(no subject)

[skygiants]

Faro's Daughter was one of the most-recced Heyers in comments the other day; I think it is generally known as "the one where the heroine kidnaps the hero and keeps him in her cellar!"

So, yes, that happens.

Faro's Daughter is one of the Heyers with a TEMPESTUOUS couple who spend most of their time shouting at each other; HE'S a rich, proud confirmed bachelor (of course) and SHE is the fierce and self-assured patroness of a gambling house. I do not actually believe in their happy ending at all, but the book was extremely amusing all the same! However, my sympathies fell most often with the heroine's poor, beleaguered, deeply-in-debt aunt, who got to have lots of conversations that went like this:

OUR HEROINE DEBORAH: Aunt, aunt, you will never guess what happened!
AUNT: Does it have something to do with our CRUSHING DEBTS?
DEBORAH: Well, a very rich man just offered me twenty thousand dollars not to marry his rich baby cousin, whom I had no intention of marrying anyway!
AUNT: Great! Fantastic! We could totally use twenty thousand dollars!
DEBORAH: And then I threw it in his face.
AUNT: . . . .
DEBORAH: And I told him I would TOTALLY marry his rich baby cousin!
AUNT: Oh, you will? Great! Fantastic! That will also work!
DEBORAH: Oh, don't be silly, I am totally not going to really marry his cousin!
AUNT: Then why did . . . you say you would . . .
DEBORAH: TO TEACH HIM A LESSON ABOUT OFFERING ME MONEY.
AUNT: So . . . just to clarify, what is your plan from here, exactly?
DEBORAH: Well, I'm going to agree to marry his cousin, and THEN I'm going to make myself SO COMPLETELY VULGAR AND ANNOYING that everyone is going to be totally embarrassed to be seen with me, and the jerkface will think I am exactly the kind of awful person he thought I was! HAH! That'll show him!
AUNT: And then -- correct me if I'm wrong -- you are going to dump the cousin at the last minute --
DEBORAH: YEP! :D
AUNT: -- and we will end up in debtor's prison.
DEBORAH: MAYBE! But who cares? I will have shown them all! HAHAHAHAHA!
AUNT: I do not understand the kids these days.

But if her poor aunt is confused by this, this is nothing compared with

DEBORAH: Aunt! That very rich man just bought out all our bills and offered to give them back to me if I would dump his cousin!
AUNT: Well! This is not as great as the twenty thousand dollars, but we'll take it!
DEBORAH: And I threw them in his face!
AUNT: . . .
DEBORAH: But don't worry, aunt, I have a cunning plan!
AUNT: Oh! Do you? Good!
DEBORAH: I will kidnap him and force him to give me the bills!
AUNT: . . . but . . . he just offered to give them back to you . . . in exchange for, again, not marrying the cousin that you have NO INTENTION of marrying anyway . . .
DEBORAH: Yes, but if I just took them, it would be GIVING IN! No, no, kidnapping him and extorting them out of him is the only way!
AUNT: I don't understand what I did in a past life to deserve this.

[SOME TIME LATER, AFTER KIDNAPPING AND ESCAPE AND ALL MANNER OF DRAMATIC HAPPENINGS]

DEBORAH: Ugh! Look what that jerk did! He totally escaped from my kidnapping dungeon, and then he gave us back the bills!
AUNT: . . . isn't that . . . what you were trying to get him to do . . .?
DEBORAH: NO! I was trying to get him to give us the bills under duress! If he escapes and then just gives them to me of his own free will, it means . . . I LOSE! So that means --
AUNT: DON'T YOU EVEN SAY IT!
DEBORAH: I am going to send the bills back to him! RIGHT NOW!
AUNT: Child, you might want to consider a definition of "losing" that includes "not going to debtor's prison." JUST A THOUGHT.

I am with you, Deborah's Aunt. I AM WITH YOU.

Comments

[ceitfianna]

Heh, I love your reading of this and those were some of the best written scenes. I'm not sure on how long lasting the marriage will be, but I don't know, I think it could work as they both like to argue. One of those marriages that looks odd from the outside but actually works. I reread this one sometimes, because they work for me.

If you want a rather more serious take on the debtor's trope and family, read The Governess' Affair by Courtney Milan. She's my favorite romance author and that novella captures a lot of why I enjoy her.

[skygiants]

I mean, I'm sure they will have great sex, if they can ever get around to that stage without another Big Misunderstanding that culminates in one of them trying to muder the other!

I like Courtney Milan a lot! I read and very much enjoyed her Turner books, and definitely plan to get around to the rest of her work one of these days soon.

[ceitfianna]

I'm slowly working through her stuff. I read the last Turner book, a couple of novellas and the first book in her new series. So much to read and not enough time.

But they would have the bets make up sex while one of them is bleeding.

[skygiants]

When it comes to Tempestuous And Fiery Heyer couples that I have encountered, the only ones I actually believe in are the ones in Devil's Cub, where she is not actually tempestuous, it's just that she's perfectly happy to shoot him when he misbehaves. And he's okay with that! Also, he deserves it! WORKS OUT FOR EVERYONE.

(I don't actually like the hero in that one, because he is terrible, but I do weirdly believe in them as a couple.)

[ceitfianna]

I haven't read that one, its on my long list of books of hers to read.

[musesfool]

Devil's Cub is actually my favorite, for exactly that reason (that Mary shoots him; I read it at an impressionable age *hands). Well, and I also find Vidal kind of hilarious? And also Leonie and Avon and Uncle Rupert.

[skygiants]

I have deeply confused feelings about Devil's Cub -- like, I don't WANT to like it or ship it, because of all the terrible things Vidal does, and yet . . . . they have serious chemistry! And, like, Mary is aware of and understands the fact that he is a terrible person, and acknowledges her terrible taste and is prepared to handle him, so . . . I guess that's okay . . .? In my mind I feel that it shouldn't make it okay, and yet in my heart I feel it does!

Also, it is totally hilarious.

[musesfool]

Yeah, Deborah and her schemes were why I couldn't read this book. I really did not like her at all.

[skygiants]

I didn't dislike her exactly, and I did think it was an interesting change to have a more self-possessed and unscrupulous heroine, but, oh my god, the contact embarrassment during some of the "I WILL BE AS VULGAR AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE!" scenes! I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE GETTING OUT OF THIS, DEBORAH. @___@

[celestinenox]

...

If that were my niece I think I might've said something like "Oh yes, locking someone in a dungeon is a grand idea." And the next time the nice man comes by, tell him that Deborah totally accepts his deal and as a gesture of good faith, has gone away to a nunnery.

Two problems solved.

[skygiants]

A MUCH BETTER PLAN than anything Deborah actually comes up with!

[celestinenox]

And I meant convent. >.> *suddenly remembered Shakespeare class discussion on Elizabethan slang, LOL*

[rymenhild]

Dear Deborah and Ravenscar, sexual tension is not a sufficient reason for marriage with someone you despise.

Sincerely, future Deborah and future Ravenscar.

[skygiants]

BUT EVERYONE ENJOYED THE BONDAGE! Surely this is enough to be going on . . .?

(No. No it's not.)

[ladysingsthe]

Is it not??