Thursday, January 29, 2015

2015 book 29

Rose Lerner's True Pretenses
Yes--this is it--I have found THE HOLY GRAIL--a historical romance that actually has A JEWISH MAIN CHARACTER. I mean, ok, sure, he's a con man, trying for one last big score so he can buy an army commission for his brother (who wants to get out of the con man game), but so what, he's JEWISH. (His childhood is straight out of Dickens, I swear.) (Lerner is also the only historical romance author I've read who has characters being historical accurately casually anti-Semitic.) Anyway, his plan involves marrying his brother off to a local woman whose money is tied up in her dowry, and she wants it for various political/charitable things to honor her dead Tory father and keep helping out the town (this is a sequel to the one I read yesterday, local politics are a big deal! It was nice to see those characters again, too). Obviously they fall for each other instead. BUT, I mean, there are so many complications and secrets and class and religious issues! Really strong writing and great characters and realistic-ish dilemmas and good stuff all around. A/A-.

No comments: