1890s f/f with Caribbean and Chilean/English MCs. Worked better for me than the first in the series, I think because the long period of UST gave the c1890s f/f with Caribbean and Chilean/English MCs. Worked better for me than the first in the series, I think because the long period of UST gave the characters and world such terrific space for development (and I just like UST okay). Both heroines have a lot to learn about what they really want (starting from some not entirely sympathetic places, which I loved) and it makes for a very satisfying romance.
And the world building is great. Fabulous and clearly deeply researched depiction of fin de siecle arty-boho and queer Paris, plus a lot of interesting stuff on the struggles of women, especially of colour, in the very white male world of business. A satisfyingly meaty read along with some scorching sex. ...more
What the literal fuck. I mean, 'what', and also 'the fuck', and literally what the FUCK did I just read. No, seriously, what. The fuck.
It's not the uWhat the literal fuck. I mean, 'what', and also 'the fuck', and literally what the FUCK did I just read. No, seriously, what. The fuck.
It's not the unbelievably detailed descriptions of horrific child sexual abuse and murder. I mean, it is, but I knew the MC was all about Gilles de Rais so it didn't come as a shock. No. It's...
...look, this book has lengthy disquisitions on the following:
--Why modern literature is rubbish except for the author --The inadequacy of modern church architecture --How incubus demons use their bifurcated penises to fuck nuns in both holes at once --The bad quality of many restaurants in Paris, many of which serve poorly cooked fish --The symbolism of bell-ringing --The best way to eat gingerbread (between thin slices of buttered bread--it tastes of fresh walnuts!) --Why trees are disgustingly pornographic forms of gross sexual depravity, mostly anuses --Is celery liqueur actually nice? --Full description of a Black Mass with sodomy, desecration of the Host, etc --How eating 'high' game and spicy food turns you into a child murderer --Modern literature: still shit. --Cats, eh.
It's profoundly, to-the-bone misogynistic and also homophobic, but at this point we're already so far into Evil La La Land that to get upset would suggest you've skipped about 70% of it. Which would probably be for the best because there's no plot as such, all the characters are just hobbyhorses for the author talking to himself. I'm going to guess not a lot of people wanted to talk to him.
Anyway if you want fin de siecle decadence, occult whatever, or a fuckload of overwrought descriptions, you have come to the right shop. Just be aware that the shop is mostly selling lavish descriptions of child rape and jizzing on consecrated bread, and also has a LOT of 'modern literature is rubbish' to shift....more
YES I AM BACK ON MY MANNING COLES BULLSHIT, SUE ME. Hoovering up the last few as they are (sloppily) dunked into e. This is a particularly good one, wYES I AM BACK ON MY MANNING COLES BULLSHIT, SUE ME. Hoovering up the last few as they are (sloppily) dunked into e. This is a particularly good one, with a strong showing from Campbell and Forgan, my sociopathic model train making faves, and a decidedly Grand Guignol plot in the slums of Paris and rural France. ...more
Fun French-set historical epistolary fantasy novel, with two nonbinary leads, one of whom can change their body by magic. Lots of bonking plus a feistFun French-set historical epistolary fantasy novel, with two nonbinary leads, one of whom can change their body by magic. Lots of bonking plus a feisty magical subplot and a very tender romance. Highly enjoyable, wittily told and nicely written, with terrific sense of place and time. ...more
A romance novel about Richard the Lionheart and Philip II of France, which asks us upfront to accept that the characters "Richard of Aquitaine" and "PA romance novel about Richard the Lionheart and Philip II of France, which asks us upfront to accept that the characters "Richard of Aquitaine" and "Philip II" are not the actual Richard and Philip (who, it says upfront, sucked), but other people with the same names and positions and lives.
This means that "Philip" in the book presumably didn't recently rob, forcibly convert, and expel the Jews from France, and "Richard" wasn't loathed for his notoriously cruel and savage rule. ("Richard" also doesn't seem to be betrothed to "Philip"'s sister). I don't know if the book addresses Richard and Philip joining the Third Crusade (unprovoked fanatical religious war) together because I DNF'd; I doubt it mentions that Philip went on to preside over the Albigensian Crusade, a campaign of staggering brutality against some spectacularly harmless people who only wanted to be left alone. What I'm saying is, Richard was a violent psychopath and Philip was a calculating psychopath and they each had the blood of thousands on their hands and I...do not want to read a romance novel about them.
