Mine Till Midnight by Lisa Kleypas

Hathaway (Book 1) image courtesy: kobobooks

 

The Good:

• Cam Rohan – can a writer bring to life a sexier alpha male protagonist?!? This guy is HOT!!!  Rich.  Clever.  Perceptive.  Considerate.  In control.  Suave.  The list is endless…
• Introduction to the Hathaway clan is superbly handled by Ms.Kleypas – it is a big family.  Each Hathaway is portrayed so that we know their role in the family and have some insight into the trials of their eventual love story.
• The fact that the Hathaways are considered outcasts gives so much opportunity to learn more about Victorian society than just the ways of the ton.
• Setting and minor characters are richly described
• The central romance of the book is so beautifully written – how can Amelia not fall for Cam?

The Meh:

• Amelia’s struggle to finally accept Cam.  Her angst seemed without foundation – it wasn’t believable to me that she found it so difficult to say yes.  But this was such a small part of the book that it didn’t stop me from reading.
• Leo…what a train wreck…except, this will make his HEA tale all the more delicious.

Overall:

• If you love romance and reading a strong, sexy male lead – this is the book for you!
• I also really loved the strong relationship and love in the Hathaway family – Ms. Kleypas creates strong female characters who support each other instead of tearing each other down and I love that!
• Finally, the strong sense of setting and atmosphere is undeniable.  Ms. Kleypas brings us into her world seamlessly.
• Oh one last thing – I love that it overlaps with her previous series, Wallflowers, and we get to revisit some favourite characters!

Did you read Mine Till Midnight? If so, what did you think?  Any other juicy romances you would recommend based on this review?  Would love to connect!

Here’s a synopsis of Mine Till Midnight from kobobooks:

When an unexpected inheritance elevates her family to the ranks of the aristocracy, Amelia Hathaway discovers that tending to her younger sisters and wayward brother was easy compared to navigating the intricacies of the ton. Even more challenging: the attraction she feels for the tall, dark, and dangerously handsome Cam Rohan.

Wealthy beyond most men’s dreams, Cam has tired of society’s petty restrictions and longs to return to his “uncivilized” Gypsy roots. When the delectable Amelia appeals to him for help, he intends to offer only friendship—but intentions are no match for the desire that blindsides them both. But can a man who spurns tradition be tempted into that most time-honored arrangement: marriage? Life in London society is about to get a whole lot hotter….in Lisa Kleypas’s Mine Till Midnight.

 

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A Romance Novel About Marriage?

courtesy: http://www.cruxnow.com

The idea about a novel which focuses on the romantic aspects of marriage intrigues me.

Ok, stop laughing.  I realize romantic marriage is almost an oxymoron.

As I enter my 40s and my 10th year of marriage, with 2 children (how’s that for stats and numbers?) I realize that marriage isn’t at all like falling in love.  Perhaps that’s because most love stories are about the falling, not the ever after.

We’re great at the falling.  Stories about the falling are awesome.  We swoon over the falling, the wedding and the promise of love and lust forever.  Roll credits.

Except a bottom is inevitably reached.

The falling ends with a resounding thump and plateaus into the most levelled, smooth ride (at best) or into a bumpy, stormy ride (at worst) which leaves most of us wondering what the heck happened?  Where is the excitement, the onslaught of sex and indulgent adoration of each other, the promise of being loved forever?  Most of us who are living through these years of being very married and raising children are struggling.  We remember how our marriage started and our feelings vary between nostalgia and resentment because a most intoxicating time has become ancient history.

But, does it have to be buried?  Can it be excavated?

Most of the evidence at hand (anecdotal comments from many friends and friends of friends and my own less than lively marriage) points to a big NO.  However, in the deepest part of my heart, I have to believe that YES, marriage can be a state of ultimate romance in which love is celebrated…as long as both partners are willing participants.

I think that’s the kind of novel I would love to read.  The novel where a couple does not allow the daily routine of school/activities/dinner/bedtime to kill a marriage; where two people keep careers (aka phone/tablet/laptop) out of the bedroom; where personal interests don’t supersede the needs of the marriage.  Wait a second, that sounds more like fantasy than romance!

I love reading Regency and Victorian romance but would love to venture into Contemporary because I need know whether or not a book like this has been written. And if it hasn’t, maybe it should be.  After all isn’t that the point of Romance – to celebrate love and inspire us to do the same in our own lives?

How do you think we can prepare for marriage better?  Do you have a novel you can recommend to fulfill this reading craving I have?

 

Romance is Unrealistic?

(image courtesy: http://www.tabletmag.com)

One of the reasons people cite for disliking romance is that it creates false expectations about love and falling in love.

Not every relationship ends with happily ever after.  Not every man has rippling muscles exposed through a deep v-neck shirt, nor does every woman sport a heaving bosom.

True.

