Starts out as a romance novel rec but derails into a Amelia Peabody gush

[dangermousie]

Am rereading one of my guilty pleasures, Susan Carroll's The Courtesan. Even though it's found in in general fiction section, it is basically a dressed-up romance novel about the middle of three sisters in 16th-century France (unsurprisingly, this is a middle part of a loosely-connected trilogy about them. I read all three but seeing as I remember little-to-nothing about the other two, they didn't impress me).

The heroine is sleeping her way to power and riches and is fixated on her next target being Henri of Navarre (otherwise known to posterity as Henri IV - eventually). But she reconnects with her long-ago crush/admirer Huguenot captain she believed was dead and gets sort of derailed.

I was rather surprised to discover a non-virgin heroine, but of course she's never enjoyed sex ever before her OTP. In fact, she embarked on her power quest as a result of being traumatized by a horrid rape. Hmmmm. I can see how this may be all sorts of problematic, but tbh, I don't care because it gives me that deliciously trashy 'healing sex' trope. In RL it would likely not work but in fiction I slurp it up with a spoon. And at least I can buy that sex with someone you actually care for may wipe out the notion sex is unpleasant and boring, as opposed to the kind of comfort sex which makes me scream 'noooo way, no how,' perfect example of the latter being the bit when Ramses and Nefret finally get together at the end of He Shall Thunder in the Sky when instead of swooning for the two of them* all I can do is scream "b...b...but how can it work - there is no way - are you insane, he's almost been whipped to death and his back is cut to ribbons, there is NO WAY!"**

* In case you have no idea what I am talking about, Ramses and Nefret are two of the main characters of Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series (a series of mystery/adventure novels set in Victorian and Edwardian England/Egypt). I love them enough to even overlook my hearing in person Peters' slag of Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom by saying it was unreadable when Ramses is basically a straight, non-masochism-obsessed Lawrence. Anyway, I liked the earlier books in the series which were all about Victorian feminist and adventure-seeker Amelia and her irascible husband, famous archeologist Emerson (who is rather based on Prof. Challenger of Arthur Conan Doyle's, IMO) but when I really got obsessed was when their son Ramses grew up and became archeologist/spy/sexy angst-muffin and the whole angst-fest and repression with Nefret (his adopted sister with whom he's been in love ever since he first saw her when he was 13) started. I should have known I would be a mad kdrama fan from how hard I shipped the two because it has fakecest and horrid misunderstandings and repression and evil marriages and everything. Mmmm. Anyway, I was sort of insane for them in college which was not made better through having to wait for books come out one by one. I still remember getting my Falcon at the Portal and getting to that scene (you know which one if you read Peters and if you haven't, it's too major to spoil - verrrry kdrama) and literally throwing my book across the room and cursing like a mad person for quite a while. I don't think I ever got my Nefret love back 100% after that, which is a pity. Before that I loved her but after it was basically "I like you and I sort of understand why you did what you did but you are insane for it and now I mainly ship the two of you because Ramses can't live without you." Anyway, I stopped following the series after Thunder (OK, OK, I fess up, I read the honeymoon book - judge me!) because I thought they wrapped up all the plots and loose ends and after that it all felt sort of unnecessary.

** My favorite part is actually not comfort sexing but the fact that Amelia is all concerned for Nefret because Nefret killed someone (she shot Percy as the man was in the process of torturing Ramses to death) and Nefret is all puzzled by the concern and is "huh? It doesn't bother me a bit, he had what was coming to him." LOLOLOLOL I fell in love with Nefret all over again for her attitude. Lady was brought up as a priestess of a really warrior society :)

Anyway, how did this turn into a Peabody post?

Comments

[hanjae.livejournal.com]

Wow.

I had been meaning to try out one of the Peabody books because someone recced them to me a while back, but that sounds so much like a kdrama with Egyptian setting that I kind of stopped and blinked. It'd be the complete makjang weekend family drama in book form if you throw in a few babies-swapped-at-birth, amnesia, fatal accidents, terminal illnesses and adultery to boot.

I'm an absolute sucker for mystery/detective novels though (bonus for historical backgrounds and OTPs), so I'll probably try it anyway. That and the archaeology link - there are so few good mystery novels related to my studies that it boggles the mind. Is this one of those series that you have to start from the start?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

They are actually wonderful (well, the first dozen are, after that it gets repetitive).

I also made it sound more makjang than it really is, for good or ill - all of it is stretched out over books and books and a lot of Amelia's histrionics is tongue-in-cheek - later books get yummy Ramses angst but not earlier as he's a kid and thus not really into angsting.

It's not a series you have to start from the start - I didn't. The last four of the dozen are best read as one, but especially the earlier ones are OK out of order.

Here's the order:

• Crocodile on the Sandbank
• Curse of the Pharaohs
• The Mummy Case
• Lion in the Valley
• Deeds of the Disturber
• The Last Camel Died at Noon
• The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog
• The Hippopotamus Pool
• Seeing a Large Cat
• The Ape Who Guards the Balance
• The Falcon at the Portal
• He Shall Thunder in the Sky

I don't rec any books past that because they aren't that great.

[er-mused.livejournal.com]

Hah, so that is why I became a kdrama fan! I discovered Amelia Peabody in college too and was just getting into ALL dramas then...hahahaha...ah, such fond memories of watching and rewatching Meteor Garden in winter....hahaha

Now I feel I must reread all the Amelia Peabody books....esp the later ones...hahaha....sometimes I wish they'd turn the books into a movie or tv series, but I can't imagine who they'd cast as all my beloved characters and think maybe I'd rather they just stayed within the pages of my books.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I tried to do a fantasy casting in my head and failed.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed most of Carroll's older Regencies that were written in the 90s, but don't remember much about them except that the one I didn't like was a "makeover" plot where the guy is making her lose weight. I tried a couple of her historical romances when she switched over, but didn't care for them much. I haven't read any of these, but I have one or two in my backlog. The last couple years, though, I've largely switched to these historical fiction/historical romance(/mystery, in a few cases) books that are becoming increasingly popular* when I want more directly-romantic stories.

*Book publishing, I think, is one of the few places where US media realises that it's a good idea to pay attention to what female consumers are interested in, instead of mostly catering to what they think (straight white)male consumers want and then adding female consumers as an afterthought.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I agree - the romance rack in all of our bookstores, independent and chain, is huge. (Not to mention plenty of books in general section which are very woman oriented - whether because they are chick-lit, period novels of type read largely by women, or books that are only out of romance novel section due to huge popularity i.e. Danielle Steel).

I fail to understand why that does not translate into movies - because IMO while TV shows are a bit under-representing/low on women stories it's nothing compared to huge male movie skew. There is no doubt a huge audience for all sorts of women-oriented movies, from romcoms to arthouse to action movies starring *gasp* women.

[ulkis.livejournal.com]

Oh, I remember liking the first book of the trilogy and not giving the second one a chance because I was annoyed that the Huguenot captain was alive after all, but maybe I'll give it another try when I need a light read, although I guess the other two books don't feature most of the oldest sister and her love interest? Too bad, cause I really liked them.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

They are in the second book trying to have a kid.