The difficulty of playing with the Pygmalion/My Fair Lady trope is that in its original form, it’s inherently mean. Making bets on whether you can change a person to pass for gentry, even if the author is doing it to make fun of the ridiculousness of the British class system, is still making someone the butt of a joke. Happily, Frampton seems to understand this, and made a conscious choice not to make anyone the … Continue reading My Fair Duchess by Megan Frampton →
This is the second book in the Scandalous Sisters series, and the first Greenwood I’ve read. Elizabeth, the heroine, is one of those young women who had very little in the way of boundaries while she grew up, and uses the attention she got as a purveyor of ridiculous schemes as a substitute for parental love. Caught up in this whirl of gaiety is Tommy Halifax, who, at the ripe old age of 23 decides that … Continue reading How to Handle a Scandal by Emily Greenwood →
Oftentimes the romance novel ends when the special license is procured and the vows are said, and the happily ever after is assured. This one begins when the very traditional courtship is over and the vows are said and the heroine goes, “Thank fucking god now I can be myself” and the hero goes “Wait what.” Nathaniel Gresham is a Viscount and the heir to a duke, and he has five rambunctious younger brothers. “And … Continue reading Heir to the Duke by Jane Ashford →
