Arabella

 

By Georgette Heyer

A Regency Romance

Arabella is a lovely young girl, eager to make her debut in polite society. She has three sisters younger than she is and her family is hoping Arabella finds a husband who is well enough off the help the three younger girls find suitable husbands when the time comes. Fortunately, Arabella has a godmother who lives in London and who is happy to sponsor her into society.

So Arabella sets out on her journey from her home in northern England to London, a journey that will take several days. She is being accompanied by a respectable older woman who is also traveling to London. But the carriage they are traveling in suffers a breakdown and Arabella and her companion take refuge at a nearby house, seeking shelter from the rain. 

The house belongs to Robert Beaumaris, a man of great wealth and a leader of London society. He is there with a friend of his and is inclined to send the two women packing but his friend protests. So the housekeeper takes them to freshen up and upon their return, Arabella overhears Robert telling his friend that he thinks Arabella's accident was just an attempt to attract his attention: "My dear Charles, when you have been hunted by every trick known to the ingenuity of the female mind, you may more readily partake of my sentiments upon this occasion! I have had beauties hopeful of wedding my fortune swoon in my arms, break their bootlaces outside my London house, sprain their ankles when my arm is there to support them, and now it appears that I am to be pursued even into Leicestershire! An accident to her coach! Famous! What a greenhorn she must believe me to be!"

Which is more than just a tiny bit conceited of him. Thing is, Arabella has no clue who he is. But when she hears this, it makes her very angry. So when she and her companion rejoin the two men, she pretends she is a very wealthy heiress who is tired of being pursued by men more interested in her wealth than in her. Then she asks the men not to reveal to London society that she is vastly wealthy and they promise to keep it a secret. 

Robert sees through her lie and is amused by it. Just to stir things up, he encourages his friend Charles to spread the rumor of her wealth to society. So Arabella finds herself feted and courted when she settles in London in her godmother's house and is upset to discover it is because people think she is rich. 

Robert's intention was to cause mischief when he encouraged Charles to reveal her secret. But as he becomes more acquainted with Arabella, he starts to understand she is not like most society maidens. Arabella is a very compassionate girl and she rescues, in short order, first a small abused boy and then a small abused dog. Both of whom end up in Robert's care. Obviously, Robert has fallen in love with her, but consciousness of the lie she told him is preventing her from returning his affection. Then her hapless younger brother arrives in London and proceeds to get himself into serious trouble, it seems to her only Robert has the wherewithal to rescue the young man. But how could Robert ever believe her love is real if she marries him only to get access to his money to save her brother from his folly?

This is a charming story. Arabella and Robert are both a bit impetuous. Arabella flies to the rescue of suffering creatures and Robert enjoys wrapping society around his little finger with his little jokes, like wearing a dandelion in his buttonhole for several days, getting all the society swells searching for dandelions to wear in their buttonholes too. Whereupon Robert stopped wearing them. He's certainly a bit more fun than Arabella is and seems to enjoy that the joke is on him too. 

Check out this review by  Austenprose too.

The Guncle

 

By Steve Rowley

Patrick is living quietly in Palm Springs. A well-known TV actor, he pretty much shut down after his partner, Joe, was killed in a car crash. Even though it's been several years, Patrick is still devastated by the loss. 

Tragedy hits his family again with the death of his brother's wife, Sara, who was also Patrick's great friend. Sara's death was not unexpected, as she had been fighting cancer for quite a while. But what is unexpected is that her husband, Patrick's brother, became addicted to Sara's pain medication and has now checked himself into rehab and has asked Patrick to take care of their two young children, Maisie and Grant. 

Taking care of children is new to Patrick. But he does his best and takes the kids to live with him in Palm Springs. Together, they learn to deal with grief and to enjoy the good things life has given them, especially each other.

This is a story about a man and the two kids he is caring for learning to cope with grief. It is told with a lot of humor and compassion and is quite enjoyable. It's sure to appeal to those who like stories about families and family dynamics. It's pretty amusing, despite the depressing premise (dead wife, dead friend, dead lover, addict brother, bereaved children).

See also a review by Kirkus Reviews.

The Best Bad Things

 

By Katrina Carrasco

It's not that opium is illegal in 1880s in the  US. It's that criminals don't want to pay the hefty import duty on the drug. So the illegal drug business is big money for importers on America's West Coast. One of these smuggling hot spots is Port Townsend in the territory of Washington. 

