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

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

Lady Maggie' s Secret Scandal by Grace Burrowes.

Janga got me started on Kathleen eagle...and I also have Jill Shalvis new book.

Exactly. Plus, she would not call on him, with or without a companion. She would ask him to call on her. (And she would have a companion--even if that was someone who turned a convenient blind eye on everything.)
She's getting better (or better edited) but she clearly doesn't really understand how profoundly proprieties shaped male/female relationships. Whereas someone like Balogh--its in every word she writes.
And yet...the relationships just glow.

The Heroine Hires the Hero



I have very mixed feelings about this author, because she has a lot of anachronisms and failures to really grasp the social mores of the time that I find jarring, but the quality of relationships she portrays is really lovely. So, despite my annoyances, she's an autobuy for me. This excerpt I think shows some of both these features.



"Heroine, a pleasure." He bowed over hand, automatically taking in the details.

She was pretty in the morning sunshine, though that wasn't a detail. He put her age around thirty, which by his lights was the start of a woman's prime or her decline, depending on how she lived her life. Too often late nights, excessive food and drink, and moral laxity aged a lady before her time. She might catch a man's eye by the light of the evening's candles, but morning sun was a brutal mirrow of truth.
And the truth was, Heroine was lovely. She had none of the lines of incipient dissipation creeping up around her full mouth. Her eyes were clear and limpid green, the same shade as her beautifully tailored walking dress. Her hair had the healthy luster of a lady who enjoyed fresh air and proper nutrition.

That hair...

She half rose to offer him a little curtsy, then subsided onto the sofa. "Will you be seated, Hero?"

He took a place next to her, just to watch her eyes widen in surprise, though that was her only reaction--no nervous shifting away or popping out of her seat.

"It is a pleasure to see you, Heroine, as stated, but an unexpected pleasure. Particularly as you've come calling all on your lonesome, no lady's maid trailing about, no younger sister at your side."

A question dangled on the end of his observation, but his guest was saved responding by the arrival of the tea tray.

"Shall I pour, Hero? And I assure you, my footman is flirting with your scullery maid as we speak."

"Please. It isn't often my tea is graced by such a pretty lady."

She drew off her crocheted gloves and set them beside her on teh sofa, revealing, of course, pretty hands. Not small, but slim, long-fingered, and ringless. Her nails were short and unpainted, which surprised him a little. Practical hands, not ornamental.

"How do you like your tea?"

"Sweet, nearly white."

She served him, prepared a cup for herself, and only then met his gaze. "I need your help."

He nearly sputtered his tea all over them both, so effectively had she surprised him. He took a deliberative sip, letting a silence stretch until he was good and ready to offer return fire.

"You expect me to believe that a duke's daughter with no less than three strapping brothers extant requires my assistance?"

"I am a duke's daughter, but having titled antecedents doesn't smooth every bend in the road of life, does it, Hero?"

She let a little silence of her own build, and Hero nearly saluted her with his tea cup.

She was good. By God, she was good.

"I am not enthusiastic about working for a female. Nothing personal."

She didn't even flinch at his brusque tone but took a delicate sip of fine Darjeeling. "Her Grace has mentioned that you will work for a lady."

"Exceptions all. I assume you've conferred with her regarding retention of my services?"

"I have not, but I know you are a demanding employee." She grimaced a little at her tea.

"How would you know such a thing?" For it was the truth.

"You will determine the time and place of all meetings. You will not render any reports in writing but will convey them only orally. You demand compensation at the outset in cash and return unusued monies in cash only. You're rather like a barrister in that you don't solicit business, but one accounts oneself lucky to have your services."

"I don't believe the analogy flatters me."

"Nor was it intended to."

He might have missed it, because she bent her head to sip her tea. His living depended on noticing the small clues, though, so he saw the first tiny temptation to turn her lips up into a smile. She hid it almost fast enough.

Heroine, heroine...She was here in broad daylight but without a companion to ensure the proprieties. He still didn't know what her game was and really did not have time for games in any case.

"Very well." He was gentleman enough to wait until she set down her teacup. "If you're prepared to pay the shot." He named an exorbitant sum and waited to see how she'd regroup without sacrificing her dignity.

"You'd prefer it in cash?"

"I will accept it only in cash." He felt a twinge of pity for her. A very small twinge.

"I'll have the sum delivered to you before the sun sets. More tea?"

Inspired by the news that the next Vorkosogan book, Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, will be out in November, I've been rereading....

No clue.

Hi
Our current schedule runs out next week. Let me know if you want to be included in the new schedule (and any weeks you can't do.)
DLS

Yes Okie it is. And very good so far !

I was really disappointed in the Garden of Happy Endings. I love most of her books but this didn't work for me.

Now reading Isabel Cooper's Lessons after Dark. Off to a good start.

I have no idea. Great choice!

Janga I agree completely about Balogh's The Proposal--I loved it. I saw the resemblance to Heyer's Hugo. But also to Aidan Bedwyn. And I love how completely she immerses us in the period. (although I did catch a tiny anachronism--no interior designers then.)

Janga, I'll keep reading it too. But it's become more and more uneven. I just meant I think it's time for Carr to move on and try something new.

Finished the last boyfriend. I didn't like it as much as the next always (although I enjoyed seeing more of Claire and her family.) It felt like we never saw the development of the relationship really. And it's not enought for me to believe in a romance just because we are told the sexual attraction is there--you have to see why they are right for eachother. That didn't come across--whereas it did in tbr first book.
Also finished Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal. Classic burrowes--love how the relationship develops but deeply annoyed by the plot and failire to comply with the mores of the time. Cant really believe she would be allowed to live alone or even with a companion., for example, and if she did ahe should be something of a pariah.

I have such mixed feelings about this book. Parts of it I loved. Eleanor is great and I was surprised and moved by the reason she broke off their engagement. But the development of their romance didn't feel right. I couldn't see Hart waiting of he wanted her back. He was more likely to try to marry her in order to become prime minister . The reason they got engaged again also felt wrong--too slight given all Eleanor had already put up with rather than marry. Nor did it seem right that hart would go to ground after the explosion.
And yet the interactions between them felt right.

Sorry, typo. Susan Mallery. I think is how it's spelled. Although my phone spellchecks it to Mallory.
Not sure when Anne's next is out--I should look.

Hm. I started it, didn't get into it and dropped it. Time to go find it again.

I have 7 books that came out today--by Roberts, Burrowes, balogh, Gibson, Mallory, Darcy and Thomas. Plus still have the new Higgans and Barbara O'Neill from last week. Now all I need is time!

No idea at all!

Loved the Governess Affair. I can't wait for the rest of the series. Also read the new Carr which was nice. But she is in a rut--this series may have run it's course.

Reading the new Putney and really liking it.