Fiction | Falling for a Dead Man

As I've been reading broadly for the past two years for the (2015) Book Riot Read Harder Challenge, I've had to tackle some genres that I read rarely, if ever. That is, after all, the whole point of such a challenge—to read outside your comfort zone! One of my remaining categories has been the "romance novel," not because I have anything against romance novels but rather because I had a hard time deciding which sub-genre I wanted to read. Historical? Chick-lit? Do I look for personal plot appeal or go for a true classic of the genre?

I opted for the classic—something that is, according to pop culture & literature, truly representative of the romance genre. Having shelved books for years at the public library, I'm familiar with names, so I picked one from the depths of my memory - Jude Deveraux - and consulted Goodreads for what is considered her pinnacle work.

And that's how I got to A Knight in Shining Armor, Deveraux's 1989 bestseller that tells the story of the lovelorn Dougless Montgomery.

Our heroine is vacationing in England on what was supposed to be a romantic getaway with her surgeon boyfriend, Robert. Forever failing at love, Dougless has convinced herself that he's a good catch, worthy of her love, though it is painfully clear to us, the reader, that Robert is entirely the wrong guy; he is manipulative, controlling, patronizing—so much so that the romantic vacation, during which Dougless was hoping for a marriage proposal, has unexpectedly turned into a family one that includes Robert's brat of a teenager daughter. Any sense of romance dies swiftly when, after a nonsensical argument, Robert jilts and abandons Dougless at a rural church where she's left wallowing in yet another romantic failure, praying for a knight in shining armor to save her from the despair.

Imagine the surprise when a handsome man suddenly, miraculously appears and introduces himself as Nicholas Stafford, Earl of Thornwyck, the very name on the statue against which Dougless shed her plentiful tears. (Naturally; this is a romance!)

It's questionable who is more confused in this scenario—Dougless, whose heartbreak and frustration turn her romantic sensibilities into practical ones, assuming there's a perfectly rational explanation for this strange man suddenly appearing and claiming to be an Earl who died in the 16th century; or Nicholas, a man who heard a desperate plea for help and now finds himself in an unfamiliar world that is centuries more modern than his own.

Dougless learns of Nicholas' tragic backstory—one involving betrayal, treason, and premature death—as she helps this 16th-century earl navigate the 20th-century world. Naturally, she figures out that this impossible man is exactly who she has been praying for, and the two are inexplicably drawn together by forces that defy logical explanation and are more powerful than either can comprehend. Deveraux isn't easy on either of her main characters, forcing each of them into the time period opposite their own to continue the story and learn more of the puzzle surrounding Nicholas' sudden appearance and his tragic future. This juxtaposition of time ultimately highlights the depth of these two characters—their strengths and weaknesses. At the novel's opening, I very much found Dougless to be a major pushover but with pluck hidden somewhere underneath. As the story evolves, though, so does her character as circumstance demands a more bold, independent woman. (Though, I mean, she could still use a lot of work on the feminist front.)

So what we've got here is not only a love story but a time-traveling one—and I love time travel stories! In terms of the steamy scenes, this is definitely a romance low on that spectrum, so though yes, it's totally a romance, it feels more like an adventure based around a love story. Super fun to breeze through.

Reading Roundup: The End of Summer Reading*, Part 1

It has happened—after a nice seven month vacation, I've gone back to work with the new school year. I can't even describe how full my head is with new tasks and to-do lists. In an effort to whittle my "to-post-about" queue down before the chaos really begins, I'm going to be quick in talking about what I've read as my vacation neared its end.

I took a picture of Deborah Challinor's Tamar on a "New Zealand Authors" shelf back when we were in New Zealand, and I was looking forward to reading it when we got home. A trilogy of historical fiction sounded right up my alley. And because my public library didn't have it, nor would they get it through Inter-library Loan, it became my inaugural eBook purchase as well.

Tamar chronicles the journey of the eponymous main character, a young woman who emigrates from England to New Zealand near the end of the 19th century. Initially seeming rather meek and naive, Tamar surprises the reader as her strength and resilience are revealed during a long, arduous journey across oceans and as she navigates her way through a rough new home. An unconventional friendship is what gives Tamar much of her strength—on the passage from England she befriends Myrna MacTaggart who is moving to Auckland to establish the finest brothel in New Zealand. Myrna provides comfort and guidance to Tamar as she finds herself a place to live and work, settles into a new homeland, and eventually escapes from a disastrous marriage.

So, I was really looking forward to this sweeping trilogy of historical fiction on a place I recently visited. But truth be told, it was so much more ROMANCE-Y than I had expected. Like, I sort of felt duped. If we're classifying by genre, this is definitely Romance and definitely not Historical Fiction. Tamar is a sympathetic character, and the plot of this is definitely detailed enough to provide some level of substance. Overall, though, I was expecting and hoping to read a series that was dependent on its physical and historical setting, and this ended up being much more about characters who could've existed anywhere. I'm not criticizing the book itself, and I would recommend it to a reader that seems interested, but it disappointed me based on my own expectations.

Ok, I won't lie. I put Tom Drury's Pacific on my 'to-read' list because I really just liked the cover and title. Simple. Brief. It gave me a good vibe. And overall, I can't totally contradict that, though my final opinion is a little lacking.

The story follows (somewhat) a 14-year-old named Micah who is moving across the country to Los Angeles to live with his long-absent mother. But the narrative doesn't just focus on Micah. In fact, it doesn't actually focus on him more than any other character. Instead, it gives brief snippets on all these other people connected to Micah—his impetuous actress mother; his petty thief of a father back home; his half-sister; an ex-con antique salesman; a troubled mystic; and the retired sheriff turned detective. Their stories barely overlap, yet they're all still connected and they all exist; Drury has fleshed them each out with enough of a life that the reader can imagine how they will each proceed. They're a rather pathetic lot with their own flaws, but they all have hope of something good coming down the road towards them.

