Customer Reviews

Midsummer Moon

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

The characters in this early Kinsale are totally individual and there are quite a few eccentrics running around. Ransom is wonderful...totally besotted but very stiff and British in a way that comes accross as refreshingly accurate rather than an exagerrated charicature. He also has his touching well hidden flaws -including a phobia about heights which causes some really believable conflict with the aviatrix/inventor heroine. I could not believe some of the other reviewers found the emotion in any way lacking - I thought it was wonderful and really intense. Kinsale is in my top 5 author list and I loved this book and have been re-reading it on and off since I bought it about 7 years ago.

I read this book for the first time several years ago and keep returning to it as a favorite. The charactors are charming, I fell in love with them all, and would like a follow-up story on Ransom's brother and his romantic trials with his wife. I especially liked the relationship between the brothers, who struggle with love, competition, jealousy and personal growth. The story also brings out one of the true, but often neglected aspects of loving someone; fear. When you love, you must allow the freedom to take risks, even at the cost of your own terror for them. For its humor and charm, this is the best of Kinsale.

If you're sick of the stereotypical heronie who "can ride and shoot as well as any man," how about one in the decidedly unconventional role of an engineer/avatrix, who, praise God, is not interested in pretty clothes or housekeeping or man hunting? In a male character we would consider single-minded pursuit of a goal laudable, but a female character is considered "ditzy" if she's more interested in her own projects than in conniving how to get the hero to fall for her charms. This book is one of Kinsale's greatest--unless one is lacking in humor and/or imagination.

I don't care what the others thought. I still believe this to be THE best of Kinsale's books. The inventor was just SO smart that she invented things to improve HER life (such as the talking box aka phone) and never considered that others would find it a miracle. Once her invention works, she forgot it and went on to the next. She was not absent minded or dense. She was just so smart she moved on.

This is my all time favorite of Laura Kinsale's books. That is saying something since Laura Kinsale is my personal all time favorite author!

I can hardly wait for "Enchanter" to come out within the next year!

Midsummer Moon provides entertainment and laughter from start to finish. Although Kinsale's hero lacks the usual tormented- and-not-very-nice-yet-somehow-enormously-appealing air she usually imparts, he still manages to stay in the reader's good graces despite his obligatory ducal arrogance. The heroine, meanwhile, provides an interesting contrast, being both singularily unimpressed with his credentials and extremely absent-minded but quite able to work around any obstacles he puts in the way of the scientific exploration she adores.

I'll start out this review by stating that I have no idea why the book is titled Midsummer Moon. Usually book titles have at least something to do with the book;s content, but this one... I never did quite figure it out. But that's okay, because it's a lovely book.

Merlin did, on occasion, drive me batty. She's so vague and oblivious and has no comprehension of sarcasm whatsoever. But that's okay, because it's her character. She's a vague and dreamy sort of inventor, the sort who pretty well blocks out the world to concentrate solely on their inventions. And she was inadvertently amusing several times, to the point where I did, in fact, giggle. Ransom was a bit better -- he loved her, but he could be fairly unscrupulous to get what he wanted, and knew it.

I also loved how Merlin didn't want to get married, and maintained that decision throughout the majority of the book. She loved him, but she knew he would clip her wings, so to speak, and so she took the harder decision and refused to marry him. You don't often see that in a romance novel, and I find it refreshing.

MIDSUMMER MOON
LAURA KINSALE

Rating: 5 Enchantments

Merlin Lambourne wants nothing more than to perfect her flying machine. She is very sure that someday, she will be able to soar the skies to view the land below her. All else is lost on her, as long as she can learn the mystery of flying.

Ransom Falconer, Duke of Damerell, has been sent to see if Merlin has created a truly magnificent innovation that can be used in the war against Napoleon. When he discovers her, he finds that her life is in danger, and he will do anything to protect her and her inventions. Promising her that she can work on her designs at his estate, they leave immediately.

Fearful of her safety, he finds it necessary to forbid her work on her dream. Will she be able to comply and give her love to him, even as he holds her back? Can he save her from the danger that lurks nearby?

Ms. Kinsale weaved an enchanting tale of two great people who had no plans to find love, but it found them anyway. The characters were intelligent and very entertaining. I loved Merlin's absent-mindedness and how Ransom was able to just go with it. I wish that Ransom had disclosed his fears earlier in the story, so that Merlin could understand his demands, but then that would have taken away from the story itself, so I do understand why they weren't disclosed. I also feel that Ms. Kinsale blended the mystery of the true villain well into the story, I was never sure who the foe was, until revealed.

Ms. Kinsale is a New York Times Best-Selling author. You can learn more about her at www.laurakinsale.com.


Aemelia
Enchanting Reviews
May 2008