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Mar. 29th, 2013 01:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsTomorrow I am defending my master's thesis, so my brain's been kind of focused on that this week to the exclusion of all else, but while I'm trying to focus on fluff I might as well do the rest of my Heyer-binge round-up!
Sylvester: I have written this one up before and it remains one of my favorites. The plot: aspiring author writes over-the-top Gothic romance, steals extremely distinctive sinister eyebrows off someone she met once at a party for her nephew-harassing villain. Unfortunately, the possessor of the sinister eyebrows turns out to be a.) her love interest and b.) ACTUALLY in possession of a nephew, of whom he is very fond, which makes him deeply unappreciative of aspersions to the contrary. HIJINKS ENSUE, including the beloved tropes of Trapped In An Inn, Fakeout Elopement, and Accidental Kidnapping. One of my Yuletide options this year might be a request for a sequel focused on the next book that Phoebe writes, the one featuring The Notorious Eyebrows on an EVEN MORE SINISTER VILLAIN (if I don't talksaramily into writing it for me first.)
Arabella: This is a Heyer in the sweet siblings-and-puppies-filled vein of Frederica, although not quite as good. Arabella is a nice parson's daughter who just wants to marry someone rich and help the poor; her love interest is a troll who, as a joke, spreads a rumor that she is a GINORMOUS HEIRESS, causing great confusion to all. Then he falls in love with her and accidentally adopts an urchin and a dog. This is one of the ones where you never quite see the heroine falling in love with the hero -- she thinks he's nice! I mean, he'll do fine! -- and, like, I'm totally okay with that? Arabella really wants to have enough money to provide for her siblings and do random acts of charity, and a rich guy she likes perfectly well will fill her needs in this manner, AND THAT'S FINE.
False Colours: I knew I had about hit the end of this Heyer binge for me when I read about this protagonist, a diplomat in the Foreign service, and was like "OH THANK GOD A HERO WHO ACTUALLY HAS A JOB AND DOES SOMETHING WITH HIS LIFE." Uh, but I like Kit for other reasons! Kit is a sensible identical twin, who gets talked into impersonating his mysteriously disappeared brother and then falls in love with his brother's arranged-marriage fiancee. This actually gets sorted out about halfway through the book, without any particular help from Kit, because his love interest is as sensible as he is. Then the rest of the book involves his hot mom sorting out the rest of their problems, again without any particular help from Kit, who is busy making out with his fiancee an unusual amount of times for a Heyer novel, and it's all very bizarrely but pleasantly low-key for a book about TWIN SWAPS and CRUSHING DEBT.
I still mean to read A Civil Contract, but I think I am just about worn out on idle aristocrats for the time being, so it's going to have to wait until the next Heyer binge.
Sylvester: I have written this one up before and it remains one of my favorites. The plot: aspiring author writes over-the-top Gothic romance, steals extremely distinctive sinister eyebrows off someone she met once at a party for her nephew-harassing villain. Unfortunately, the possessor of the sinister eyebrows turns out to be a.) her love interest and b.) ACTUALLY in possession of a nephew, of whom he is very fond, which makes him deeply unappreciative of aspersions to the contrary. HIJINKS ENSUE, including the beloved tropes of Trapped In An Inn, Fakeout Elopement, and Accidental Kidnapping. One of my Yuletide options this year might be a request for a sequel focused on the next book that Phoebe writes, the one featuring The Notorious Eyebrows on an EVEN MORE SINISTER VILLAIN (if I don't talk
saramily into writing it for me first.)Arabella: This is a Heyer in the sweet siblings-and-puppies-filled vein of Frederica, although not quite as good. Arabella is a nice parson's daughter who just wants to marry someone rich and help the poor; her love interest is a troll who, as a joke, spreads a rumor that she is a GINORMOUS HEIRESS, causing great confusion to all. Then he falls in love with her and accidentally adopts an urchin and a dog. This is one of the ones where you never quite see the heroine falling in love with the hero -- she thinks he's nice! I mean, he'll do fine! -- and, like, I'm totally okay with that? Arabella really wants to have enough money to provide for her siblings and do random acts of charity, and a rich guy she likes perfectly well will fill her needs in this manner, AND THAT'S FINE.
False Colours: I knew I had about hit the end of this Heyer binge for me when I read about this protagonist, a diplomat in the Foreign service, and was like "OH THANK GOD A HERO WHO ACTUALLY HAS A JOB AND DOES SOMETHING WITH HIS LIFE." Uh, but I like Kit for other reasons! Kit is a sensible identical twin, who gets talked into impersonating his mysteriously disappeared brother and then falls in love with his brother's arranged-marriage fiancee. This actually gets sorted out about halfway through the book, without any particular help from Kit, because his love interest is as sensible as he is. Then the rest of the book involves his hot mom sorting out the rest of their problems, again without any particular help from Kit, who is busy making out with his fiancee an unusual amount of times for a Heyer novel, and it's all very bizarrely but pleasantly low-key for a book about TWIN SWAPS and CRUSHING DEBT.
I still mean to read A Civil Contract, but I think I am just about worn out on idle aristocrats for the time being, so it's going to have to wait until the next Heyer binge.
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Date: 2013-03-28 05:39 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2013-03-28 05:56 pm (UTC)I'm glad you liked False Colours, it surprised me with how sensible and sweet it was considering the plot.
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Date: 2013-03-30 04:36 pm (UTC)And thank you! :)
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Date: 2013-03-28 06:50 pm (UTC)GOOD LUCK TOMORROW! You will kick ass and take names because you are AWESOME. GO YOU!
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Date: 2013-03-30 04:38 pm (UTC)And thank you! :D
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Date: 2013-03-28 08:22 pm (UTC)On False Colours, I note that Sensible Girlfriend Cressy figures out the solution for CRUSHING DEBT. Cressy maneuvers Hot Mom into figuring out what that solution is, and then Hot Mom does the rest. It's really the ladies, Cressy, Mom and the evil grandmother, who anchor a book supposedly about male twins.
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Date: 2013-03-30 04:41 pm (UTC)It's true! Cressy solves the romance problem by herself, too. And I kind of love that. I mean, I'm very fond of Kit, but both he and his twin are really the most passive technically-protagonists in all of Heyer.
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Date: 2013-03-28 09:11 pm (UTC)SLAY IT, SLAY THE DEFENSE
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Date: 2013-03-28 10:00 pm (UTC)What's your thesis about?
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Date: 2013-03-29 01:45 am (UTC)Hope tomorrow goes well! I'm sure you'll do wonderfully ♥
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