Drury's writing is solid—descriptive, engaging, succinct. The characters are all interesting, and I was invested in them. But ultimately, this is a snapshot of lives and...that's it; they fade after your encounter with this book, because you didn't know enough or see enough about each of them to really remember them. It's a brief collection of unique lives, brief encounters with people you'll never hear about again. Though I was invested while reading, for a reader like me that wants a deeper connection, it ultimately felt incomplete.



* Just because my summer vacation is over doesn't actually mean it's the end of summer. We've still got plenty of days of heat and sun, and I've still got plenty of Pilcher to get me through days by the pool!

Fiction | A Proper Kind of Romance

When I discovered last month that it was Read-A-Romance Month and hatched my plan to introduce myself to the genre, I didn't really consider the fact that the book I was reading at that particular moment was, in fact, a romance.

I would have never guessed, because Julianne Donaldson's Edenbrooke isn't a romance of the shirtless cover, steamy sex variety. In fact, its publisher, Shadow Mountain, used this title to debut its new line of romances dubbed "A Proper Romance." (Guess Shadow Mountain isn't as entertained by the creative use of impassioned adjectives as I am...) No matter, Edenbrooke is a perfectly fine novel, more in line with a Jane Austen-type love story than the sultry, seductive kind.

This was one of my few grabs at BEA last year when I was sick as a dog, and I picked it up for its historical, English countryside setting. Marianne is our heroine—a girl going stir crazy in Bath, living with a grandmother who disapproves of her independent, atypical ways. Marianne basically thinks the world she lives in is ridiculous. Women are expected to be meek and mild, preen for a husband, follow a designated path rather than live their own lives; and she wants no part of it. Marianne's twin sister Cecily is basically her exact opposite—everything a woman of the times "should" be. Cecily's been spending her time at a sprawling country estate called Edenbrooke, hatching a plan to marry the estate's hier. When she invites her sister to Edenbrooke for a stay, Marianne jumps at the chance to get out of Bath and enjoy the countryside she so deeply loves, fully intending to keep to herself and stay far, far away from Cecily's mission.

But of course plans go awry.

Marianne's coach gets robbed by a highwayman. This somewhat obnoxious but dashing stranger keeps showing up. And Marianne generally feels that her entire way of being will both disgrace her grandmother and keep her single for life. But of course, I promised a romance with this post, so of course that "obnoxious but dashing stranger" plays a bigger role!

This story is really about Marianne, a very young woman (late teens, I think?), growing up and making peace with what's expected of her and what she wants. She's a likable character to follow as she navigates her place in the world. This is a "pretty" romance, with an idyllic setting and plot twists that entertain without overwhelming. And, following what I learned about Romance novels, you can rest assured everything will work out in the end.

A Romance Virgin's First Time

[I fully intended to get this post out while it was still August but alas, that did not happen. Forgive me for the slight untimeliness of this!]

I got an email a few weeks ago that August is Read-A-Romance Month, and my interest was piqued; I've never read a romance before. I'd argue it's one of the most popular AND most stereotyped genres of literature, but I'd never experienced it for myself. In my thesis class last semester, one fellow student did her research project on the changing face of the characters in romance novels. She analyzed the characteristics—physical features, background, economic status—of both the men and women to see if there is any change historically (from the 1980s to now) and across romance genre (historical, fantasy, etc).

Her answer, in a nutshell, was no. While details like background and economic class may vary, the vast majority of women are still saved by men; the men are still handsome. Ultimately, romances are formulaic; they always end happily, with the lovers (figuratively, sometimes literally) riding off into the sunset together. And that's probably why romance readers love them so much (heck, it's my general preference in stories, as well); no matter what happens throughout, there's going to be a happy ending.

So, on top of getting this timely email about Read-A-Romance Month, a random copy of a romance mysteriously appeared on my office floor, getting passed around from desk to desk. It was like the stars had aligned, and the universe was offering me the chance to pop my proverbial Romance cherry. So I said yes.

The book in question was called The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran. Its cover featured that stereotypically shirtless male chest of Romance novels, leading me to think, This is already the perfect book for this reading project! Duran, I learned, is new to the Romance-writing world (or at least was in 2008)—this is her Romance debut. I didn't have much idea of the plot upon turning to page one, nor did I really care. I know Romance as a genre is stereotyped, but darn it, I wanted to read that stereotype. My only real thought was...This better have some good sex! I didn't want a mild intro to Romance!

The plot of The Duke of Shadows was actually much more complex than I had expected. This would be categorized as historical romance, taking place in India during British occupation. Emmaline is our heroine that has already skirted death once and now finds herself amidst escalating rebellion and violence. A potentially violent encounter introduces her to Julian, a charming (duh!), handsome (of course!), mysterious (obviously!) man who seems to have more to him below the surface (all the charming, mysterious ones do!). The rest of the novel, to sum it up rather quickly because this post is getting rather long, follows their stories, both together and separate, from India back to Britain as they must each make peace with their pasts.

The story itself was intriguing and complex...and detailed! Yes, it had the steamy sex (thank goodness!) but it also had violence! Parts were shocking and dark and, though of course there's a happy ending, the whole story didn't fall victim to that sugarcoating. I'll have to read more to find out of that's common or if I got the fluke Romance that featured a sudden, random beheading.

I enjoyed this well enough as an entertaining read, and overall, I get it. I get the appeal of Romance, and I am constantly impressed with how devoted a fan base it attracts. Like anything else, different stories appeal to different people because we all have different interests. My outlook on books is that there is no right or wrong, or bad or good. As long as you're reading.