Showing posts with label Authors: F-J. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Authors: F-J. Show all posts
The two best things in this book are Kitty and Peter Kavinsky. Peter is such a sweet guy. He's not perfect, but he tries his best to make his relationship with Lara Jean work because he likes her so much. And he's a great friend! Even though Genevieve's a total bitch and totally doesn't deserve such a beautiful name, Peter still supports her when she's having troubles at home. He knows that she can be manipulative and doesn't hesitate in calling her out, but when she genuinely needs someone to listen to her, he's there (as a friend). Lara Jean, of course, misunderstands the situation and thinks that he still has feelings for Gen, even though he insists that there's nothing between them (which is completely true). But Lara Jean's suspicious when he refuses to tell her the exact reason he still hangs out with Genevieve, saying that it's not his secret to tell (which is also completely true). Meanwhile, he's being such a good boyfriend to Lara Jean: calling her every night, letting her take the charge in the relationship. I love that he respects Lara Jean's decision and never pushes nor pressures her to have sex.
Which brings me to Lara Jean herself. I find her naivety kind of endearing in the first book, but in this one it starts to irritate me. I love that the 'hot makeout sesh in the hot tub' video leak makes her realize the double standard in how society treats 'slutty' girls and boys. In the first book I thought that she was a little bit of a slut-shamer in how she thinks about Chris and Gen, but now she realizes that "they're all the same". I also love how this book is realistic in that Lara Jean would have had some insecurities in seeing Peter hanging out with Genevieve, but I only like it in moderation. This book gets a little too overboard with it, which in part is fueled by Lara Jean's naivety. She needs to learn to trust Peter a little, since she constantly thinks the worst of him yet every time he constantly proves himself to be better than beyond her wildest dreams. I know that Lara Jean still has to reconcile the Sweet!Peter that she knows now and the Douchebag!Peter that she thought he is, but come on girl, I thought we solved all that in the first book. Give the boy some credit where credit is due.
Plot-wise, I like the first parts, but as we get to the end, things starts to drag. The love triangle is unnecessary and only adds needless drama. It throws off the pacing, imo, and only serves to make me think that Lara Jean is a indecisive simpleton. You can erase John Ambrose McLaren and there wouldn't be any difference to the plot or the characters whatsoever. If he's not there, I wouldn't even notice. I wasn't even interested in seeing his letter; I didn't even realize that we didn't see his letter in the first book. The much-hyped 'love triangle' is virtually nonexistent since the guy only showed up in the 200th pages or so. If you're a k-drama addict like me, you would know that by virtue of screentime alone John Ambrose doesn't have a chance in hell to be a worthy rival for Lara Jean's affections. Also, I think he's bland and boring and unremarkable. When he told Peter K that he'd treated Lara Jean badly, I want to smack him in the face. If anything, Lara Jean has treated Peter badly by constantly thinking the worst of him and not trusting him when he hadn't give her any reason not to doubt him.
I also like how the romance is realistic in that it isn't always perfectly lovey-dovey, but again the drama gets too overwrought in the end. I do love how they have a talk about girls being in charge of their bodies, of how society views girls and sex, of all this 'YAY GIRLS AND FEMINISM!' talk. Lara Jean doesn't want to have sex not because she's not that kind of girl, but because she's not ready yet. And it's okay if you're not ready yet, you'll just have to wait when you decide for yourself that you're absolutely sure that you want it. And you have to have protection of course. In the words of the great Paris Geller: no glove no love.
The ending too fits the book perfectly, but I hate the needless love triangle, and John Ambrose's blandness and Lara Jean's naivety annoys me, so I'm giving this a lower rating than the first book. I'd still recommend anyone who's interested in contemporary YA to check this book and the first one, because it's so refreshing and different than any other YAs that I've read.
The plot started out fine. Kitty Charing is a penniless orphan cared by the wealthy curmudgeon Matthew Penicuik. Mr Penicuik declares he would bestow his massive fortune to any of his nephews who married Kitty. Naturally, his great-nephews came scrambling to his home to offer for Kit's hands. There's the Reverend Hugh Rattray, a handsome but droll and strict reverend. There's the Earl of Dolphinton, an Irish peer who's kind of strange in the head. Both of them offered to Kit - Hugh, due to pity and Dolph due to his overbearing mother - but they are both rejected by Kit since she's insulted by their offers and anyway she's waiting for Jack Westruther, Uncle Matthew's and Kitty's favorite. But he doesn't arrive when Uncle Matthew calls for him, because he feels that he'll marry Kitty anyway sooner or later, so why not make it later? He still wants to have some fun and he dislikes the old man to force his hand so. Humiliated and disappointed, Kitty sets off to run away but on his way he meets The Hon. Freddy Standen, one of Uncle Matthew's great-nephews. Freddy is the heir to a viscountcy and is independently wealthy himself, so he doesn't need to answer Uncle Matthew's summons, but he goes there anyway since on his letter to him Uncle Matthew doesn't disclose his true intentions. When dining in an inn, he encounters the distressed Kit. Hatching a scheme, she begs him to be pretend to be engaged to her. The reason that she told him was that she wanted to go to London and Uncle Matthew wouldn't allow her to go if she weren't engaged. An ulterior reason is ostensibly to make Jack jealous. So the pretend-couple sets forth to London.
