Summer Reads 5: A Talent for Trouble by Anne Barbour

The Before:

Back cover uses the word "Ton" instead of London... This should have been my first warning.

The Feels:
None.

The Concerns:
Clearly Barbour needs to do some more research on the Regency Era. Yes, London is referred to as Town, but it's pretty rare to see it as ton. That's just stupid and annoying.

The male lead, whose name I can't remember and won't be bothered to look it up, chastises the female lead, Matilda or whatever, about her painting. When he finds out that she's good at painting, I kid you not, he says, "but you're a woman?" Women in the Regency Era were expected to know how to paint, especially in the upper class. That's a whole subplot in Austen's Emma. It was one of the few things women were allowed to do; that and draw. It would be like him saying, "WOW! You know how to read? But you're a woman."

DNF- Had to rage quit. 


Plot: 1/10 (Purely because it has one.)
Writing Style: 0/10
Meaningfullness: 0/10

Summer Reads 4: A Dedicated Scoundrel by Anne Barbour

The Before:

Yet another book from my Esty box. I loved the line on the back cover, "He called himself John Smith, but to Catherine his name was temptation." 

I couldn't not read this one.

The Feels:
It was a pretty good romance. Catherine was a good character. She felt a little more well rounded as opposed to some of the previous female main characters. She was an active character and (understandably) didn't exactly trust Justin to begin with.

The Concerns:
Justin is all of the problems with this book rolled into one. I mean, first of all, "Justin" is a 80's/90's d-bag name, not the name of a leading man in a Regency Romance. Surprisingly, I did not take issue with his amnesia. I didn't like that we as the reader knows who he is and are inside his head. That gets things a bit confusing. It would have been a lot better it Barbour just kept the reader with Catherine.

Justin was also accused of rape by a woman in his past...

Yeah, I'm not on board with that. And it's a very quickly dismissed line. This book was published in '97 and I really thought we would have more sensitivity to that sort of thing. And it never says that it wasn't rape... It just says that his seduction of her was consensual from his perspective. Gross.

Plot: 5/10
Writing Style: 6/10
Meaningfullness: 1/10