Dls’s Comments (group member since Sep 14, 2010)

Dls’s comments from the Fans of Eloisa James & Julia Quinn group.

Wow. I have read it but don't recall this scene at all

I know I haven't read this

I really enjoyed it. The annoying younger sisters were great...and I really liked Freddie.
I found Sarah's melodrama annoying but I loved Hugh
However I have a hard time believing either that the father would try to intervene when their romance is going well, or that Sarah's threats would stop him once she had a child... This part of the plot didn't work for me.

Joan Wolfs books are reissued as Ebooks. I've been rereading old favs.

I have read accidental duchess which was fun but could as easily have been set in the 1920s
I do like the Travis brothers series --I guess partly because of the first person

This is Fool's Masquerade by Joan Wolf. She has about 5 books in the first person, which she handles really well. If anyone has other suggestions of first person narratives, I'd love to know them.

Rereading Joanna Bournes book. Just learned Rogue Spy won't be released until Nov 14 and I miss her!

This is an old, old favorite of mine, as is the author.... in part because she has a set of books in the first person. The heroine has just been discovered to have been living in his household as a boy and is trying to avoid marrying him because she knows he thinks of her as a child who hero-worships him rather than a woman he loves. He's also used to everyone kow-towing to him, including the heroine when she was his servant, and this is the first time she stands up to him.

We were both laughing when Lord Hero came down the front. Once again Georgie snapped to attention and his lordship gave him a preoccupied nod.

"Ready, heroine?" he asked me.

"I have been ready since three o'clock. As you requested, my lord."

"I'm sorry to be late," he said, and his mouth curled down a little at the corners. He was amused.

"That is quite all right," I replied grandly. "Georgie and I have been having a very interesting conversation."

His eyes narrowed. He thought I was funny. I stuck my chin in the air and looked over his shoulder.

"May I help you into the phaeton, heroine?" He sounded very courteous. Too courteous.

"Thank you." I extended my hand.

He didn't take it. Instead, he put his hands on my waist and lifted me into the seat. I looked down at him, surprised to be where I was, and he said gravely, "You're welcome." Behind him I saw Georgie grinning. I gave them both a withering look and settled my skirts. I could still feel the warmth of his hands on my waist.

We had been driving for five minutes before he spoke. "You're too thin, you know. You weigh scarely anything. Aren't you eating?"

"I lost weight when I was sick. I'll gain it back soon enough."

I took my hat off and let the breeze ruffle my hair. I didn't look at him. It hurt too much.

"We shouldn't delay this wedding for too long, heroine," he said after a few minutes. "I've got the license." I stared at my skirts and suddenly I had an idea. Bless Georgie, I thought.

"I refuse to get married in these clothes," I said firmly.

"What?"

"You heard what I said. Everyone has been telling me how dreadful they make me look. Even you, just now, you said I look skinny. Its not that I'm so skinny, its that these dresses are too big."

"Heroine, no one cares if your dress is too big," he began patiently.

"I care. Mrs Emerson said you were going to send me into York to have some clothes fitted properly."

He stopped the phaeton and turned to look at me. "After the wedding, sweetheart, you can have all the clothes you want. I'll take you to York myself. But first we must be married."

"No."

There was a flicker of impatience across his face, and I clenched my hands in my lap. "You will do as I say." His voice was unnervingly quiet.

Mr. Fitzallen was right, I thought. He got his way too damn often. "No I will not." I kept my own voice equally quiet. "Mrs Emerson and I will go into York to buy me some new clothes and then we will be married." His mouth thinned a little and suddenly I lost my temper. "Don't you dare try to bully me!" My voice was no longer quiet. "I will not be married in this hideous dress. And its sheer bloody unfeeling arrogance on your part to try to make me do it."

I sat rigid braced for a blast of anger, and was astonished when his face relaxed and he began to smile. "All right, heroine. Have it your way." He raised a very black eyebrow and gave me a look of mock disapproval. "There was no need to swear," he said. "Wherever did you learn such language?"

"From you," I replied promptly. He laughed softly, as if to himself, and then started up the horses again. ... "What were you and Georgie talking about?"

"Hutchins," I told him what Georgie had told me about the head groom's reaction to my unmasking, and he found it as funny as I had.

"Hutchins has a very low opinion of females," he said when he had finished laughing.

"Do you know, I really think that girls could do most of the things boys do if they were given the chance."

A small smile lingered on his mouth. "I don't know about that, heroine."

"The problem is," I said forcefully, "men have all the fun and they don't want to share it."

He looked at me curiously. "Did you have fun, being a boy?"

"Yes I did. I learned how to throw dice and how to play cards and--"

He was shouting with laughter. "All the good things in life."

"Well, they are fun. Better than sewing samplers and learning embroidery which is what girls have to do."
"I can't picture you sewing a sampler."
"Actually, I never did," I confessed. "It wasn't my style."
"No, I can see that."
"I'm afraid I'm a very undisciplined person." I sighed.
"I wouldn't say that at all." He sounded very serious now. "I would say you were courageous and generous and independent. Too independent, perhaps. You're a bit too fond of your own way."
My jaw dropped. "I'm fond of my own way." I stared at his profile in astonished indignation.
He shook his head sadly. "Willful. That's what you are."
"Do you know what you are?" I asked sweetly.
"No." He looked at me. "Tell me," he invited.
We had never spoken on such a personal level before. There was a new note to this conversation and I knew it was dangerous. He thought my feelings for him were simple hero worship. I did not want to betray anything further.
"I wouldn't dream of venturing into such complicated territory," I said flatly.

You can post it here once everyone has has a day or two to guess.

I have a guess from the writing style

Huh. I guess that is also true for me although I hadn't thought of it like that Manda
I just finished Shadows, a YA book by Robin Mckinley. I loved it--much more than most of her recent books.
Not sure what I will read next. I tried a couple of new to me authors that didn't click...

Oops...
Different reasons. Because she really immerses herself and us in the period--both in the kinds of situations her characters face and in their daily activities.
For example, think about the plot of Slightly married. The reason that the hero was forced into the army is completely true to the period and would never happen today, and she also plays out beautifully what it does to the man. Deeply touching without in any way being anachronistic

How interesting. I love her for completely

I just finished Duke of Shadows and I loved it. I

About to read the new Elizabeth Hoyt....

I know this one!

I agree about the banter. Also her characters can feel very remote but these did not.

Manda I found the ending a little abrupt but I did feel like she didn't need a he said she said scene
I wish that she had told him rather than him just finding out thought

Just finished Season for Scandal. I didn't have high expectations because I don't like gambling and the heroines behavior at the start was really unappealing. But I ended up really enjoying it

I know--I'm in the middle of it