I've told you before that Pretend Lovers are one of my favorite tropes. But this book is glorious for other reasons. because Freddy Standen is such a great and atypical hero in romance.
You see, Georgette Heyer and romance novels in general have two kind of flavors for a hero: the dashing wealthy rake who's very much in the petticoat line and the older smarter (but still dashing) heroes, What I like about Freddy is that he's neither of those. Freddy is wealthy, but he's neither a nonesuch or a rake or a dashing hero or very much in the petticoat line. He's a dandy, the Pinkest of the Pinks, and he cheerfully admits that he's not very clever or sardonic. Everybody likes Freddy; he's everyone's friend. And although he doesn't do much dashing rescue to maidens from odious gentlemen, he's sweet and he has address, which is very useful if you want to get out of a dreaded social engagement without offending anybody. I like what Kitty said in the end: Freddy might not be the typical heroes in the novel who snatches maidens from a mansion all willy-nilly, but no one is like that, and if Kitty meets that kind of hero in real life, she would think of him as very odious indeed! Freddy might not have any accomplishments, but he has some thing better than an accomplishment: a kind heart.
Freddy undergoes a lot of character development in this book. When the novel starts, he seems like a scatterbrained ditz, although I can see that he's a sweetie deep inside since he agrees to Kitty's scheming just so that she won't cry. Freddy's a bit lazy in the beginning, in my opinion, but as the novel progresses, he begins to take a more active role. Freddy doesn't think of himself highly at first but Kitty manages to make him see himself in a different light. His and Kitty's exploits made him realize that he can actually do something meaningful in the world.
Kitty, on the other hand, also learn some lessons in the ways of the ton, But I think the biggest lesson she's had is how she manages to see Freddy for the good man that she really is. As she becomes more acquainted with Jack, she realizes how odoriferous his behavior really is and how they're not really suited in the end after all. I also enjoy seeing Kit blooming into a confident woman by wearing clothes that she likes and fits her instead of the plain and dowdy gowns that she's had when living with the miserly, penny-pinching Uncle Penicuik.
Cotillion, at its heart, is a character-driven novel. There's not much in the way of plot (or romance) but the humor and overall sweetness makes up for it. It's a good book for a first-time foray into Georgette Heyer or a comforting palate cleanser after reading a particularly depressing historical novel.
Ms. Heyer has quite an eye for detail, and although I cheerfully do not know what a phaeton and a gig is, or the difference between the two, years of experience in watching historical BBC miniseries and reading Regency-set bodice rippers have provided me with just enough knowledge to paint a broad picture. Ms. Heyer, too, has a wit that reminded me a little of Jane Austen. There's romance and humor in her beautiful prose.
Her characters too are very colorful Ancilla Trent is a very sensible, elegant, and humorous woman. She is genteel, becoming a governess because of her family's strained circumstances, but despite her position, she is very much well-connected, with a General as an uncle. Despite her accomplishment and excellent manners, she is treated poorly by some of the neighborhood matrons when they perceive she has 'put a cap' on Sir Waldo Hawkridge, the Nonesuch in question. It's laughable that the matrons would treat Ancilla so poorly, considering in birth and manners she is far superior than any of them. Ancilla has lived in London, and her uncle is a General acquainted by the Nonesuch, while the matrons live in the middle of nowhere, Yorkshire.
Sir Waldo is also a very dashing romance hero. He is called the Nonesuch because he excels at sports, horse-riding, has a considerable fortune, excellent manners, and an air of fashionable elegance around her. Sir Waldo is a true gentleman who cares for orphaned children in his spare-time, which has put his relatives to consider them as an 'eccentric'. He quite enjoys the rustic country society, although he lives most of the time in refined London. A good part of that enjoyment has something to do without Ancilla, of course. Her elegance, sense, and humor endears her to him. Now, if he can only convince her that it is not above her station to fall in love with him.
