At the start of an 1892 duel in Liechtenstein between Princess Pauline Metternich and the Countess Kielmannsegg, Baroness Lubinska, who presided over the duel, insisted that the women remove their clothing above their waists to avoid infection in the event that a sword pushed clothing into the wound it caused. The baroness had seen many instances of septic infection in soldiers for this very reason throughout her years of medical training.

At the dueling ground on the fateful day, all formalities were carried out to the letter including an attempt at and refusal of reconciliation. The ladies engaged and, after a few trifling feints and thrusts, a wild slash from the princess brought about a light flow of blood from the countess’ nose. Seeing the injury she caused, the shocked princess, in a stereotypical feminine gesture, threw both hands up to her cheeks. Just then, the countess lunged and pierced the princess through her right forearm. The sight of the ensuing blood caused the respective seconds to faint. The footmen and coachmen, who had been ordered to stand some distance away with their backs toward the action, heard the cries and ran toward the women to render aid. Baroness Lubinska, however, decided the male servants had more salacious motives and attacked them with her umbrella, shouting, “Avert your eyes, avert your eyes — you lustful wretches!”

Does this send anyone else's imagination into overdrive? Isn't Baroness Lubinska AMAZING? And not only were the two duelers women, but their seconds were women too! 

So if you were to write a Victorian romance, which of these characters would you choose? The hapless footman? Baronnes Lubinska? One of the fainting seconds?  What else sets your imagination off?

So last week, I had an issue of believing in a heroine who suddenly did something inexplicable to what I thought her character was. This week, not so much.

There are some minor similarities--in the roughest of ways--between LOVE AND OTHER SCANDALS and MY NOTORIOUS GENTLEMAN. Both Regency; both have rakes; both have these wallflower type heroines (spinsterish), and both end up in a scandal in which could have been easily prevented if they'd been using their brains at the time. Very circumstantial, I admit.

In MY NOTORIOUS GENTLEMAN, Grace Kenwood is the parson's daughter (oh, how I love a heroine who is bound by this sort of double-virtue; it's conflict I can easily relate); and Trevor is the new neighbor who happens to be a war-hero and a notorious rake. Emphasis on the notorious rake. He takes a shine to Grace--she's not your typical girl, mainly one of the women trying to take off his pants in every dark room of a ballroom. (Really, ladies, do you not have any pride? Come on.)

So something very different happens with Grace and Trevor. They become friends first. It's lovely. They have a bit of a rocky start, and there's a bit more drama than the typical friendship romance found in a Julia Quinn book (she does love the friends-to-lovers trope too). But it feels natural and fun and you really do root for them. Also Grace introduces a new mission in life for Trevor. Without his soldiering/spying, he was at a loss, flailing around, but with Grace, he saw that the town he chose to live in needed an insurgence of work, pride, and money to become a real town again and he knew how to go about making it happen. Grace gives him a purpose.

Trevor gives Grace...a bit of self-interest. Grace is usually so busy helping everyone else, she doesn't take care of her own needs. She puts herself last. When she first meets Trevor, she knows he'd be perfect for the town belle, because she'd be the vivacious flirty fun he'd need to get his smile back. (Trevor is done with vivacious flirty fun of that variety. He plans to find it with the parson's daughter.) She didn't entertain the thought he'd remotely want her--it just wasn't possible. She put herself last. Trevor was keen to put her first--and when Grace began to realize that, she realized she rather liked being put first, especially in Trevor's heart.

So when they embroil themselves in a scandal--that could have been easily avoided--I could see more of the reason why they engaged in it. She was putting herself first for the first time, taking a chance; and he...well, there was no doubt he loved her and was going to keep her, so it wasn't wrong to him.

Also there's like a red herring of an ending, where the Black Moment was something else, and that was probably wise. I'm not sure the drama overly fit the book, it was possibly the one thing out of the book where I was like, "This seems out of sync" but in fairness, the author did set up a lot of threads that allowed this to happen so it does seem necessary. I think my confusion was the fact that town is so quiet and peaceful, and this action sequence that happens is very London. *LOL* But it worked. It all worked out in the end--all those threads nicely tied up--and all is forgiven among the characters.

Now I just need to hunt up the first book in the series and read it. (And you won't miss it. This one is imminently readable by itself.) Nicely done. Highly recommend.

What are you reading this week? Have you read MY NOTORIOUS GENTLEMAN? What did you think?

I’m so rarely inspired by myself. I have to seek it elsewhere if I want to be inspired—and yes, there is that golden truth that writers should never sit around waiting to be inspired because you are more likely to be inspired as you write; however, sometimes you just need to read a motivational book, just because. This was one of those times for me.





What I needed was an exorcist apparently.





When you’re feeling crappy about your writing, what do you do to help turn the mojo around? Do you write on a scene you really wanted? Do you find someone inspiring to say something in a new way to relight you? Do you watch that Elizabeth Gilbert TED talk for the 100^th time? What types of things do you do to motivate you back to the Zone?

Yeah, I'm still alive. Toasted. Very toasted. Exhausted, hoarse, but content.

I had my big panel today, crew. The one about everything I learned from almost dying...about 7 people there, but it was good.

I was articulate, didn't sweat, never stumbled...

Okay that's all a lie.

I was a wreck, but I think I bluffed through enough to make it work. I know it worked for at least one young woman who came up to afterward and thanked me for being so honest. She admitted she suffered from panic attacks and held a lot of fear of rejection. We sat and talked for a good 15 minutes afterward and ... you know... if you can help one person with something you say or something you write, then life is good.

