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Allusion is not Illusion
You'll pry my books off my cold, dead body. By the time you shift them all I'll be flat and dessicated.
Currently reading
Winter's Tales
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Already Dead
The Rings of Saturn
Lady Audley's Secret
Unequal Protection: How Corporations Became "People" - And How You Can Fight Back
The City, Not Long After
You Can Sketch: A Step-by-Step Guide for Absolute Beginners
Lonely Werewolf Girl
Hoyt must've cared more about alliteration than accuracy, as this is not a "rake redeemed by love" romance. The hero, Vale, is not sinful beyond the human norm; rather, he seems to be a pretty decent man whose emotional troubles stem from horrific experiences during his term as a soldier -- not, thankfully, in the Napoleonic Wars, which seem to be the only historical conflict most romance writers know by name, but while fighting the French and Indians in Quebec. Convinced that he and his comrades were betrayed by one of their own, Vale is obsessed with avenging his dead friends. For some reason that wasn't quite clear, he also urgently wants to get married. Any woman will do, preferably one with big tits. Unfortunately, despite his title and a reasonable fortune, he keeps getting jilted at the altar. So when Melisande, a friend of one of his former fiancees, suggests that she could marry him, he agrees. Melisande fell in love with Vale when he was engaged to her best friend, now married to one of his friends. But she doesn't want him to know she loves him, because she had her heart broken once before.
No, that didn't quite make sense to me, either. But Melisande is presented as a very reserved individual so I can accept it. There are some weaknesses in the motivations of both characters, but overall they are fairly well-developed and the writing is good for genre. I quite liked the fairy tale that Melisande is translating, called Laughing Jack. The plot arc with the traitor didn't seem to quite work out, but I see this is a series so maybe that gets resolved later.