Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

Um well see but we’re friends. I mean I guess I’m a “beta reader”, but we’re friends and fellow writers and we chat about tea and I mean it’s not something that I, like, got set up with or anything. I write - I have writer friends - we read each other’s’s stuff and help each other along and stuff.

Still, whatever, who cares, how fucking COOL that she’s done! WAHOO!

Um well see but we’re friends. I mean I guess I’m a “beta reader”, but we’re friends and fellow writers and we chat about tea and I mean it’s not something that I, like, got set up with or anything.

Beth: This is NOT. HELPING. WITH. MY. JEALOUSY.

But! Above and beyond the petty envy: I’m soooooo friggin’ excited for Laura. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

I mean, look at the number of E’s I stuck in there. I woulda stuck more but I don’t like breaking my pretty CSS layout.

Since Midsummer Moon is one of my favorite Kinale books (well, which one isn’t, really), I’m excited that she’s going back to that vein for The Lucky One.  I must say, though, that when a writer of Kinsale’s caliber is authoring without a publishing contract, I must wonder if something is amiss in the industry (beyond all the normal stuff, of course).

As a reviewer, you might be able to entice her for an arc when they are printed?  Just a thougbt.  What I’m loving most about your post is how excited you—jaded wench that you are—can get over a book you haven’t read yet.  There’s nothing wrong with the readers, that much is certain.

I’m guessing but I believe she writes without a contract because deadline stress nearly killed her previously.  So.  She writes at her own pace.

*hands out chocolates and cigars all around*

Thank you!  Enthusiasm makes my day.  And rest assured that EK (Beth) took her knocks for venturing so close to my bitchy and irrational muse.  Brave girl.  You think the language around here gets bad…

Certainly the SB’s may have an ARC when the day comes.  Of course, you understand that my lawyer advises me that I’ll have to hold a headshot of the reviewer hostage in my Photoshop until the review is published, at which time all bets are off.

Yes, I decided from the start to fly w/o a deadline this time, for the sake of mental sanity.  My agent leaped on the idea with unseemly enthusiasm.  I think he might be tired of taking all my calls from understandably irate editors for the past 10 years.

Oh I can’t WAIT to see Candy’s response to this ...  pouring Drambuie.  Standing by.

Yeah.  My writing partner Renee would have passed out.  You handled that with dignity and panache.  Very cool.  Very smooth. 

::Sipping::

Better entertainment than the Tonight Show, anyway.  Time for bed.

Oh, this made my day! I can’t WAIT to read this book. Except, of course, I’ll have to wait. *sobs* Beth, I don’t know you, but I hate you.

If Beth wasn’t such a good friend, well, I’d have to hate her.  I’m not an envious person, but I have to admit I’m greener than the Hulk over this.

Still doing cartwheels because Laura Kinsale has finished her manuscript!!!!!!!!

Smart Bitches: Inciting Intense Beth-Envy Since 2005.

You handled that with dignity and panache.

Ha. That’s because you didn’t see me do my Charlie Brown dance of joy around my room. Which, seriously, scared my cats more than my pigsqueal.

Good god. I guess my only option is to glory in the envy. So YEAH - I know all about everything that happens in the book and I’ve known for some time and YOU won’t know for monthsnmonthsnmonths and HAH!

No, not as satisfying as you might think. I only like lording stuff over people I DON’T like, and I like y’all.

Anyway hey - here’s an interesting thing: lots of romance authors frequent this here site regularly, so what is it that makes Laura SUCH a big deal? She’s like Elvis, man. I think people who aren’t even huge fans of her work get a little awed, honestly. Am wondering what it is that produces that effect. Hm.

Because she writes like a goddamn angel, you goober.

another fan girly-girl.

What Kate said! (especially the goober part ;) )

What’s scary is that I was up past midnight last night re-reading Flowers from the Storm.  Now that’s synergy!

I’ve been a long-time romance reader but lately haven’t read anything that’s made me miss a subway stop, or forced me to pull my book out at lunch time.  Picked up FFTS and it pulled me in just as strongly as the last time I read it—which had to be over 5 years ago.

That’s what I read romance for.

Great googly moogly?? Bwahahahaha… someone’s been watching Maggie and the Beast.

