Two Books, One Plot

 The Duke and I 

The Viscount Who Loved Me is the second novel in the Bridgertons series.  This novel follows Anthony, the oldest brother of the heroine from The Duke and I. In this novel, Anthony sets his sights on Edwina Sheffield, the current it girl of society life. Unfortunately for Edwina, he falls for her older sister Kate along the way.

This book is total wish fulfillment. Kate is plain with average looks and the handsome, rich viscount falls in love with her!  How delightful! They have fun banter. The sexual tension is off the charts. They start out hating one another, but that turns quickly.

But.  

In The Duke and I, Quinn introduced marital rape as a way to a man's heart. In this book, the hero only realizes he loves the heroine after she freaks out in a thunderstorm and he gets to save the damsel in distress.  I just...found this upsetting.  The heroine is otherwise a strong woman, and this thunderstorm freak out seems quite out of character, despite the lame back story behind it.

My theory is that Quinn is quite good at writing historical fiction that is clearly written by a contemporary author, but that she doesn't know how to create conflict without resorting to unnecessary and disturbing tropes.  The fourth book of this series is quite beloved, so I'm going to try to get through at least the first four books in this series, but I'm hoping Quinn figures her shit out because I'm seriously disappointing that books that make me laugh and that are fun to read always have these "but" paragraphs.  Just write a good book from start to finish.  

I left the world of the Bridgertons and read Sarah MacLean's Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake next.  I was utterly befuddled when the plots were nearly identical.

Heroine: Wallflower, average looking, older than the normal debutante

Heroine's family: Super protective older relative, a sister who is the latest It Girl making her debut in society

Hero: A titled man, oh, so handsome, not looking to get married, but what can you do when that completely average looking woman with a tart tongue comes around?

Hero: Deep rooted traumas from the past

Best writing component: Snappy dialogue

Worst writing component:  Historical fiction that reads like it was written by a contemporary author with no idea of what the historical time period was actually like.

In both of these books, the hero absolutely "compromises" the heroine and that's the catalyst for marriage, which I guess is historically accurate, although it drive me insane that neither of the women seem to realize exactly how terrible their circumstances would have been if the rich noblemen had not done the "right thing."

I liked both of these books - I really did! I also found them formulaic and off-putting.  Maybe I'm just not cut out for historical romance novels?