she refuses to feel shame for surviving, and decides to find ways to still enjoy living despite being forced into a life her upbringing says she should despise. The profession is never portrayed as ennobling, just her refusal to hang her head in shame or die in a gutter.

I find the angst of characters who deal with it and keep going with life much more compelling than the ones who make it their lives. Angst wallowing and characters who let angst rule their lives is, more often than not, en extreme turn off to me, at least partly because healf the time, if they'd just shut up and deal, they'd be a lot happier.

[swanjun]

... You've actually made me kind of want to read a romance novel. A rare feat, I assure you.

[meganbmoore]

There are good ones mixed in. You just have to wade through the cheesy wangstfests with doormats and alpha jerks to find them.

[swanjun]

One sub-genre I find wholly unappealing is the whole "who do I want to boff more, the sexy vampire or the sexy werewolf?" thing. There seem to be tons of these out now.

[meganbmoore]

Oh, there have been many, many rants about that here. The UF genre itself I love, but the endless love triangles make most impossible for me to read.

[rosehiptea]

Your posts are bringing back so many memories for me. I used to love Loretta Chase's regencies. I'm glad she's still writing.

[meganbmoore]

She's one of the few I used to read that I still read, and really the only "big" name writer that's been big for a while for reasons other than sex scenes who isn't just rewriting her old stuff.

[danyellalot]

This sounds really interesting, actually...

I hate when people are so quick to call a character a slut just because she's had sex before.

[meganbmoore]

If she's had sex before, she's a slut. If she hasn't, she's a frigid prude...

SPOILERS!!!

[estara]

You know, if your description had been all I read in the book, I'd have kept it as a keeper, but I got annoyed in the long run, when Francesca shows occasional traces of being ashamed of her job, after all.
And one commenter somewhere said she couldn't see them as husband and wife in deep love for the rest of her life, but thought they'd make a great amour fou and eventually good friends after their desire had burned out (and I have to agree, I didn't get love vibes, I got major lust vibes from both of them).
I also thought the idea of enobling James at the end and having a pardon for Francesca and welcoming them back into London society was an unrealistic cop-out by Chase, it just wouldn't have happened with such a notorious courtesan as Francesca was purported to be.
In other words, if she had stuck to her guns completely, I WOULD have adored the book, this way I feel cheated and will pass it on to a friend of mine, maybe she'll like it better.

Re: SPOILERS!!!

[meganbmoore]

I never detected any shame on Francesca's part. Not being as in love with it as she sometimes claimed and missing her old life, yes, and being pissed off at Magny's attitude over it, but never shame. I never got the feeling she felt any shame at all for her decisions.

Like element's of Joanna Bourne's The Spymaster's Lady I suspect the Care Bear ending was an editorial demand. I'm actually surprised either were allowed to do nearly as much as they did.