Reading Wednesday
Apr. 16th, 2014 02:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhWhat did you just finish?
The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan. THIS BOOK IS SO FANTASTIC. I love how, for a Victorian romance, it deals so heavily with politics- both the expansion of the right to vote and contemporary medical ethics are major plots, and they influence who the characters are, and the choices they make. Anyway, the basic plot: Jane (the titular heiress) is determined not to marry so that she can continue to live with her younger sister and protect her from their officious uncle. She is going about this by pretending to be the most embarrassing, socially clueless, offensive woman possible. Then she meets Oliver, a middle-class dude with a burning ambition to become a member of Parliament. Meanwhile, Jane's sister Emily, who has epilepsy, meets Anjan, an Indian law student. There's so many little details of real history here that give the story such a sense of setting and depth: the discovery of new synthetic dyes! the Contagious Diseases Act! Darwin and the heritability of traits as a topic of research and discussion! Some other stuff that I've forgotten!
I really loved this scene in particular:
“Jane, you are not a blight. You are not a disease. You are not a pestilence or a poison. You’re a beautiful, brilliant, bold woman, the best I have ever met. I should never have implied that you were lacking. The fault was in me. I didn’t think I was strong enough to stand at your side.”
She was not going to cry. She wasn’t going to hold him or allow him back in her life without question simply because he realized he had missed her. He’d hurt her too badly for that.
He took another step forward, and then bent to one knee. “Jane,” he said, “would you do me the honor of being my wife?”
She didn’t know what to think. Everything was all muddled. She shook her head, reached for the one thing she understood.
“Your career,” she said. “What about your career?”
“I want a career.” He swallowed. “But not that one. Not the career where I hold my tongue as other men berate women for wearing too much lace. Not one where I keep quiet while my youngest sister appears before a magistrate for the crime of speaking too loudly. Not one where the price of my power is silence about the things I most hold dear.” He bowed his head. “I don’t want you to compromise yourself. To be any less than you are. I won’t ask you to change for me because I’ve realized that I need you precisely as you are.”
<3<3<3
The Governess Affair by Courtney Milan. A prequel novella to the other Courtney Milan books I've been reading. A governess is raped by a Duke (though she doesn't use that word, it having been more what modern people would call 'acquaintance rape' rather than a more overtly violent act), and is left pregnant; the Duke assigns one of the men that work for him to deal with her. Together theyfight the Duke fall in love! This story is very tender and sweet, and also, I really really loved the first sex scene.
What are you currently reading?
The Duchess War by Courtney Milan. AH SO GOOD. I'm sort of reading this series backwards (this one was the first written), but I don't care I LOVE EVERYONE.
The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye. Ash continues to be a dick, news at eleven.
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. I've put this on hold for a little bit, as I can only read so many books at once. (Alas!)
The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan. THIS BOOK IS SO FANTASTIC. I love how, for a Victorian romance, it deals so heavily with politics- both the expansion of the right to vote and contemporary medical ethics are major plots, and they influence who the characters are, and the choices they make. Anyway, the basic plot: Jane (the titular heiress) is determined not to marry so that she can continue to live with her younger sister and protect her from their officious uncle. She is going about this by pretending to be the most embarrassing, socially clueless, offensive woman possible. Then she meets Oliver, a middle-class dude with a burning ambition to become a member of Parliament. Meanwhile, Jane's sister Emily, who has epilepsy, meets Anjan, an Indian law student. There's so many little details of real history here that give the story such a sense of setting and depth: the discovery of new synthetic dyes! the Contagious Diseases Act! Darwin and the heritability of traits as a topic of research and discussion! Some other stuff that I've forgotten!
I really loved this scene in particular:
“Jane, you are not a blight. You are not a disease. You are not a pestilence or a poison. You’re a beautiful, brilliant, bold woman, the best I have ever met. I should never have implied that you were lacking. The fault was in me. I didn’t think I was strong enough to stand at your side.”
She was not going to cry. She wasn’t going to hold him or allow him back in her life without question simply because he realized he had missed her. He’d hurt her too badly for that.
He took another step forward, and then bent to one knee. “Jane,” he said, “would you do me the honor of being my wife?”
She didn’t know what to think. Everything was all muddled. She shook her head, reached for the one thing she understood.
“Your career,” she said. “What about your career?”
“I want a career.” He swallowed. “But not that one. Not the career where I hold my tongue as other men berate women for wearing too much lace. Not one where I keep quiet while my youngest sister appears before a magistrate for the crime of speaking too loudly. Not one where the price of my power is silence about the things I most hold dear.” He bowed his head. “I don’t want you to compromise yourself. To be any less than you are. I won’t ask you to change for me because I’ve realized that I need you precisely as you are.”
<3<3<3
The Governess Affair by Courtney Milan. A prequel novella to the other Courtney Milan books I've been reading. A governess is raped by a Duke (though she doesn't use that word, it having been more what modern people would call 'acquaintance rape' rather than a more overtly violent act), and is left pregnant; the Duke assigns one of the men that work for him to deal with her. Together they
What are you currently reading?
The Duchess War by Courtney Milan. AH SO GOOD. I'm sort of reading this series backwards (this one was the first written), but I don't care I LOVE EVERYONE.
The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye. Ash continues to be a dick, news at eleven.
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. I've put this on hold for a little bit, as I can only read so many books at once. (Alas!)
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no subject
Date: 2014-04-16 10:07 pm (UTC)I can't wait for Violet/Sebastian, because what I've seen of Sebastian in the other books makes me think I'm going to adore him.
no subject
Date: 2014-04-17 04:50 am (UTC)(my gut guess is that milan wanted to write about victorian women scientists first and romance second, which is coooooool).
no subject
Date: 2014-04-17 07:36 pm (UTC)