The topic of this month is Lovely RITA (past RWA RITA winner and/or nominees)
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Cover
art: Design department
Random
House Mondadori / Silvia Sans
Cover
picture:
Robert
Gallon /
Fine
Art Photographic Library
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Published: 1990
Genre: Historical Romance
/ 18th Century
My Rating: 2 stars
In July we have to look for a
book which won a RITA in the past. Or at least a book that was a nominee.
Laura Kinsale is one of my favourite authors -as I've explained here- and I’ve always enjoyed her
books. The three Kinsale’s books that I haven’t read yet were in my TBR pile, so it was an easy
choice for me –take a Kinsale, you are going to love it, you’ve enjoyed her up
to this date. It was a perfect plan, wasn’t it?
Well, things turned to be different. Sorry if I’m kicking a puppy here.
The story is told mainly from the hero POV, which was something not very
frequent then. This novel is also famous because of its original cover
that showed only the hero, whereas in those times the couple was portrayed on
the cover.
The hero of this novel is an Englishman living in Provence in the 18th
century –before the French Revolution. He paints and has a wolf as his pet.
One day, a young man appears, and asks for his help. The hero, called S.T.,
soon realizes that this is not a young man but a woman in disguise. S.T. goes
back to his castle, and a day later, she appears in his house.
This lady, called Leigh, has a terrible story. An evil man has destroyed
her family. She seeks revenge. She’s gone to France in order to find a
legendary highwayman, called ‘the Prince of Midnight’. She wants to learn his
skills so she will be able to kill the baddie.
Sadly, S.T. is exiled in Southern France because he’s not the man he used
to be. Three years ago he lost his hearing in one ear, and he’s got serious
problems of balance. Any sudden movement dizzies him, so therefore he cannot
ride a horse or fight with a sword as he did in the past.
After a time together in which some things happen, Leigh decides to go
back to England. And he goes with her. That’s more or less the first third part
of the book. Then there’s something about horses and then about a religious
leader and in the end, horses again.
The style is wonderful. It’s a very well written book. Each word, each
sentence is there for a reason. That’s the way this story has to be told and
there’s no other way to do it. Surprise! Kinsale is an amazing writer. And I
have to add, she’s lucky with her translator. I’ve read this book in Spanish
and the translator is simply great. Many times we romance readers rant about the
awful translations. For instance, neither Susan Elizabeth Phillips nor Lisa
Kleypas have always good translators. More than once, SEP’s sense of humour
falls flat just because the translators haven’t got the knack for it. But that
is not the case with Laura Kinsale. Her translator, Ana Eiroa has translated
books by authors like Edith Wharton, D. H. Lawrence or Henry James, so she
gives that touch of Literary fiction that is so appropriate for Kinsale’s books.
Back to the book. Kinsale’s stories are more character-driven than
plot-driven. I know. Therefore, the novels work if you connect with the characters.
In this case, I have to recognize that, although I liked the hero, the heroine
made me lose my enjoyment of this book.
S.T. is handsome, charming when he needs to, a good person. He wants
Leigh the instant he recognizes her as a woman, he falls in love immediately,
he goes with her to England just to help her, no matter that the authorities
had set a reward for him. He’s got this physical problem that makes him a
little bit unsure of himself, but he’s not as angsty as you could think. I
really loved him.
His second name was very funny, Trafalgar. There’s an explanation, of
course, but nevertheless it sounded very strange to see an Englishman from the
18th century with a Spanish place-name of Arabic origins.
Anyway, as I’ve said, my problem with this book was the heroine, Leigh. At
the beginning, you don’t know who she is and what she’s looking for. So it’s a
mystery, and that’s fine with me, that’s not the problem.
She doesn’t want S.T., she feels no physical desire towards him and
certainly she’s not in love. And you know what? That’s also fine with me,
because you don’t have to love somebody if you don’t want to.
No, my main concern was that she was, basically, a very rude person. And cruel. You can be cold but, at the
same time, polite. You say ‘hello’, ‘good morning’, ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. Common
civility when you’re with a stranger, right? She’s not like that. She’s discourteous.
She treats him as if he had done
something wrong, and he hasn’t.
When she said –more than once- that he ‘can have her body’, S.T. attitude
is a fairly good one -‘
Don't Do Me No Favours’. Thank you. Because it doesn’t
matter how much S.T. wants her, it’s clear that she feels nothing and wants
nothing from him once she realizes that he’s not the man he used to be. Leigh despises
him, insults him and gives him the cold shoulder once and again. Her favourite
sentence? ‘Get away from me’, in the beginning, in the middle and –nearly- in
the end. It looks like Leigh just couldn't stand him.
What has S.T. done to deserve that treatment? Nothing, as far as I can
see. He’s only done good things for her. I just don’t get it, really. Yes, you
are unhappy because an awful religious fanatic has destroyed your family, and
you don’t want to be emotionally involved with anybody. I understand that. But that’s
not excuse to be so rude. Because none
of your terrible tribulations was S.T.’s fault.
I think this was the first romance novel in my whole life which has made
me think that
He is the
doormat and
She’s the one
that should do the grovelling.
Someone has said that Melanthe – from For my Lady’s Heart- is a cold person, too. And that’s right, but
she’s got a good reason for that, she lives with risk of death at any moment. Secondly,
that does not prevent Melanthe from being civilized. Melanthe helps Ruck even
when he’s a perfect stranger to her. Leigh is not that way. She just despises
S.T. because –reasons.
It’s obvious that ‘you can catch more flies with honey than with
vinegar’ is not her motto.
So yes, this unsympathetic creature made me dislike this book. In the
end, it doesn’t matter how wonderfully well-written a novel is. If you don’t
connect with one of the main characters, and the plot does not interest you, you
will not enjoy it.
And for the first time, while reading a Kinsale’s book, I found a thing
that historically did not sound very accurate to me. It was at the beginning,
in Chapter 4. While talking about the La Paire village, it’s said that it
regularly changed hands between the Capetians, the Habsburgs and the House of
Savoy. OK. This book is set in the 18th century. There had been no
Capetian king in the throne of France since the 14th century. Four centuries
before! It made no sense to me, considering that it was supposed to be a French
village at the time of this history,
under the rule of the House of Bourbon - which of course, was a minor branch of
the Capetian dynasty but as rulers they were considered as a different house,
as happened with their immediate predecessors, the Valois. ‘Dinasty’ and ‘House’
are two different concepts. The Bourbon kings had been ruling in France since
1589, and the Valois before them, from 1328. I know it’s a silly thing but it’s
the kind of detail that can take me out of a book.
Characters, plot, setting and style are the four important points in a
novel. I think that the four of them should be balanced if you want an
unforgettable story. And this was not the case.
Now.
Good news – There’s only a couple of Kinsale’s books that I haven’t read
yet.
Bad news – OMG there are only
two other books of her that I haven’t read yet!
What am I going to do afterwards?
Rereading her backlist, I guess.
But not this Prince of Midnight.
NB.- There are at least two other RITA winners in my TBR pile. The Promise of Jenny Jones and The Sandalwood Princess. I stopped
reading them after some pages. I didn’t connect with those books.
Am I losing my romance reading mojo?
Not at all. Now I’m reading and loving each of ‘the Spymaster series’
novels. And I’m also halfway through ‘A Charm of Magpies’ series, by KJ
Charles, books and short stories that I find funny and sexy and I’m enjoying
them a lot. Even though paranormal is not my cup of tea.
It looks like I’m not in the mood for ‘oldies but
goldies’. Just now.
The Prince of Midnight, The Sandalwood Princess and The Promise of Jenny Jones are, the
three of them, classic romance novels that a lot of people love, so I guess it
was not the right time for me to read them. So I'll wait a little more before reading the other two.
For those of you who can read Spanish, there’s a very funny review of this same book here.
