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All girls grow up hearing stories of princesses in the guise of a fairy tale – Cinderella’s glass shoes, the pea lost amid a pile of mattresses, the evil beast in an aging castle. And all girls hear the stories of the valiant man who saves the poor princess/maiden from their dull lives. Eloisa James took these long-shared stories, gave them her own personal twist, but most especially changed one plot point – her heroines don’t need saving.
Now these books are, of course, what they are – whimsical and, at times, wicked tales from dear Eloisa – that don’t cause internal need for change or deep existential thought, but rather a few hours of happiness, laughter, and removal from absolute harsh reality.
Although all of the stories were very satisfying, of the four books – ‘A Kiss at Midnight’, ‘When Beauty Tamed the Beast’, ‘The Duke is Mine’, and ‘The Ugly Duchess’ – my favorite read was story #2 where beauty, Linnet, tames the mean old beast, Piers. In contrast, my least favorite was ‘The Ugly Duchess’ but I fear that is only perhaps because I saw too much of myself in the strict and neurotic – yet ultimately lovable – heroine and thus, ended up worrying if I was too much like Daisy to really lose myself in her story. What can I say, everyone, even a girl way past the age of playing princess, sometimes just enjoys a good fairy tale.
And me - expecting a sweet little story – found an in-your-face, wham bam, bordering-on-vulgar, yet nonetheless exciting mobster tale. Let me tell you, dear little Jackie Collins has got a mouth on her like a truck driver. She frequently drops the f’bomb, hesitates little in calling women C-U-Next-Tuesdays or – most blush-inducing for me because I hate the word – the p word {the p-word = sometimes followed by cat or willow}, and describes sexual acts in extreme details, aka this book is NOT for the faint of heart.
However, with a strong female lead like Lucky Santangelo, there is no way I could not love this novel. I am a sucker for a strong dame, as you might have guessed by a few of my other reads such as this one or this one. So many novels are full of sniveling, sad, and sorry excuses for women; women whom cry when they don’t get their way yet do nothing to change their station in life, whom obey every word their husbands mutter, whom do not think but instead titter through life – in other words, women I can just not relate to – nor want to. Lucky, however, while she might have started life semi-resembling the above, she soon learns to think, act, and behave outside her station – that of the helpless housewife her father attempted to make her.
Apparently there are other books in the series – ‘Lucky’, ‘Lady Boss’, ‘Lucky’s Revenge’, ‘Dangerous Kiss’, and ‘Drop Dead Beautiful’ – the last of which I read several years ago when I received the novel as a gift without knowing that this was a series tale. I have to say Lucky has hooked me into her story so much so that I am very curious to continue her tale.
Me and SEP (Susan Elizabeth Phillips) go way way back. I discovered her novel ‘Fancy Pants’, sitting all alone on a little old bookshelf, in a small bookstore somewhere along the east coast. And since then I have religiously read every single one of SEP’s books – at least twice; a few a dozen times.
I think she is fabulous. I think her stories are amazing, and heartfelt, and although not wholly realistic still semi-tinged with a sense of reality. And I don’t care if you think I am trashy for reading romance novels – because sometimes a little trash spices up a person’s personality. Case in point, three quotes from this latest tome all delivered eloquently and emotionally from one of SEP’s characteristically strong female characters {another aspect of her story-telling that I love – I for one never enjoy reading about weepy, wet-raglike women}:
Her latest novel, ‘Call Me Irresistible’ is the continuation of the ‘Fancy Pants’ story – or more specific the continuance of one specific characters’ story – and I must admit that I have been waiting for this novel for quite some time. I read it in one day. I could not put it down. I did not want to put it down. And while I can not sit here and preach that this … ‘this is high literature’ … I can say that this was an extremely satisfying story. And beyond the love and the lust, there was {and always is} a deeper story of friendship sprinkled with humor and wit.
Please note, I refuse to delve deeper into the story because with 100 year old, well-know, well-critiqued works of literature I have no fear of spoiling the story. But here, this story is but months old, and I refuse to deprive anyone of the particulars that make this story so tantalizing – in other words … go read the book!
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