soph (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol) wrote2019-04-15 08:21 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2019-04-15 08:21 pm
Someone to Wed, by Mary Balogh
I was in the mood to read more romance and library ebooks are so convenient, so I went browsing the historical romances my library has on offer, and opened the one that topped the list as most popular of the available-to-check-out ones. Which was this one. When I began reading it, it seemed relatively promising - serviceable prose, and a fun marriage of convenience premise. But the further I read the less I liked it.
The gender ideas the book espouses, for example, are kind of ugh. For starters, the female lead Wren has a bad case of Not Like Other Girls, and there's a distinct comparison between her and all the other wealthy young ladies hanging out for a husband who the male lead could have chosen from, as if she's the only one who could possibly be worth talking to. I do appreciate that Wren is forthright of speech and a competent businesswoman, but that doesn't have to mean that every other heiress in the world is a vapid know-nothing like this book posits.
And then there was a secondary male character, Netherby, who's described as small and pretty and with a strong interest in dressing well that toes near the line of becoming foppish. And the first time he's introduced the narrative makes it clear that despite all that he's not effeminate. Which like, okay, whatever, if you need to disclaim that to make a clear image of his character that's fine I guess. But then the book felt the need to protest against his effeminacy MULTIPLE TIMES MORE, as well as making sure it's clear that he's MASCULINE and DANGEROUS and I was like......so there's something wrong with a man being effeminate then, in the author's mind. THANKS.
And then for an added bonus there's a throwaway line about how Netherby was "trained in various Far Eastern arts by an old Chinese master" so that's some fun racism thrown in for no purpose. For the record, and I'm sure this won't surprise you, there are zero other people of colour mentioned in the entire book.
And on top of all this, the book's plot and relationship arcs just get boring by halfway into the book.
So. All in all I think that I won't be reading Mary Balogh again despite her popularity. And I've (hopefully) been taught my lesson about reading romances without first seeking out trustworthy reviews.
The gender ideas the book espouses, for example, are kind of ugh. For starters, the female lead Wren has a bad case of Not Like Other Girls, and there's a distinct comparison between her and all the other wealthy young ladies hanging out for a husband who the male lead could have chosen from, as if she's the only one who could possibly be worth talking to. I do appreciate that Wren is forthright of speech and a competent businesswoman, but that doesn't have to mean that every other heiress in the world is a vapid know-nothing like this book posits.
And then there was a secondary male character, Netherby, who's described as small and pretty and with a strong interest in dressing well that toes near the line of becoming foppish. And the first time he's introduced the narrative makes it clear that despite all that he's not effeminate. Which like, okay, whatever, if you need to disclaim that to make a clear image of his character that's fine I guess. But then the book felt the need to protest against his effeminacy MULTIPLE TIMES MORE, as well as making sure it's clear that he's MASCULINE and DANGEROUS and I was like......so there's something wrong with a man being effeminate then, in the author's mind. THANKS.
And then for an added bonus there's a throwaway line about how Netherby was "trained in various Far Eastern arts by an old Chinese master" so that's some fun racism thrown in for no purpose. For the record, and I'm sure this won't surprise you, there are zero other people of colour mentioned in the entire book.
And on top of all this, the book's plot and relationship arcs just get boring by halfway into the book.
So. All in all I think that I won't be reading Mary Balogh again despite her popularity. And I've (hopefully) been taught my lesson about reading romances without first seeking out trustworthy reviews.
no subject
I've read a number of her books because my library reliably gets them (and they reliably get them because people read them which makes people more likely to read them...) and liked some and bounced hard off of others. I suspect you'd find the same problems over and over. Some of her books attempt to address physical disability and/or PTSD, but I've seen those books both praised for getting things right and criticized for not getting things right, and Balogh's blog talks about how she views research on those subjects as unnecessary, so... I'm inclined to side-eye even the bits that fit my own experience of disability.
no subject
This book actually deals with the fall-out of trauma as well, as the lead female character was raised by an emotionally-abusive mother who made her believe that she was worthless due to a large birthmark on her face. The book deals with her learning how to come out of her self-imposed isolation and be a part of society again despite the fears instilled in her by her mother. And I spent the whole book feeling extremely iffy about how the whole thing was handled, but didn't feel like I had cogent enough arguments either for or against Balogh's handling for it to be worth mentioning in my review. But. I am unsurprised that there's been disagreements on how well she writes about PTSD.