The Gentleman's Gambit
May. 10th, 2024 09:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jajalalaI finished reading The Gentleman's Gambit by Evie Dunmore, a Victorian-era romance novel involving a Scottish suffragist and a Lebanese man trying to sneak artifacts in Britain back to his homeland. And overall? Had a most DELIGHTFUL time!!
I understand why it's such a stereotype that old ladies like to read old-timey romance novels now. This is actually written pretty contemporary (published December 2023), but is set in the Victorian era, so there's some modern sensibilities but the drama and scandal of Victorian England. It made for a very pleasing and easy-to-read story that just kind of propelled me along and had me giggling and kicking my feet over their smouldering gazes (and at some point, a week where they just Fucked Every Day, DESPITE not being married :O but somehow they found a way to sneak an affair while both assuming the other DIDN'T want to marry).
There was a decent amount of history/politics included as well. Obviously the tone of the book is on the lighter side, so it's not like we were entrenched in it, but there was discussion on the history of different countries (especially Lebanon) and debate about how artifacts are handled and by whom, and who has "the right" to them. This fills up a lot of the first half of the book, the second half became I think more about the relationship and suffragette movement. Either way, I learned at least a little and developed a stronger interest in history/politics while reading this, even though I hated history in school. I find it hard to keep all the dates and events straight; like I don't have any real anchors and so everything I'm told about it becomes an amorphous mess. I still had some of that trouble while reading this (they referred to various groups of people taking over parts of Lebanon throughout history and in my head I was like "huhhh when would that have been? Who exactly is that group??") but... this might sound stupid, but since the hot love interest was involved, I felt motivated to go to google and look up some things so I could get more properly situated XD. My knowledge of Lebanon and the British suffragette movement was literally 0%, and now it's probably at like a 5%, but it's 5% more than what I knew before!
Anyways, the romance was super fun. What I like about historical romance is that propriety and strict manners tend to put up more barriers between people getting together, and encourage more creativity and make something like taking off a glove particularly meaningful. This had a lot of that (although the week-long fuckfest was pretty straightforward XD). In this romance, the main girl had a lot of relatable issues, she had a nervous disposition and didn't like crowds, and was certain she would require a lot of time alone even if she got married, so I liked reading about her worries and concerns and it made sense to me why she held back. I love a stiff character who's terrified to emote <3.
She also turned out to be bisexual (she had a crush on a German princess), which was a choice. I don't mind it, I sort of liked it, but it also was something only kind of half-way revealed through the book, while her previous failed crushes on men were front-and-center within the first few chapters. I get that times were different and so it makes sense for her to treat/think her female crushes a little differently, but it did kind of strike me that she talked about having a "pattern" where she would crush on someone who would just use her and leave her, which made it difficult for her to trust the love interest (who she knew was "using" her to access the artifacts he wanted to steal), but there is SUCH a big deal made of this "pattern"... when it's like YES, two men you liked used you, but the woman you liked didn't use you?? But I guess since she's a woman you're not counting her in the trend??? I think I'm being a nitpicker, I ultimately think it's better for authors to be including and engaging with sexuality than to pretend that EVERYONE was straight throughout history, but as someone who's sensitive about when women get under-prioritized, I couldn't help but feel the female crush got a little less gravitas than the male ones (again, I think I'm nitpicking, but it was something I noted).
Throughout the book we focused on a few other women, the main character's friends and fellow suffragettes, who all had their own fiance/husbands. Occasionally we got a POV of them, and every POV ended with a classy "and then they of course had awesome sex with their awesome partner" and a fade to black. I was a bit confused at why we were having little asides about these ladies, but later I realized that this is actually book #4 out of a SERIES, and so I think all these gals had previously starred in the other three romances, and this book allowed for a check-in on them.
The epilogue also featured all four women, and especially one in particular very strongly? It kind of threw me for a loop, bc we spent SO much time with the couple I knew, and then in the epilogue that couple got like, one or two lines??? Like the epilogue definitely assumed you read the other three books. Still was a very touching epilogue (it's a big timeskip that goes past world war I and into British women over 30 getting the right to vote, basically a culmination of all the suffragist efforts) but I felt a little lost on all the characters.
Overall the book felt really well constructed to me, with lots of little twists and turns and foreshadowing/action that naturally built to the pivotal scenes. The final barrier for the lovers had lots of drama and had me cheering like "Go girl!!! Go get your man, you can do it!!!" so I was invested and having fun the whole time.
So basically had lots of fun and would high-key recommend to someone looking for a gentle read with some substance in the history/politics department. After reading Dykette I really needed something light on the mind, so this was perfect!
