strange and random happenstance: Ton

Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
Published by: Avon
Publication Date: July 1st, 2002
Format: Paperback, 408 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
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Yet another season in London. Nothing ever changes and boredom reigns. Lady Whistledown reports on the goings on of the ton, but it doesn't really seem like much is actually going on. Colin Bridgerton has returned from his latest sojourn abroad, but he will never be caught by the scheming mamas, he's too clever, and thus the status quo remains. So Lady Danbury rashly declares a bounty on Lady Whistledown. 1,000 pounds to whomever unmasks the writer! This puts everyone on high alert. Anything you say might be taken as a clue. Any odd behavior could signal you out. The mob mentality holds sway over the ton and Colin is worried. He's worried because he has an inkling he knows who Lady Whistledown is. Given whom Lady Whistledown reports on it's obvious that she, or he, is a member of the ton. What's more Lady Whistledown really does tend to talk about Colin, a lot. Which makes Colin think it has to be someone he knows. His sister Eloise has been acting suspicious. There's no doubt she has the brains and skill to pull this off. In fact all his younger sister are quite devious, it could be any one of them. So he turns to his dear friend Penelope. She's the only one he can think of who will listen to him and not think him insane. But Penelope seems different since his time abroad. She's more assured of herself. It's almost as if he's never really seen her before. Now that he has, the confirmed bachelor has more than just Lady Whistledown on his mind. And when Penelope asks for her first kiss he obliges and everything changes. Colin wants Penelope to be his. But while he's trying to get his mind around this life altering realization the odious Lady Twombley, formerly Cressida Cowper, announces that she is Lady Whistledown. No one believes it. She's too mean, she's too thick, she's too broke. And that's the key, she's scheming because she needs money and if she "unveils" herself who is to contradict her? Will the real Lady Whistledown stand up or will Penelope have her heart broken in more ways than one? Because to think that Lady Whistledown is Cressida breaks Penelope's heart in two. If only there was a Bridgerton to mend it...

You have to applaud Julia Quinn. She drew out the reveal of who Lady Whistledown is until the forth book in her series and yet it didn't feel unnecessarily drawn out. It felt right. So this is the book you've all been waiting for, Colin and Pen and the unmasking of Lady Whistledown. Or if you watched the first season of Bridgerton you already know who Lady Whistledown is. This was the main reason why I wanted to read the books before the series. I wanted to know how the author intended the reveal to happen before it was hastily shoved into the first season of the show because it would be too cruel to make a television audience wait. Because you just know that that was the first change they insisted on making as they mucked up the plot to make it that weird fairy tale amalgam where Dukes are telling young debutantes how to masturbate. In other words, I have issues with the adaptation. And for all my due diligence I was still spoiled on the big reveal. How you ask? Because I stupidly read an article about how the Featheringtons were inspired by the Kardashians and the "real" Lady Whistledown responded to Kim Kardashian and that as we say is that. I mean, it didn't say in big bold letters, THIS IS LADY WHISTLEDOWN, but it still spoiled it. Just another reason to hate the Kardashians. But now that my mini rant is over I'm trying to think how to write this review without spoiling if for those two people who don't know who Lady Whistledown is, because I don't want to be a Kardashian for you! OK, maybe if I ignore the Lady Whistledown reveal altogether and just say that the "hunt" led by Lady Danbury was pure comedy gold. Yes. I can say that because you don't necessarily know who they caught! Yes yes, semantics. But really, it's comedy gold. I love Landy Danbury so much. She reminds me of my grandmother. As for the romance, Colin! Pen! Finally! They are just a perfect couple. The whole friends become lovers trope played right. Because we as readers have always loved Pen and in several instances probably overly identified with her and her unrequited love. To see Colin finally SEE her and understand her and come to love her... Well, it brings me all the happy feels. And isn't that what reading Julia Quinn is all about?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments

Labels: Adaptation, Bounty, Bridgerton, Colin Bridgerton, Eloise Bridgerton, Julia Quinn, Kardashian, Lady Danbury, Lady Whistledown, Penelope Featherington, Regency Romp, Romance, Spoiled, Spoiler, Ton, Unmasking, Writer

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean
Published by: Avon
Publication Date: March 30th, 2010
Format: Paperback, 397 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
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Lady Calpurnia Hartwell was bound for spinster seating from her very first season. Sure she had the dowry. But that only attracted a certain type of gentlemen. And besides saddling her with an absurdly Shakespearean name her parents also made her believe in love matches. Oh, to be loved. Like her sister is. It's been a decade since Callie's first season an her sister has made a love match before the season is even underway. Callie should be happy. Instead she is sad and soon to be drunk. She's been on the shelf for so long even her brother is encouraging her to not be such a stickler for the rules of society. Therefore Callie does what comes naturally to her, she makes a list. Lists are sensible. Lists are good. Lists are what women on the shelf make when they've reached the end of their rope. She lists nine things that would shock polite society. Sure, some of them might easily ruin her, but isn't it time to live a little? Isn't it time to shoot a gun, attend a duel, dance every dance, and be passionately kissed. She decides that she will tackle the kiss first. Only her inebriated mind could make her believe this is a good idea. At a ball during her first season she fell irrevocably in love with the Marquess of Ralston, Gabriel St. John. He spent a few minutes talking to her before moving on to an assignation in a hedge maze. Those few minutes were enough for her to fall in love with a man who was already making a name for himself as a rake. Seeing him and his paramour for the first time in life Callie was jealous of another person. Therefore if she's to experience her first kiss she wants it to be him. It doesn't matter if it will ruin her for all others because she is sure there will never be any others. She is rather scandalized when she is taken to his bedroom. But she has come this far, she will not turn back. When Ralston realizes that it is not his current mistress but Lady Calpurnia Hartwell who has entered his room he decides to take the upper hand. He will give her the kiss she desires but she in turn must help his sister, an illegitimate Italian, come out in society. Callie's approval will give Juliana legitimacy. Callie agrees. But that kiss changes everything. For both of them.

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake is based on the clever conceit that Callie has written a list of nine things that she wishes to do were propriety not an issue. The conceit is clever because the list acts as an outline. Callie's HEA cannot happen until everything is completed, including a duel. So it's a nice way to pace out the narrative. Plus they don't happen in a specific order so it's a little like roulette, which rule will she break next? Though the problem with Callie's list is that literally every time she draws a line through an item she's drugged by Ralston's kisses. I mean, this is a romance so you expect the sexy time, but does the sexy time have to be so repetitive? Each item means that the sexy time has arrived, and each time it's basically the same with them going a little further until Callie is well and thoroughly compromised. The drugging kisses, the laving of some part of her anatomy with word usage that reminds me more of a cat, the nipple play, all of which seems meant to prove that Ralston is really into satisfying his partner, which means he can't be entirely a reprobate right? I'm just saying that they needed a little variety in their sex life... At least they were both very enthusiastic I guess. But the sexy time for me isn't what this book is about, it's about Callie coming into her own. Like Callie I feel like I have spent so much of my life being "their" version of me that I sometimes don't know who I really am. And by "their" I mean the whole world at large, for Callie it's the ton, for me it's largely family. And don't get me started on when people talk to you with "why are you so..." Maybe I wasn't that way until you thrust your expectations onto me? Maybe I should make a list? What also hit unexpectedly hard was Callie talking about being put on the shelf. How she was so high up there and so alone. It wasn't just the fact lack of coupledom that made this hit the mark but Covid. We have all collectively been on the shelf for two years. We aren't going to public houses or fencing clubs of heaths for duels, we're home on a high shelf hiding out from the rest of the world. I think when this pandemic is over we all need to take a leaf out of Callie's book and make ourselves a list and find out who we really are. Rake an added bonus.