And is this the time to admit I’ve never read a Laura Kinsale book? I always mean to pick one up but I never have, despite the fact that I hear nothing but raves. I don’t think I even know much about her books other than people love them and they are often listed in readers’ top five lists of books they love or that are important to them.

Which one should I start with, Candy??

lol Angie.  I haven’t either, though I did buy two of them, The Shadow and the Star and Flowers From The Storm.  I just think that they need to be read when I can devote my whole self to them and not be worried about other things.

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

I heard that.

Alyssa

“I just think that they need to be read when I can devote my whole self to them and not be worried about other things.”

For me it was more that I started to read them and it became inevitable that I devoted my whole self to them and quit worrying about other things while reading the books.  If you wait for the former to happen, you’ll never start ANY of her books, since, well, when is there nothing else to worry about? 

My first Kinale was The Shadow and The Star, followed by Flowers from the Storm.  I think those books are wonderful places to begin.  For My Lady’s Heart, Seize the Fire, and Dream Hunter are my favorite Kinsales, and I think that My Sweet Folly contains some of the most beautiful prose in Romance (especially the letters at the beginning of the book—even though reading it kept reminding me of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” but that’s another topic entirely). 

The one book of Kinsale’s that I feel is really misunderstood is Midsummer Moon.  I have read countless comments about how Merlin is flighty (love the irony of that one) and oblivious to life, which makes me want to smack my own professorial ruler down on the desk and perform excruciating parsing exercises on all the places in the book that Ransom is totally oblivious to what’s going on in his house and only dimly perceptive of things involving his family, while Merlin is drawn into the center of Ransom’s family and is acutely more aware of certain things going on around her—understanding the nature of Woodrow’s stutter, Shelby’s pain over Jaqueline, the importance of the flying machine, etc. etc. ad nauseum. Those are the moments I must remind myself forcefully that everyone is entitled to their opinion and it’s all a matter of taste (motherfucking taste).  But really, Midsummer Moon is a masterpiece of irony, thwarted expectations, and role reversals.  And it’s got a damn great hedghog, too!

Robin: YES YES YES on your analysis of Midsummer Moon. It’s one of my all-time favorites, a definite A+ for me. People brush it aside as just comedy, but I think there’s a lot of sub-text going on that just flies by other people. Really, my favorite part of the whole thing, besides how Ransom and Merlin are selectively oblivious in very interesting (and telling) ways is how Ransom ultimately gives up control and allows Merlin to be herself and make her own choices. So satisfying, and interestingly enough, somewhat rare in romance novels, where I often get the feeling that the heroine has to give up too much of herself for the hero. In this case, Ransom’s the one who has to do almost all of the compromising, which is so refreshing.

Plus the hedgehog is really, really bitchin’. A very good friend of mine had a hedgehog named Mr. Tiggy, who was a cranky little shit and not nearly as charming as Merlin’s hedgehog, but I love how the hedgehog saves the day--not once, but at least twice in the book. Yay hedgehogs!

And Angie: since you have similar tastes to Sarah, I suggest you try Flowers From The Storm, which Sarah liked quite a bit. It’s one of her best, but it’s really, really intense. It took me a few tries before I could finish it because that book just leaves me feeling raw. The book that hooked me in but good was The Shadow and The Star, which has some truly fun adventurey bits as well as a heart-wrenching love story with a tortured hero.

Plus the hedgehog is really, really bitchin’.

Yup! It’s my favourite Kinsale animal mascot. I couldn’t remember the name, so he’s stuck with ‘Little Soldier’ because of that soldier-like march he did. :D

Thanks Candy- I shall indeed start there.

And I have a soft spot for hedgehogs. I used to have a little pygmy hedgehog as a pet and it had the sweetest tempermant. I would own one again in a heartbeat. They’re a really easy, fun, lovable pet.

I couldn’t remember the name, so he’s stuck with ‘Little Soldier’ because of that soldier-like march he did.

I don’t think the hedgehog was ever named. The closest thing to a name he had was “that damned peripatetic hedgehog.” And he was, indeed, quite exceptionally well-travelled.

Oh, I feel the overwhelming urge to re-read Midsummer Moon again. Especially the part in which Ransom tries to kiss Merline after recently being shot in the arm and he keeps swooning. Love + loss of blood + hot hero = Sighhhhhh.