And, not every road trip ends without cell phone reception and a psycho killer chasing you through eerie woods to torture and kill you in a secluded log cabin.  Neither are there superheroes, sexy vampires or galactic battles raging across the universe.  Last I checked, we don’t live in a dystopic, post-apocalyptic world struggling against an oppressive regime.

So, why is romance scoffed at as a less-than-intelligent form of entertainment because it isn’t realistic?  Could it be because it hits too close to home?

We have (hopefully) all experienced the sheer elation at discovering someone we like, likes us back.  At some point we have all felt the tingle in our tummy, the escaped giggle, the extra time getting ready because we might bump into our crush…it is magical and promising and exhilarating.

And, perhaps we have also experienced the opposite.  The darkness the end of a relationship brings.  Humiliation, pain, tears…the promise of never being so vulnerable again…until the next time our tummy flutters.  *Sigh*.

All of these emotions are intensely intimate and leave us feeling far more exposed than we care to be with the world at large. So maybe it is easier to avoid being reminded about our losses in love and label anything that brings them to mind as boring, trite, unbelievable and unrealistic because real people don’t behave that way in relationships.

No, we don’t.  Life is messy and difficult.  Love doesn’t happen quite so neatly.  But just like we enjoy being carried away from our real-world lives through fantasy, science fiction and horror without creating the expectations that our lives will reflect those stories, we can also allow romance to carry us away without creating the expectations that our relationships will be steamy, loving and end with happily ever after.  We are far more intelligent than that.

I believe romance offers us a break from the effort and compromise relationships require.  It does not make us hope for the unattainable, but it helps us to manage the reality of love and relationships by easing stress and boredom so we can navigate our relationships with a little more fun.  And that is something all real people need.

How do you feel about romance stories?  Why do you read them?  Why do you avoid them?

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Review: The Seduction of Lady Phoebe

The Good:  This book abides by all rules of Regency.  You will learn about the complexities of the era and then some.  It is truly remarkable how well Ella Quinn weaves the strict social conventions of the Regency era into an intriguing love story.

I loved the strength of Lady Phoebe.  She knows her mind and is unafraid of expressing herself and exerting her will.

And, can Lord Marcus Finley be anymore romantic? Who wouldn’t want to be the object of his affection?  His determination to win Phoebe’s heart was positively simmering.

This novel is sexy, sexy, sexy! Ella Quinn does not hold back as Marcus seduces Phoebe and it so much fun to read.

The Meh: Her angst about falling for him was a little, tiny bit over the top. I believed it at the beginning.  But, for me, it lasted a little longer than necessary.

Overall: awesome, super fun read.  Hot, sexy and oh so romantic. At times, a bit too many exacting details about the era – but at the same time I see this as a positive because it really stays true to Regency.

Would love to hear from others who have read this one!

Nice: Bland or Romantic?

Love, love, love Colin Bridgerton from Julia Quinn’s Romancing Mr. Bridgerton.

In case you haven’t had the chance to read Quinn’s Bridgerton series, you can find out about it here.  Romancing Mr. Bridgerton is the third installment in the series and my absolute favourite, followed closely by It’s In His Kiss but more about that another time.

The reason I love this character so much is Quinn’s constant reassertion that he is just so…

Nice.

Hmmm.  A word that many men I have met throughout the years shy away from…”nice guys finish last” or the fact that women only like “the bad boys”.

Nice can get a bad rap as bland, ordinary and without complexity.  But in this novel, Quinn shows us that nice is in fact the exact opposite.  Nice has depth of feeling, ability to understand life’s conundrums and takes them in stride with a lopsided grin.

Nice is refreshing.  It’s a person who doesn’t resort to a stormy temper the minute something goes wrong – not to say nice people don’t experience anger, perhaps they take longer to get there. It’s a person who can smile and find solutions instead of problems. Nice is light and airy and romantic.

Have you stopped yourself from spending time with someone because they were so nice?

Have you stopped yourself from using the word nice when building your characters?

I used to.  But Ms. Quinn certainly changed my mind about the word nice through the unforgettable and charming Colin Bridgerton.

The next time you’re writing and are having trouble with adjectives for your protagonist – give nice a try.  You might just be on your way to creating an unforgettable character.

 

 

Your Two Defining Words

So this is what happens when you go to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary and search for the definition of Romance.

1. intransitive verb

• to exaggerate or invent detail or incident
• to entertain romantic thoughts or ideas

2. transitive verb

• to try to influence or curry favor with especially by lavishing personal attention, gifts, or flattery
• to carry on a love affair with

And, this is what happens when you search for the definition of Incurable:

1. impossible to cure : not curable
2. not likely to be changed

So that must make me a person prone to exaggerate or invent details because I like to entertain romantic thoughts for which no cure exists so I lavish attention on those I love and hope to carry a love affair with and this will never change.

*Phew!*

That sounds about right. (perhaps I would veto the love affair part – but included it for fun)

What two words perfectly define you?