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Title: The Suffragette Scandal
Author: Courtney Milan
Genre: Victorian romance
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: A scoundrel with a hidden past offers to help a suffragette newspaper editor fight back against a mysterious enemy...and it all ends rather more personal than expected.
Thoughts: Yet another lovely melding of satisfying romance, incredibly witty dialogue, and detailed historical research from Courtney Milan. This one centers around suffragette muckrakers, with a backstory involving the Franco-Prussian War (which is peculiarly dear to my heart).
As has been usual in The Brothers Sinister series, Milan takes a plot that most romance writers would have spun out for a full novel, eliminates all the parts where people are stupid, wraps it up halfway through the book, and makes the real climax about the logical fallout from plot A. Since the main characters are allowed to make sensible decisions instead of convoluted stupid ones to prevent the plot from being resolved too early, this makes many of the characters far more sympathetic and nuanced than the typical romance character.
Still, I did think Edward's reluctance to explain himself was a little overdone. I understand the mindset--I've had enough friends go into self-destructive spirals--but I think he could have probably had a little more self-awareness by the end of how his own phobias of confinement may have made him make some less-than-rational decisions there.
A nice touch--the B couple was a same-sex pairing this time, in a very sweet resolution for a couple of the supporting cast floating around from previous books in the series. I've seen same-sex couples in contemporary romances, but I think this may be the first time I've seen this in a mainstream historical. (There are, of course, "special interest" novels. Which feels like it may be an unfortunate ghetto, but that's another topic. And Gail Carriger features a number of queer characters with a variety of romantic entanglements, but she writes alternate history fantasy, which gives her a bit of license. I suspect many mainstream romance authors don't really want to deal with the boatload of baggage and the necessary balance between potential anachronisms and potential offense that comes along with dealing with same-sex pairings in a historical setting as homophobic as Regency/Victorian England was.)
Also a nice twist--Milan has a thing for sibling-woobiness. That is, she loves to draw angst and sweetness from the bonds between siblings who either love each other or wish they loved each other more. For once, we have a pair of siblings who really don't have anything in common, don't get along, and have no particular wish to get along. Still, the younger brother is a bit on the mustache twirling side. I'll give her credit, though--he says nothing I haven't seen said today, 150 years later, with more vehemence, on internet forums.
Author: Courtney Milan
Genre: Victorian romance
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: A scoundrel with a hidden past offers to help a suffragette newspaper editor fight back against a mysterious enemy...and it all ends rather more personal than expected.
Thoughts: Yet another lovely melding of satisfying romance, incredibly witty dialogue, and detailed historical research from Courtney Milan. This one centers around suffragette muckrakers, with a backstory involving the Franco-Prussian War (which is peculiarly dear to my heart).
As has been usual in The Brothers Sinister series, Milan takes a plot that most romance writers would have spun out for a full novel, eliminates all the parts where people are stupid, wraps it up halfway through the book, and makes the real climax about the logical fallout from plot A. Since the main characters are allowed to make sensible decisions instead of convoluted stupid ones to prevent the plot from being resolved too early, this makes many of the characters far more sympathetic and nuanced than the typical romance character.
Still, I did think Edward's reluctance to explain himself was a little overdone. I understand the mindset--I've had enough friends go into self-destructive spirals--but I think he could have probably had a little more self-awareness by the end of how his own phobias of confinement may have made him make some less-than-rational decisions there.
A nice touch--the B couple was a same-sex pairing this time, in a very sweet resolution for a couple of the supporting cast floating around from previous books in the series. I've seen same-sex couples in contemporary romances, but I think this may be the first time I've seen this in a mainstream historical. (There are, of course, "special interest" novels. Which feels like it may be an unfortunate ghetto, but that's another topic. And Gail Carriger features a number of queer characters with a variety of romantic entanglements, but she writes alternate history fantasy, which gives her a bit of license. I suspect many mainstream romance authors don't really want to deal with the boatload of baggage and the necessary balance between potential anachronisms and potential offense that comes along with dealing with same-sex pairings in a historical setting as homophobic as Regency/Victorian England was.)
Also a nice twist--Milan has a thing for sibling-woobiness. That is, she loves to draw angst and sweetness from the bonds between siblings who either love each other or wish they loved each other more. For once, we have a pair of siblings who really don't have anything in common, don't get along, and have no particular wish to get along. Still, the younger brother is a bit on the mustache twirling side. I'll give her credit, though--he says nothing I haven't seen said today, 150 years later, with more vehemence, on internet forums.
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Date: 2014-07-31 02:30 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2014-07-31 01:25 pm (UTC)From:no subject
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