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[shadowkat]

A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James


This was rather charming, reminded me a bit of PD Wodehouse and Georgette Heyer with all the eccentric characters and witty by-play. Except this one had a lot of sex in it. So think of an erotic version of Georgette Heyer? The modern Regency Novels, I've discovered, are more erotic than the ones written in the early part of the 20th century. I don't know why. Writers were awfully repressed back then, well with a few exceptions of course - Henry Fielding, DH Lawrence, and Flaubert all come to mind.

It's a witty and ahem, erotic take on the Cinderella fairy tale. Except the heroine has a bit more backbone, and the step-sister is neither ugly nor evil. The step-mother is slightly nasty, but barely in the book, so you can ignore it.

My only quibble is that the heroine and everyone in the book appears to think that if you are over 20 and unmarried you are over-the-hill. Granted that is the time period. But there are female characters in this novel that are in their 70s. So I can't help but think the writer is trying to be satiric? I will state that this is an annoying trend in most romance novels - women are in the early 20s or late teens and the men in their late 20s and early 30s. Seriously ladies, what is up with that? The author does make fun of a few things though...including being over-the-hill at the ripe old age of 23 and virginity (it's not really that a big a deal).

At any rate the book made me laugh quite a bit. The writer unlike so many others in this genre, doesn't take herself all that seriously or her characters. She makes fun of everything from fashion to little dogs.
There's a rather funny bit about an elephant and a monkey who are in love, which also works as a nice metaphor.

Like all historical romances - the novel critiques the British and European caste system, and the silliness of titles and ranks. It discusses money and how often marriages are arranged for the exchange of funds and property. The wife came with a hefty dowry. The heroine's father married her mother for her mother's dowry. And when her mother dies, marries his mistress to make his second daughter legitimate and to give her a dowry. And the main conflict in the book is whether the rather poor prince can afford to follow his heart and marry his Cinderella or marry a rich and beautiful Russian Princess. It's a ROMANCE novel not to mention one based on a fairy tale, so you know how it ends. Only "literary" romance novels end badly. (ie. Gone with the Wind and Anna Karenia and Lady Chatterly's Lover this isn't.)

It's definitely worth a rental, borrow, or dirt cheap e-book buy via Amazon. I think I got for $4. That is if you like a dash of wit with your fairy tale erotica.

Comments

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

So why do novelists (okay romance novelists) insist on the whole - you must get married before you reach 25 bit?

It's not just historicals...I've noticed it in contemporary romance novels as well. There's a weird slant towards teen and 20 something romance. Particularly when I'm not entirely sure it reflects the reality.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

I suppose it provides a certain degree of narrative tension, and after a bit has become a trope that people don't think about but just assume is part of the set-up for a romance (there is a possibly strained analogy with C17th Dutch still-life painting, of which I have seen quite a bit in the last week, to be made about the tyranny of generic expectations and the ways in which the artist or writer engages with them and why they do the things they do).

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

It's almost more than a trope now - sort of an unbreakable formula, that if the writer breaks it the publisher refuses to publish it - because the readers will rebel.

I noticed something about acquisitions editors in publishing houses lately - if you break with convention, they are a bit cautious about publishing you. Which is odd, considering people who break with convention often become best-sellers. But they fear the risk.

It's true with mysteries as well - there's certain conventions that all mystery writers follow. Same with science fiction and fantasy writers. Which is why genre at times...threatens to become overly formulaic. Fanfiction can be fun - because writers paint outside the established lines.

Literary writers take more risks I've discovered. Which may be why they are literary? The ability to take those risks? Tolstoy's Anna Karenia defied conventional romance, as does Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind and Richardson's Clarissa, as well as Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.