Ah hell, all of Kinsale’s heroes are hot.  Samuel, Christian, ST, Sheridan, Ruck (OH.MY.GOD. RUCK!) and so on and so on.

I think I may have violated some RWA code of conduct just from the reaction I’m having thinking of them.

Now you’ve all gotten needing to dig out my copy of Midsummer Moon.  I’ve read FFTS and TSATS many, many times but not Midsummer Moon.  Ah down to the basement I go.

“Really, my favorite part of the whole thing, besides how Ransom and Merlin are selectively oblivious in very interesting (and telling) ways is how Ransom ultimately gives up control and allows Merlin to be herself and make her own choices. So satisfying, and interestingly enough, somewhat rare in romance novels, where I often get the feeling that the heroine has to give up too much of herself for the hero.”

Oh I so agree, Candy, on both counts.  And how about the way the romance basically proceeds backwards, with the seduction first (such as it is—I love it when Ransom asks Merlin if she can possibly understand how he’s not viewed as Romantic, and how he gets pricked by all the crap in her apron when he lays her out on the bed) and the courting process to follow?  I think that forward-reverse action really suits both the way the relationship between Ransom and Merlin progresses and the growth that each of them experiences.  For Ransom, you’re right; he really has to come to terms with his overbearing perfectionism and release the choke hold he wants to put on Merlin’s dreams (but don’t you think his fear of heights is so charming?!).  For her it seems more about adjusting to being part of society (not in terms of the proprieties as much as the emotional and communal ties and exchanges) and exploring other aspects of herself beyond her intellectual genius.  Ransom clearly has to make the most compromises, though, starting with his asssumption that Merlin Lambourne must be a man! 

And the hedgehog—did it have a name??—I actually think that it was quite ornery, but definitely not cranky like Mr. Tiggy (I didn’t even know you could keep them as pets). Doesn’t Merlin have to bribe him regularly with Sunflower seeds to get him to do what she wants? Anyway, that hedgehog is right up there with the ferret from MSF and Mistral from The Prince of Midnight as far as fabulous Kinsale animals go, IMO. 

One of the things I think I value most about my favorite historical Romance writers (Ivory, Kinsale, Gaffney, Jo Goodman) is that they write books that are a pleasure to read *and* analyze, often simultaneously.  I started to worry during my first year of law school this year that the intellectual flexibility I spent seven years in lit grad school developing was going to be erased after one short year of don’t-worry-that-it-doesn’t-make- sense-just-memorize-it-for-gods-sake rule pounding (of course it could just be that I’m stupid after all).  But I found if I read some of these well-loved Romances (just didn’t have enough mental energy to tackle literary fiction) that I was able to hold on to those exquisitely fluid ways of looking at things that good fiction offers.  Midsummer Moon and To Love and to Cherish had a particularly calming influence, I must say.

“Ah hell, all of Kinsale’s heroes are hot.  Samuel, Christian, ST, Sheridan, Ruck (OH.MY.GOD. RUCK!) and so on and so on.”

Ruck is the hottest, most honorable, dry-witted, studliest, most beautifully rendered Romance hero ever, IMO.  I’d consider a haiku in his honor but I can’t stand the thought of man boobs under all that green armor.

Oh, and I forgot Tom and Sharon Curtis on my list of all time favorite historical Romance writers.

Thanks for making me choke on my tea. I had to waste 10 seconds getting my throat to work again before I could read beyond Candy’s first paragraph.

Holy shit, I cannot believe that I might have a new Kinsale in my hands at this time next year. Thank you, Ms.Kinsale! Hey, in the interest of torturing myself, does anybody know anything about the book?

And man, I gotta reread Midsummer Moon. I barely remember the book beyond a vague impression that Merlin deserves better than Ransom.

“And man, I gotta reread Midsummer Moon. I barely remember the book beyond a vague impression that Merlin deserves better than Ransom.”

Oh, I loved Ransom, and I think Merlin was really the making of him as a human being and a hero.  It was so great that they saved each other at various times in the book.  They’re really one of my very favorite—and IMO well-matched—Kinsale couples.  I so totally believed their HEA.