Third time’s the charm
Jan. 12th, 2006 12:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieThis is certainly the case with my intro to Jo Beverly and the romance genre. After the deadly dull “Devilish” and “Tempting Fortune” which started great but went downhill after the first 50 pages, I have finally hit the jackpot with “My Lady Notorious,” which I got so much into that I almost missed my metro stop in the morning and had to run out the doors before they closed. Success. Of course, considering that MLN was her very first book and that Devilish was written after Tempting Fortune, it seems she is getting worse with experience, not better. Grah.
So, why does this book work and the other two don’t?
1. The hero and the heroine actually talk to each other. They spend a lot of time in each other’s company and they have conversations. It’s not the “I am in lust means I am in love” scenario of the heroine of TF. They are obviously powerfully attracted to each other, but that isn’t the sum total, or even the main thing in their interactions. You know, I can see those people actually have a life together outside of bed? Heck, if she was a lesbian or whatever, I could see them as good friends. And considering her unorthodoxness and bravery and sense of fun, and the huge favor he is doing them, I can also see another reason for falling in love.
2. I love the hero. TF and Devilish ones are very very alpha “I am so sexy and serious and smouldering grrr” which would get so tiresome so quick. Cynric? I have to like a guy who joins a completely crazy scheme, suggests (and carries out) cross-dressing as a girl, flirting and milking it outrageously (because unlike the alphas in the other two books, Cynric is pretty), is travelling with a girl crossdressing as a guy (and he knows he knows but she doesn’t know he knows) and does it all out of a sense of fun and being bored while on leave from his regiment and never loses his good humor.
3. There is a cool adventure plot that is woven into the story. There isn’t just the tiresome romance dance, there’s other stuff there too (Devilish tries with its political stuff but it’s clearly an afterthought and TF abandons the idea alltogether).
4. These people are fun to read about. And they are individual and quirky enough for you to see why they are perfect for each other. In Devilish, they are both nice people but their attraction seems to be based on “he/she is hot” and “she is a strong woman and he likes strong women.” Which is so generic as to be deadly dull. The “Devilish” couple will have a happy marriage undoubtedly but they would do so with a number of others as well. Plus, they are freakin’ dull to read about. Cynric and Chastity (yes, these are their unfortunate names) wouldn’t click half as well with anyone else, and not because their collection of qualities fit each other (they do) but just in a very individual sense hard to describe.
5. There isn’t the hideously annoying and tiresome plot ploy of heroine misunderstanding the hero/thinking he is evil/whatnot which not only makes her last minute understanding that she wuvs him ridiculous, but makes me wonder about her brain (TF). Nor is the hero spending all his time distracted and pining (Devilish) making him hideously dull.
6. I love the heroine. She is not an idiot like Portia in TF and not boring like Diana in “Devilish.” She is funny, and fun, and adventurous and also good-humored. And she doesn’t mope over Cynric even though she loves him.
7. The villain. You need to have a villain, a hissable evil to the bone villain. Chastity’s father provides that. He beats her and is nutty etc etc. So it gives you something to dislike and hope that Chastity will rescue herself or Cynric will rescue her or whatever.
8. Orgy. Fun one.
This also marks the last Beverly book I'm likely to read because the other 2 Malloren books are not my thing: one is set on a farm and has a bunch of characters who bored me from other books and one has as the hero the brother of the heroine from this novel and I hate him with a passion as in TF he forces a childhood friend to marry someone just to ruin them, and in MLN he hits his sister because he thinks she is a whore and allows their father (however reluctantly) to beat her. Prince Charming he ain’t.
So, why does this book work and the other two don’t?
1. The hero and the heroine actually talk to each other. They spend a lot of time in each other’s company and they have conversations. It’s not the “I am in lust means I am in love” scenario of the heroine of TF. They are obviously powerfully attracted to each other, but that isn’t the sum total, or even the main thing in their interactions. You know, I can see those people actually have a life together outside of bed? Heck, if she was a lesbian or whatever, I could see them as good friends. And considering her unorthodoxness and bravery and sense of fun, and the huge favor he is doing them, I can also see another reason for falling in love.
2. I love the hero. TF and Devilish ones are very very alpha “I am so sexy and serious and smouldering grrr” which would get so tiresome so quick. Cynric? I have to like a guy who joins a completely crazy scheme, suggests (and carries out) cross-dressing as a girl, flirting and milking it outrageously (because unlike the alphas in the other two books, Cynric is pretty), is travelling with a girl crossdressing as a guy (and he knows he knows but she doesn’t know he knows) and does it all out of a sense of fun and being bored while on leave from his regiment and never loses his good humor.
3. There is a cool adventure plot that is woven into the story. There isn’t just the tiresome romance dance, there’s other stuff there too (Devilish tries with its political stuff but it’s clearly an afterthought and TF abandons the idea alltogether).
4. These people are fun to read about. And they are individual and quirky enough for you to see why they are perfect for each other. In Devilish, they are both nice people but their attraction seems to be based on “he/she is hot” and “she is a strong woman and he likes strong women.” Which is so generic as to be deadly dull. The “Devilish” couple will have a happy marriage undoubtedly but they would do so with a number of others as well. Plus, they are freakin’ dull to read about. Cynric and Chastity (yes, these are their unfortunate names) wouldn’t click half as well with anyone else, and not because their collection of qualities fit each other (they do) but just in a very individual sense hard to describe.
5. There isn’t the hideously annoying and tiresome plot ploy of heroine misunderstanding the hero/thinking he is evil/whatnot which not only makes her last minute understanding that she wuvs him ridiculous, but makes me wonder about her brain (TF). Nor is the hero spending all his time distracted and pining (Devilish) making him hideously dull.
6. I love the heroine. She is not an idiot like Portia in TF and not boring like Diana in “Devilish.” She is funny, and fun, and adventurous and also good-humored. And she doesn’t mope over Cynric even though she loves him.
7. The villain. You need to have a villain, a hissable evil to the bone villain. Chastity’s father provides that. He beats her and is nutty etc etc. So it gives you something to dislike and hope that Chastity will rescue herself or Cynric will rescue her or whatever.
8. Orgy. Fun one.
This also marks the last Beverly book I'm likely to read because the other 2 Malloren books are not my thing: one is set on a farm and has a bunch of characters who bored me from other books and one has as the hero the brother of the heroine from this novel and I hate him with a passion as in TF he forces a childhood friend to marry someone just to ruin them, and in MLN he hits his sister because he thinks she is a whore and allows their father (however reluctantly) to beat her. Prince Charming he ain’t.
