My April TBR list, comments thereon

Some from my buying spree in April:

Lord Stanhope's Proposal by Jessica Benson

Witty, sharp, crisp, fun to read. Some of the characters are almost a little too silly, but really, it is a comedy, yes? My daughter read this too and really liked it. Some of the quotes are already going back and forth between as shared jokes.

The Last Knight by Candice Proctor

A Medieval. Man, I've got to find more of these. I remember now why I tended to gravitate towards Medievals a few years ago. There's a different tone to them, a richer feeling, than most Regencies I've been reading recently. OK, that's a GROSS oversimplification, but I'll hope that you know what I'm getting at.

Damion de Jarnac is an English knight in the late 1100s who is caught up in spying for King Henry. He is trying to decipher the code Philip of France uses to plot against Henry. Attica d'Alerion leaves her home in the middle of the night to warn her brother of a message passed to her by a dying courier. She disguises herself as a young man and, of course, bumps into Damion. I REALLY liked this book. There's political intrigue, mistaken identities, and a long painful buildup to the relationship.

I guess the sort of painful repressed longing feeling, the camping out in tents as the couple travels the country, the grime of it all, is what attracts me to Medievals. Until that all becomes too operatic and overblown and I revert to Regencies.

The Wagering Widow by Diane Gaston

A sequel to The Mysterious Miss M, which I have not read. Lord Keating seduces an heiress into elopement, only to discover that she is not wealthy. Emily becomes miserable in her marriage, mostly because Guy refuses to touch her because he is trying to behave honorably after forcing her into marriage. She soon takes on the disguise of the Lady Widow, a masked card-sharp, who frequents one gaming hall. She intends to win enough money to support herself separate from her husband.

Then her husband stumbles upon her in disguise at the gaming hall. There's some excellent wagers placed, including sexual pay-offs, and some neat seduction. In case you haven't noticed, I have a thing for masks (check out my "photo"), and the idea that he knows that the Lady Widow is Emily, but Emily thinks that he only thinks of her as the Lady Widow is well done. (That all could have slipped sideways pretty quickly into the, "Oh, come on" territory. Diane Gaston handles it well.) Highly recommend this book.

The Improper Wife by Diane Perkins

::Blushing mightily here::

I was absolutely sure I had read this book and was ready to write about it. I skimmed through it and discovered, that, eh, no. I haven't read it. (But I was sure that I had? Very weird.) I think my daughter had this in her room--she seems to have full knowledge of the plot--and then returned it to my bookcase.

Right, so, the good news is that I have something to read tomorrow. Today I'm trying to, yeah right, clean the house for my Dear Butcher's birthday. Monday is my birthday. I should try to keep this for a birthday present for myself, but I can't keep an unread book in the house unless my daughter steals it from me.