It's not about them. The foreword makes it clear that it's about these two other people of the same name who are all pining and yearning and Captive Princing for one another. But, this invites the question, why are they called Richard of Aquitaine and Philip of France? Why not do the Game of Thrones thing, use the history, rename the country and characters, and avoid all the above?
IMO, the answer is because this book's hook is Richard the Lionheart's gay love affair. (It's a great hook. Absolute props. I bought the book because of it.) Without that, this would be a romance novel about a couple of fictional princes, and there's a fair few of those. With it, it's a historical reimagining with heft.
But I don't think you can have it both ways. Either this is Richard and Philip or it's not. If it is, I hope they both step on medieval Lego for the pair of murderous bastards they were. If you can accept it's not, if you don't know anything about the Angevins (fair), if you're happy with historical fanfic, then it's a slow-burn prince romance with a lot of yearning, and I can well imagine people absolutely loving it on its own terms.
I don't know. It's a thousand years ago. Everyone would be dead anyway. Most people didn't spend a year of lockdown inexplicably and obsessively reading Angevin and Crusade history. /shifty look/ But I got two thirds in with increasing discomfort about all the things we were pretending didn't happen, and the unacknowledged human toll of this game of thrones, and I just couldn't buy into it.
File under 'stranger than fiction'. The bizarre story of the Affair of the Diamond Necklace that helped bring down the French monarchy (in which a scaFile under 'stranger than fiction'. The bizarre story of the Affair of the Diamond Necklace that helped bring down the French monarchy (in which a scammer set up a cardinal to arrange the sale of a necklace made of literally a pound of diamonds to Marie Antoinette, only in fact they just nicked it). Well told and atmospheric....more
Short romance with a Chinese-American heroine trying to make it big in silent films, and a white American hero trying to write the Great Novel (but fiShort romance with a Chinese-American heroine trying to make it big in silent films, and a white American hero trying to write the Great Novel (but finding himself rerouted to screenplays to pay the rent). It's a second chance story--she leaves him to pursue her career, they reconnect in Paris.
Lots of atmosphere, but felt a bit like it needed another pass and maybe more space. Iris is simultaneously a rising star who gets recognised and asked for autographs in public, and relegated to playing minor roles/the maid, which seems a bit odd. And Owen and Iris's teenage romance is rekindled very quickly, with the conflicts raised and dealt with quite briefly.
I felt like we needed a bit more space to be persuaded of them as an adult couple, and to see Owen in particular being a bit more grown up. (I may be biased here because white privileged 1920s American literary types playing starving-artist in Paris tend to be the bad guys in my pulp-reading experience and thus mental line up.) Whereas the parts with Iris building her career, confronting Orientalist racism on top of the routine misogyny and exploitation of film, and trying to balance her career, her moral core, and her personal life was terrific, really interesting, and I'd happily read a much longer book about that. ...more
The grim, grim story of the Cathars, a dualist sect who believed the material world was evil. They were against the established church and monarchies The grim, grim story of the Cathars, a dualist sect who believed the material world was evil. They were against the established church and monarchies because worldly pomp, didn't believe in oaths or sacraments unless they were given by people who actually demonstrably lived up to their principles, didn't believe in tithing, were against violence, generally believed in something like equality for women and lower classes. Basically the kind of religion you can get behind. As far as can be told they just...didn't do any harm. Except, of course, to the Church, by making people question why they should give much of their money and labour to support a bunch of greedy corrupt bastards when you could attain heaven by simply living a good life of service, prayer and self restraint.
So they had to go, and by happy chance, the French monarchy was bang alongside any excuse to put down the independent and headstrong Languedoc nobility. A crusade was called for, and was every bit as vile, greedy, spectacularly violent and flat out evil as, oooh, all the other crusades. Good lord, the cruelty and misery that the Catholic church has wrought.
It's actually quite hard to read this book because you want the story to come out differently so very much, and there were points when it could have. A handful of people not dying, a handful of others dying earlier, and Europe might have been a very different place. Plus, there's very little to cheer about, although we do dwell with enormous pleasure and some detail on the splatting of one particularly evil bastard.
Well written and clearly told. I'd have liked a bit more on the life of the Cathars before we get into the protracted death, but inevitably most of the sources are from the Church and the Inquisition, so. ...more
I read a bunch of these a few years ago and had forgotten how completely bananas they are. Detective stories with really quite random detection and inI read a bunch of these a few years ago and had forgotten how completely bananas they are. Detective stories with really quite random detection and intermittent supernatural bits and everyone being extremely odd. This was fun in a 'have I inadvertently fallen asleep and dreamed the plot' way but needed more spectral army of corpses. ...more
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