Since I told a friend of mine I'm getting into Regency/Victorian romance novels, she gave me a recommendation for an F/F one she knows of: Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall. It's regency-era but also has magic/fairies, and the POV is Puck (as in a Midsummer Night's Dream Puck) who flits around invisibly to observe things, so I'm not sure how I'll feel about the magical element... but I am definitely interested in F/F! We shall see
I understand why it's such a stereotype that old ladies like to read old-timey romance novels now. This is actually written pretty contemporary (published December 2023), but is set in the Victorian era, so there's some modern sensibilities but the drama and scandal of Victorian England. It made for a very pleasing and easy-to-read story that just kind of propelled me along and had me giggling and kicking my feet over their smouldering gazes (and at some point, a week where they just Fucked Every Day, DESPITE not being married :O but somehow they found a way to sneak an affair while both assuming the other DIDN'T want to marry).
There was a decent amount of history/politics included as well. Obviously the tone of the book is on the lighter side, so it's not like we were entrenched in it, but there was discussion on the history of different countries (especially Lebanon) and debate about how artifacts are handled and by whom, and who has "the right" to them. This fills up a lot of the first half of the book, the second half became I think more about the relationship and suffragette movement. Either way, I learned at least a little and developed a stronger interest in history/politics while reading this, even though I hated history in school. I find it hard to keep all the dates and events straight; like I don't have any real anchors and so everything I'm told about it becomes an amorphous mess. I still had some of that trouble while reading this (they referred to various groups of people taking over parts of Lebanon throughout history and in my head I was like "huhhh when would that have been? Who exactly is that group??") but... this might sound stupid, but since the hot love interest was involved, I felt motivated to go to google and look up some things so I could get more properly situated XD. My knowledge of Lebanon and the British suffragette movement was literally 0%, and now it's probably at like a 5%, but it's 5% more than what I knew before!
Anyways, the romance was super fun. What I like about historical romance is that propriety and strict manners tend to put up more barriers between people getting together, and encourage more creativity and make something like taking off a glove particularly meaningful. This had a lot of that (although the week-long fuckfest was pretty straightforward XD). In this romance, the main girl had a lot of relatable issues, she had a nervous disposition and didn't like crowds, and was certain she would require a lot of time alone even if she got married, so I liked reading about her worries and concerns and it made sense to me why she held back. I love a stiff character who's terrified to emote <3.
She also turned out to be bisexual (she had a crush on a German princess), which was a choice. I don't mind it, I sort of liked it, but it also was something only kind of half-way revealed through the book, while her previous failed crushes on men were front-and-center within the first few chapters. I get that times were different and so it makes sense for her to treat/think her female crushes a little differently, but it did kind of strike me that she talked about having a "pattern" where she would crush on someone who would just use her and leave her, which made it difficult for her to trust the love interest (who she knew was "using" her to access the artifacts he wanted to steal), but there is SUCH a big deal made of this "pattern"... when it's like YES, two men you liked used you, but the woman you liked didn't use you?? But I guess since she's a woman you're not counting her in the trend??? I think I'm being a nitpicker, I ultimately think it's better for authors to be including and engaging with sexuality than to pretend that EVERYONE was straight throughout history, but as someone who's sensitive about when women get under-prioritized, I couldn't help but feel the female crush got a little less gravitas than the male ones (again, I think I'm nitpicking, but it was something I noted).
Throughout the book we focused on a few other women, the main character's friends and fellow suffragettes, who all had their own fiance/husbands. Occasionally we got a POV of them, and every POV ended with a classy "and then they of course had awesome sex with their awesome partner" and a fade to black. I was a bit confused at why we were having little asides about these ladies, but later I realized that this is actually book #4 out of a SERIES, and so I think all these gals had previously starred in the other three romances, and this book allowed for a check-in on them.
The epilogue also featured all four women, and especially one in particular very strongly? It kind of threw me for a loop, bc we spent SO much time with the couple I knew, and then in the epilogue that couple got like, one or two lines??? Like the epilogue definitely assumed you read the other three books. Still was a very touching epilogue (it's a big timeskip that goes past world war I and into British women over 30 getting the right to vote, basically a culmination of all the suffragist efforts) but I felt a little lost on all the characters.
Overall the book felt really well constructed to me, with lots of little twists and turns and foreshadowing/action that naturally built to the pivotal scenes. The final barrier for the lovers had lots of drama and had me cheering like "Go girl!!! Go get your man, you can do it!!!" so I was invested and having fun the whole time.
So basically had lots of fun and would high-key recommend to someone looking for a gentle read with some substance in the history/politics department. After reading Dykette I really needed something light on the mind, so this was perfect!
Since I told a friend of mine I'm getting into Regency/Victorian romance novels, she gave me a recommendation for an F/F one she knows of: Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall. It's regency-era but also has magic/fairies, and the POV is Puck (as in a Midsummer Night's Dream Puck) who flits around invisibly to observe things, so I'm not sure how I'll feel about the magical element... but I am definitely interested in F/F! We shall see
no subject
Date: 2024-05-13 02:49 am (UTC)I've read one of Alexis Hall's M/M novels before and it had a lot of humour and fun banter, so this one might be a fun light read as well. I'll be interested to know what you think if/when you read it.
no subject
Date: 2024-05-14 12:01 pm (UTC)