So, even thought I sweated like crazy and wasn't sure of where I was most of the time, because I'd scribbled all over my notes and kept getting lost... It was good.

And if I ever do this again, I will be better organized.

But to top it all off, at the costume ball, I was visiting with a friend I sorta smuggled in with me, and Jennifer Ashley stopped to chat with some other people at the table... I nudged Siobhan and said, "That's Jennifer Ashley." Siobhan had already admitted she was fan... It was great! Siobhan introduced herself, got a picture, was glowing. I stood up and got a picture... and then...

Jennifer said she'd seen the write up for my panel and wanted to go but wasn't able to...had I really almost died? And she asked about it all and I stood there and talked with her...and she remembered who I was from RWA two years ago and ... it was a good night!

So, I'll be on and off the blog today. I have panels to attend and a water slide to ride that takes one through a shark tank... I also hope to do the zipline out at the Fremont Street Experience... And buy a drink with a coupon I got... 24 oz for the price of 16 oz. I really want to see what I get with this! And there is an awesome chocolate store here...must visit!

Anyway, the theme of today's blog, at the heart is what I wrote earlier. If you can help one person with something you say or something you write, then life is good.

Can you remember when someone helped you out of a bad vibe? Or a book that helped? A particular thing someone said, or did? Have you ever felt that humble warmth of knowing you did right? Let's hear about it, share the goodness, crew!

I have gone on record before that I am a huge Caroline Linden fan. She's witty; her characters are funny and in need of redemption from time to time; and the heroines are worth rooting for.

And then I read LOVE AND OTHER SCANDALS.

Now on the surface it has all the things I love about Regency historicals. It hit all the notes and beats. We had a rake. We had a wallflower. We had a pushy mother. We had an eccentric aunt. Every character I met, I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved their play on the page and their dialogue. I was all in.

And then the Black Moment happened.

And I remember thinking, "WTF?"

But I was in the bath at the time and I couldn't get out and find a different book. I had already invested all this time in this book, so I kept on. Now I will grant you: it was not a WTF in the kind of WTF-ery that Nicholas Sparks delights and excels in. We were not suddenly deluged with dead characters and a lesson about life is all about us dying and nothing is permanent. (Thank God, because the Mother was a bit ill for a while and I was worried for her.) Still, it was definitely a "This does not feel like the most probable course of actions for the characters as I know and understand them right now." And maybe that was just me. I am totally willing to admit to that.

I myself consider myself a bit of a wallflower; and have the pushy Mother and love the forbidden boys...and there is no way on God's Green Earth I would have agreed to the course of actions that occurred right before the Black Moment. Not even for Deerhunter--and Deerhunter has gotten me to do some things I wouldn't have dreamed of or made a bet about--deerhunting at 5 a.m comes to mind. So at the point of this Black Moment, the decisions made by the wallflower seem...rather dumbassed for someone who worries as much about her Mother's opinion as she does and doesn't want to get in trouble. But she bothered me a lot less than the hero. The hero has repeatedly made thoughts that he knows he's not in her Mother's good graces--but instead of appealing to her Mother by showing her that he has reformed, he does this instead.

Yes, that'll definitely win her parents over, you asshat. So any growth he had going on as a hero, about outgrowing his tendencies to do these types of shenanigans were lost. However, right after he does that...and he kinda starts to realize it was bone-headed, he makes quick strides to make up for it. But still, where was this forethought 12 hours before? He had the forethought PRIOR to the event and right after, but not during...it was like both of them had out of body experiences.

The only reason I could determine why either of them did it was so the Black Moment could happen. Because quite honestly, these two were enamored with each other to their eyebrows--so there wasn't going to be a Black Moment of the "does he really love someone else" kind? Or "does he plan to remain single forever" kind?--because he pretty much clears those up rather early. Oh, there's some "does he really like her? But she's so plain" trials going on, but since he makes every effort (it seems) to treat her as anything but plain, I didn't think the heroine could fall for that kind of crap.

The other possible reason it happened when it happened is because if certain things hadn't happened then (aside from the Black Moment), they wouldn't have happened at all. Okay, fine, sex. They have sex. But the sex is essentially used to make the Black Moment--and it just makes them unrelatable, unlikable, which did not coincide with the characters I knew. (THOUGH it can be rightly argued, we're all capable of stupidity, no matter how smart and intelligent we may appear otherwise.) Still, it just felt like a shoe-horned in act because you need a sex scene for a romance novel and it double-played as the Black Moment. It completely jerked me out of the story and I was annoyed with the characters until well after the Moment had ended. Do not use sex to annoy me. I beg you.

Sighs.

I highly recommend Caroline Linden's books, but for this one, I believe I would use a cautionary on it. It was a fast read--up until that Black Moment--and it may be enjoyable for many on different levels, but for me, where the Black Moment needs to feel authentic, as if the characters were truly losing something or in danger, it can't feel inauthentic to the story or characters, well, it just missed the mark for me. Sex scenes are always tricky; and so are Black Moments. Maybe this story worked for others who read it...but it did not exactly work for me. I'm sorry.

I'm still looking forward to whatever Caroline Linden comes out with next. I think this one was just a clunker for me; and I can name a clunker (or three) for nearly every author I know and autobuy. (If I was rating I think it would be a 3.5 stars out of 5 for me. Characters worked; plot did not.

If you read it and loved it--hurray!--maybe you can share with the group why the story worked for you? Or have you read a story where the Black Moment didn't work for you? What do you think would have made it better? What was a story that had a really great Black Moment?

DISCLOSURE: Avon gave me this book to review. I'm sorry I couldn't give it full pom-poms and a cheer, but I had to keep honest.