When I was a kid, my mom was in the hospital for a procedure (she was fine!), and one of the things she asked for was a copy of the newest Jude Deveraux book, A Knight In Shining Armor. I was about twelve, and I read everything that wasn't nailed down, from cereal boxes to Sweet Valley High. When Mom was done with it, I picked it up.

I think my reaction was something like "ZOMG!!! Romance novels!!! AWESOME!!!" (Well, except for the fact that the acroword "ZOMG" hadn't been invented yet.) I was totally hooked, Mom was hooked, and we both started reading pretty much everything Jude Deveraux had put out. Recently I've started to get interested in re-reading some of those books -- I'm not entirely sure why unless it's to get into the historical aspects, as I've been interested in various historical eras lately -- and after re-reading Twin of Fire and Twin of Ice (technically "Ice" comes first, but I like it so much better that I always read it second), Wishes (still one of my favorites, though I laugh really hard at the idea of a 5'6", 160-lb. woman being considered "fat"), The Maiden (ugh! Y HALO THAR ANTI-FEMINIST THEMES), The Awakening (not as awful; major emphasis on migrant workers and unions, very interesting perspective, definitely brilliant research), and The Princess (how did I like either of these characters for even a split second when I was a kid? They're both horrible!), I thought I'd go back and read the first series Deveraux wrote, with the first instance of the Montgomerys (kinda; one of the progenitors of the Montgomery family shows up in her very first book, The Black Lyon).

It's been really interesting going back and reading these books, because I'm never sure what I'll make of them. I remembered The Maiden as starring a strong female character, someone wicked cool awesome, because she could physically fight at her husband's side, but after the last 20 years of watching movie after movie, book after book, TV show after TV show (etc. etc. etc.) prove that the only kind of "strong female character" they know how to write is one who's strong physically, I totally don't give that any extra credit. A female character needs to be able to do more than beat the crap out of people to be a character I can respect -- and the female lead in The Maiden is treated so badly I was disgusted on her behalf. She definitely doesn't qualify, and it's not entirely her fault; it's pretty easy to blame the author (or perhaps her editor) for that.

As far as the Velvet series is concerned, I remembered liking the first, second, and third brothers a lot, but finding the fourth hard to sympathize with. After re-reading The Velvet Promise, I have to say that I like Wife #1, but I'm not so sure about Brother #1...

...because Brother #1, Gavin, is dumber than a box of rocks. No, he's dumber than that. He's dumber than a bag of hammers after they've pummeled a box of rocks. Dumber than the rocks after they've been pummeled. When I was 12 years old, a hot guy with great big huge muscles was appealing. (Okay, at 30, a hot guy with great big huge muscles is still appealing; Brandon Routh, I love you!) But look: I've seen plenty of hot guys in my time. They're not exactly new and different anymore. I'm married to a hot guy with nice muscles, only my hot guy is smart. And thus a big hot dumb guy just makes me facepalm and think, "Oh, Gavin, why are you such a MORON?!"

Which I pretty much never stopped thinking throughout this book. Gavin, hero of the book, starts out in love with some crazy chick named Alice, who is really seriously crazy (certifiably) and extremely possessive of Gavin. When Gavin agrees to an arranged marriage with Judith (to inherit her lands and title), Alice goes off her rocker and continually tries to interfere in the marriage. This makes Judith nuts, and despite the fact that Gavin's falling for Judith, he doesn't put an end to it until... well, let's just say it goes on way, way, way too long, so long that you want to actually club Gavin with the box of rocks and bag of hammers, because it can only improve his mental faculties. Oh my God, the man's an idiot.

But is the book enjoyable? I gave it two stars on LibraryThing. While it isn't awful, and it earns some major points for feminism (Judith doesn't just stand around waiting for Gavin to do stuff; she takes her life and her abilities into her own hands and makes plenty of her own decisions, some good, some awful), it also includes some of the classic 1970s/early 1980s romance tropes, and those can be painful to read.

It's also interesting to me in that it's definitely a series of connected stories rather than one giant whole; there's a section for the wedding, a section for Judith making herself at home in Gavin's home, a section where they visit King Henry VII's court, and so on. While each section advances the timeframe (something that, if I recall correctly, becomes relevant when you get into the second, third, and fourth books, because events happen that cascade through the rest of the series), they don't so much advance each other, which would definitely make for a more engrossing read. I blame this on Gavin, because the man is such a blithering idiot that he's incapable of learning from one section to the next. He's like a goldfish who totally can't remember past the last three seconds of his life, and thus many of the sections are basically illustrating the same stupid act over and over again.

Would I recommend it? I'm not sure. I think if you have a thing for slightly pre-Elizabethan history and would like to see a woman who doesn't wait on men to make decisions for her, this might be the book for you. However, if '70s/early '80s tropes turn you off or you can't deal with men who are DUMB DUMB DUMB, I'd probably give this one a pass. I'm curious to see how necessary this book is to the next, and the others, because book 3 was probably my favorite when I was a kid, and I'm curious whether it still will be -- and whether the rest of the series really adds anything to it. We'll see!

Tags: historical, jude deveraux, reading, romance