35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I really liked this book!, January 13, 1999
By A Customer
I've read lots of other reviews for this book, and most people don't like it at all. Conversely, books other people adore, I either find mediocre (like A Knight In Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux) or downright hateful (like The Flame and The Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss). I'm a big Laura Kinsale Fan; I have yet to read a book by her I didn't like, but I have to say, this is one of my all-time favorites.
Maybe it's because it's one the best "funny" romances I've ever read. People like Jill Barnett, Rebecca Paisley and Geralyn Dawson have written historical romances with a decidedly humorous bent, with ditzy, sweet heroines and forbidding, stern heroes. For some reason, all the books I've read by the authors above have irritated me. Midsummer Moon is the one of the few humorous romance I've been able to thoroughly enjoy. I found Merlin's absent-mindedness hilarious without verging into ridiculousness, and I thought the chemistry between her and Ransom was wonderful. I also loved the fact that Ransom finally gave up trying to change her--it's significant that Merlin finally gave up trying to resist him only then.
But is it a particularly realistic book? No. Will the liberties taken with scientific fact irritate you? Perhaps. Will Merlin irritate you? Maybe. But as far as "humorous" romances go, I say this is the best I've read so far, and it's one of my favorite romances from a very talented author.
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40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A "scientific romance" of great humor, October 3, 2001
OK, I'll admit - my absolute favorite thing about this book is that the real hero is Merlin's pet hedgehog. Oh, there's a human hero, of the usual tall, dark and handsome type, for love interest - but it's the hedgehog who really saves the day. He's a perfectly natural hedgehog, not an anthropomorphized animal - he just does his hedgehogly thing. As the human slave to three pet hedgehogs, I got a great kick out of him.
Let's see. Merlin hasn't invented quite as many things as Ayla (you may remember Ayla, from the "Clan of the Cave Bear" series - Ayla domesticates the horse, Ayla domesticates the dog, Ayla invents the slingshot, Ayla invents the sewing needle, Ayla invents the cotton gin - no wait, that was someone else...) but she has her share - the telephone, and, more importantly to the English forces arrayed against Napoleon, the hang glider.
This is the only romance novel I've ever even tried to convince a guy to read, and the guy liked it. He missed a bit, not being as familiar with all the "conventions" of Regency era romances as most regular readers of them are, but he still enjoyed it.
My tastes in romances are pretty particular- I have high standards I demand of the writing, and clumsy or poorly written books turn me off. Kinsale will never fall into that category - she, along with a precious few others - Mary Balough, Edith Layton... writes well enough that if her books weren't pre-stigmatized as romances, they'd be among our better-written novels by contemporary novelists.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable read., April 6, 2001
By A Customer
I wasn't impressed with Midsummer Moon the first time I read it. Merlin is ditzy and that makes her rather annoying at times. I also felt that the sexual tension between Ransom and Merlin was weak. And Kinsale's attempt at humor was too forced occasionally. I told myself that I was indifferent to this book, and yet I couldn't forget it. The second time I read it I enjoyed it a lot more. Midsummer Moon's charm is subtle, it takes a careful reading to appreciate it. The complexity of the characters in this book was wonderful; they transcend their stereotypical roles. I especially loved the secondary romance between Ransom's ne'er-do-well brother Shelby and his wife Jacqueline; I found the story of the rebirth of their love to be more emotionally satisfying than Ransom and Merlin. I would love to read a novel/novella devoted to Shelby and Jacqueline.
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