Alma Rosales was a Pinkerton agent who used to investigate crimes like smuggling. But she made some bad mistakes and ended up unemployed. And that is when she met Delphine, the woman she loves and who led Alma into a life of crime.

Alma was a tomboy. She even learned to box and likes to dress as a man. She comes to Port Townsend, summoned by Delphine, who runs a criminal enterprise there, fueled mainly by smuggling opium. Her front man in Port Townsend is Nathaniel Wheeler and she wants Alma to size him up and to discover why so much of their illegal opium is going missing. It must be someone inside the operation, but Delphine doesn't know if Wheeler is part of the thefts. 

Alma first meets Wheeler dressed as herself but then enters his organization disguised as her male alter ego, Jack Camp, a small, feisty man who fears no one. Wheeler is fooled at first but quickly catches on and acts disgusted by her charade. Alma senses he is turned on by her crossdressing act and she likes that. She is very attracted to Wheeler, but her infatuation with Delphine rules her life.

These are not nice people. Unreliable, double dealing, out to get what they can, violent and unpredictable, including Alma. She doesn't seem to have any qualms about switching from law enforcement to law breaker. She also doesn't seem to have any qualms about murder. She is not a good person.

I had no sympathy for anyone in this book. They are scum. It hard to like a book where you hate all the characters. And I didn't like this book. But I paid for it, so I finished reading it. It is unforgettable, true, but like a disaster is unforgettable.

See also, a review by Publishers Weekly.

Frederica

 

By Georgette Heyer

Frederica considers herself past the age of worrying about finding a husband (she's 24). But she does have a younger sister who is outstandingly beautiful. Here is how one of the characters describes Charis: "I have never before seen, or—or even dreamed of such a lovely girl! Her eyes! So big, and of such a blue! Her hair! like shining gold! The prettiest little nose, too, and her complexion quite exquisite! And when she spoke—" 

Frederica has no ambition for herself, but she is aching to find a worthy match for the gorgeous but dim Charis. The only way to find Charis the match that Frederica feels she deserves is to bring her to London to meet the wealthy bachelors of the British nobility. Their father used to talk about a distant cousin of his who he greatly admired, a man of wealth and style, the Marquis of Alverstoke. So Frederica gets the bright idea of enlisting Alverstoke's help in launching Charis on London high society even though she has never met the man before.

Alverstoke is a selfish man, accustomed to thinking about no one but himself. His sisters have tried to talk him into giving a ball for two of their daughters and he has definitely indicated that he is unwilling. But then he meets Frederica and sees the beauteous Charis and changes his mind. He declares he will give the ball but wants his sister to sponsor Charis into society. The rub is that the sister's daughter is a plain Jane and that the sister has no idea what Charis looks like. So it's Averstoke plot to get back at his sister who is really upset when she sees how beautiful and charming Charis is. 

But once Alverstoke holds the ball, he can't seem to disentangle himself from Frederica and her siblings. Between rescuing the youngest boy's mongrel dog after it got in trouble for chasing cows and rescuing the teenage boy after he crashed his bicycle-like vehicle and then again rescuing the youngster when he takes a serious fall and develops a fever, he seems to be coming more and more involved in caring for Frederica's family and ultimately caring, not for the lovely Charis, but for her capable, practical and "over-the-hill" older sister, Frederica.

This was a pretty good story, if a bit long. Not one of my favorite Heyer novels, but still a fun and entertaining read. 

Check out this review by Dear Author.

Nine Nasty Words

 

By John McWhorter

English in the Gutter: Then, Now and Forever

John McWhorter is a linguist and professor at Columbia University and has published several books, including several on language. Nine Nasty Words looks at the origin and evolution of nine common profane words.

From inside the book jacket: "McWhorter examines the realms of language that are considered shocking and taboo in order to understand what imbues curse words with such power—and why we love them so much."

These are the words he examines, censored;

• Damn & Hell
• F*ck
• Sh*t
• Ass & Assh*le
• D*ck & C*nt
• N-word
• F*ggot
• Bitch
• Motherf*cker

This isn't a long read but it is really interesting, especially to see how words change over time and how we react to them changes over time too. It's been something that has puzzled me: why is "sh*t" censored but "poop" is acceptable? They both mean the same thing: feces. Why is it ok to say "frick" but not "f*ck"? Everyone knows when you say frick, you are really mean f*uck. Asshat is acceptable but assh*le is censored on some social media. Hat is OK but hole is too much? McWhorter does explain how words gain emotional attachments that they never had in the past. An informative and enjoyable read.

Review from Publishers Weekly.