There are other characters too: Lord Lindeth, Sir Waldo's young cousin; Miss Tiffany Wield, Ancilla's charge and a very beautiful heiress; Mrs Umbridge, Tiffany's good-natured but befuddled aunt; etc. The cast of characters meant that we do not get to see our hero and heroine together as much as we want, but rest assured, when we do, it is evident that there's an attraction between them. Despite having other characters, the romance is still very much real and satisfactory.
However, I must admit that Tiffany's many tantrums are starting to get on my nerves. And I hate that the very sensible and intelligent Ancilla suddenly gets a case of stupid-itis that leads to the Big Misunderstanding near the end of the book. Besides creating unnecessary conflict, it also leads to an unsatisfactory ending. But, being my first Heyer, I shall relent and give it four-stars, just for Sir Waldo and Ancilla's banter alone.
But this book intrigues me. It's written by a Korean author with a biracial Korean protagonist! Siblings and familial bond play an important part in the story! The protagonist writes the letter to help her move on! And even book reviewers who doesn't really review YA recommends it! I must check it out, of course. I don't have much hope starting out - like I said I don't really read YA after several bad runs - but I finished pleasantly surprised. This book exceeds even my wildest expectations: it's actually good and it doesn't have an annoying protagonist for once.
Lara Jean is a teenage girl and yes, she has crushes on boys as straight teenage girls wont to do, but she acknowledges that her crushes are shallow and pretty much not going to happen. She thinks about boys, but she thinks about her family too - her sisters and her father - and it's pretty clear that she puts them first before any boys. I like her relationship with both of her sisters. The camaraderie between them is something I find familiar, having a sister myself. However, I am a bit cautious when reading the first few pages, since in my experience with YA the first boy that the protagonist said she had a crush on will inevitably be the end-game pairing, so when I read that Lara Jean has a crush on her sister's (ex) boyfriend, I have to pause for a bit because I think that pretty much breaks some sort of Girl Code: never date your sister's ex. Especially if your sister may or may not have lingering feelings from him. I say to Lara Jean, "Lara Jean, no boy is worth hurting your sister, so I want you to think long and hard before you do anything, girl." And what I like about Lara Jean is that she understands.
The protagonist of the past YA book I read will almost definitely throw caution to the wind and start flirting with the guy immediately, but Lara Jean understands and she doesn't. She keeps her distance and resists. And that's probably the first time I smile and think about a YA protagonist: "I like you. You're smart." One of the other reasons I love this book is because it contains one of my favorite tropes of all time which is the Let's Pretend to Fake Date/Marriage Because You Are the Last Person I Will Fall in Love with and I Have to Impress/Make Jealous of this Person But Oh Noes, Now I'm Falling in Love with You For Real! trope. Any book with this trope, I devour it like a cat devours catnip. Of course, the caveat is that the relationship between the pretend lovers have to be written well and they have to have sizzling chemistry, which are all present in this book.
I like that the male lead also have flaws too; he's not as bookish as Lara Jean and normally I'm all for bookish guy/bookish girl pairing but something between them clicks in a way that's not really present with Lara Jean and Josh. It's obvious that the male lead, even though he's not "smart" in a way that Lara Jean is, is still a good, decent guy, despite the fact that the whole high school population thinks he's a total ladies' man, he's only ever had two (real) girlfriends and one he stays for four years and he obviously still care a lot about her. I'm tempted to give the book five-stars, but I don't like the ending because I think it's too abrupt and Lara Jean suddenly gets a case of stupid-itis which perpetrates the abrupt ending. Fortunately this is her only case of stupid-itis in the whole book and she recovers from it in the end, but alas that means I have to wait two weeks I can see where the story goes next.
So I am very pleased with Ms. Hamilton's Mythology. Ms. Hamilton, while still maintaining a respectable distance with her subject-matter, also inserts her own opinions and views in the stories. She is clearly passionate about her work, knows the stories very well, and cares for the characters. She laments the fates of innocents who were needlessly and absurdly brutalized by the gods. She sympathizes with Medea, the wife who was cast off by Jason, but acknowledges that she was cruel in her actions. Though I like Roman mythology, I LIVE for her distaste for Roman writers (she can throw amazing shade). You can clearly see her opinions and sympathies, but she does so subtly, weaving it in her beautiful prose, so that it does not feel patronizing or preaching.
Though the book focuses too much on Greek/Roman mythology and little on the other world mythologies, I still think this is a must-read for any mythology buff.
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Book information:
Title: Mythology
Author: Hamilton, Edith.
Edition: New York: Little, Brown and Company. First Bay Back paperback edition (reissued). 2013. (Paperback)
ISBN: 978-0-316-22333-1
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