sophia_sol | Entries tagged with author: rose lerner

I read this book on the sales pitch that it's a Jane Eyre retelling featuring Jane/Bertha, which like, obviously I was all over that! In practice, although there are many things about this book that are delightful, there are aspects that make it not quiiiiiite all hang together as a coherent narrative to me, but it's still definitely worth the read..

( this will require spoilers to discuss )

A perfectly nice, sweet, fun m/m historical romance novella, featuring a sailor and his prize agent. Charming overall, and I love the family, especially Charlotte, and how Elie is so obviously gone on Augie, and I like how matter of fact the book is about Elie's Judaism and Augie's respectfulness about Elie and his family's religion. But although I enjoyed reading it, I wasn't as moved by it as I have been by some of Lerner's other books. And I was pretty frustrated by how "but what does the fiancee think" was the big Unanswered Mystery throughout that needed to be solved before the two of them could get together, and especially didn't like that they got together BEFORE Augie broke it off with the fiancee. Tbh I think the fiancee seems interesting! I wanted to have seen more of her!

Anyway reading this book reminded me that I need to get around to The Wife in the Attic at some point, since the heroine of that book is mentioned briefly in this one!

One of Rose Lerner's early books, and I don't like it as well as her later works (I AM NEVER GOING TO BE OVER HOW PERFECT TRUE PRETENSES IS) but I didn't have anything strongly against it.

Part of my complaint is that there's just really a lot of plot. More than I care about. I was going to briefly sum up the premise here but like.... Too much going on, really. A lot of stuff about spies though, which is not really my thing. I liked the leads and believed in their interest in each other, and my interest was maintained through the book sufficiently that I finished it, but.....just not really nearly so much my thing as I usually expect from Lerner.

My biggest complaint is ( spoilers )

A charming novella about a bisexual man who just wants to be left alone to do his work at the awkward house party he's been invited to by his ex boyfriend with whom he's on difficult terms. So he brings along the woman he's into to pose as his mistress to get him out of having to do social things.

I liked both the lead characters, and I liked how they made the effort to talk to each other about things to better understand where the other was coming from. But I am concerned for their livelihood post book, because he's not very good at focusing on his career and she's gotten bored of hers, and neither of them has actually ever managed to save money before. Which is probably the most I've Gotten Old reaction to a romance novel a person can have....

(No but seriously I did enjoy the book!)

A nice solid enjoyable romance novel. Doesn't reach the heights of delight of some romance novels I've read have in the past (such as Rose Lerner's True Pretenses) but I also have no major complaints which honestly is doing great.

Nev is a titled young man who's never applied himself to anything serious in his life but suddenly has to apply himself because his father died and he has inherited a massive pile of debt and and a failing estate, and needs to turn things around. Penny is practical, smart, and a very rich heiress to a manufacturing fortune, and finds herself charmed by Nev even though she has no reason to trust he'd be a good match. They marry for practical reasons and then have to a) figure out their feelings for each other, b) deal with poverty and resulting violent unrest among the labourers on their estate, c) thwart the other local landowner who is a total asshole, d) fix Nev's friendships. Among other things.

There was...a lot going on. It all more or less tied in to each other so it all worked together, but it was still a lot!

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This last week I read seven romance novels in a row without noting down any kind of detailed thoughts about any of them to write proper posts about, because it was That Kind Of Week. I'll come back and finish tidying some of my backlogged book thoughts for posting later but figured I might as well just throw these up since I won't be able to make proper posts of them.

1. After The Wedding, by Courtney Milan - a reread of a truly excellent one, still adore it, still deeply want to know everything about Theresa's story following this novel because I care wayyyy too much about Theresa.

2. Briarley, by Aster Glenn Gray - a m/m retelling of Beauty and the Beast which was absolutely lovely and I approved of just about every choice the author made in how to adapt the original story.

3. Sweet Disorder, by Rose Lerner (Lively St Lemeston #1) - small-town politics involving a young widow being encouraged to remarry for voting reasons but she has her own personal stuff going on too, liked it a lot.

4. True Pretenses, by Rose Lerner (Lively St Lemeston #2) - a reread, still totally delightful, love everything about it.

5. Listen to the Moon, by Rose Lerner (Lively St Lemeston #3) - really interesting marriage-of-convenience story about a valet-turned-butler and a maid, really wish I'd had the wherewithal to write down more detailed thoughts about this one because it super deserves it, very much worth the read.

6. A Taste of Honey, by Rose Lerner (Lively St Lemeston #4) - sweet and cute but it didn't really speak to me.

7. The Blue Castle, by Lucy Maud Montgomery - an old favourite comfort-read which I don't allow myself to reread too often anymore for fear of wearing out the story in my mind but the situation was deserving of a reread and it hit the spot as it always does.

I had FIVE MILLION FEELINGS about this book. I laughed, I cried, I spent much of the book internally screaming with delight, I want to shove this book into everyone's hands.

(okay, not everyone's, I recognize that different people have different tastes in entertainment and this wouldn't be up everyone's alley but uh HELLO YES IT IS UP MINE)

This is a marriage-of-convenience romance novel about a low-class Jewish con-man and a properly-brought-up rich young lady who is a leader of her small town's political and social scene, and how much they have in common with each other! Because turns out both of their careers involve basically the same skills, just to different ends. Also they both have younger brothers who they've raised to various degrees on their own and feel extremely protective of.

I just. I just! I am overcome. Where to start??

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YES HELLO what a good book. This is a romance novella collection, consisting of three novellas set during the American revolutionary war and with Alexander Hamilton as a minor character in some way in all of them. But I don't care about Hamilton here. What I care about is that this is a collection of romance stories that are about people who have complicated relationships with the ideals of the American revolution because the kind of people they are aren't fully supported by those ideals: Jewish people, women, people of colour, queer people. But who find happiness and their own freedom nonetheless! IT'S GREAT.

Of the three stories I only personally found myself emotionally engaged with two of them, but all three are definitely well done and a worthwhile read.

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