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A review by shopgirl
The Marrying Season by Candace Camp
4.0
I was SO JAZZED to get to this book that I blasted through the first two in the series which to be honest I think might have been a mistake, as all three books share some undeniable structural similarities, e.g.:
the OTP is in some way forced to stay together in a small house away from society where they at last explore/consummate their intense passion,
only to return to society where they must separate once more because of [x reason specific to each couple].
(The sex is fairly formulaic, too, with each couple going through the same basic evolution in bed.)
BUT WHATEVER!!!!!! Let's talk about the real shit here:
Fffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuck, THIS IS A GREAT OTP. BLESS ME. BLESS YOU. BLESS MY ENTIRE FAMILY. BLESS MY COW. I want to like pick Genevieve/Myles up and eat it and carry it with me forever in my heart and/or digestive system. First thing you need to know is um, OBVS I was going to love the shit out of Genevieve and Myles. 1) She's haughty and socially awkward, with no friends and little idea of where to start, and she finds most people irritating or boring. 2) He's a charming and outgoing flirt who befriends everyone and has no trouble whatsoever fitting in wherever he goes. 3) They've known each other almost their entire lives, as he's best friends with her older brother. 4) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PUT A CHOCOLATE GLAZE ON THAT BUSINESS AND GIVE IT TO ME STAT. NO, I DON'T NEED A FORK. PUT THAT NAPKIN AWAY, I'LL LICK MY FINGERS CLEAN
OK, so, ANYWAY, Genevieve gets jilted by her fiancee, Dullsbury (SNORESBURY) (I'm hilarious) (his name is Dursbury), in such a way that her reputation is perhaps Ruined Forever. In steps Myles to heroically propose to her. BUT ALAS, FOR THEY ARE BUT FRIENDS AND NOT IN LOVE, wait, no, I'm sorry, they are totally in love and it is g r 8, GREAT, but ofc they're all like NO IT IS A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE and Genevieve is all O MYLES HAS SACRIFICED HIS LIFE FOR ME, HE MUST DETEST ME and Myles is all O GENEVIEVE THINKS I AM FECKLESS AND THAT I HAVE DONE THIS ONLY OUT OF DUTY, SHE MUST DETEST ME and I'm all [emotionally tearing at hair, face, life, soul, very fabric of the cosmos].
The real conflict in their relationship arises from the very thing that makes their relationship so strong, and that's the history they share. Genevieve, knowing Myles has seen how very Proper she is and how difficult it is for her to maintain even friendships, fears he thinks her cold. Myles, knowing Genevieve has seen how very Improper he is and how very quickly he moves on from one thing to the next, fears she cannot trust him. Apart from society, with only each other, they are able to ignore these things - rather, these things aren't relevant to their immediate situation, and the newness of this change in their relationship, this sudden allowance to want and touch and love each other, is such that these things that might be problems seem not to exist. But when they return, for external plot reasons, to London, to society, to the expectations of society and of the reputations each possesses, their reputations come to define them even within their relationship. (In this way, that aforementioned structure common to each book in the series works for me here as it did not in the previous two books.)
Much of Camp does with their romance is delightful: Myles does not "claim" Genevieve or pressure her, andtheir sort of ~battle of the sexes~ late in the book plays out admirably even-handed and resolves with (yes, sex, but also) a frank discussion of their fears (hers that he cannot love her because she is too "cold," his that she cannot love him because he isn't "respectable").
So the romance is wonderful - Myles is respectful and supportive of Genevieve (and he so clearly adores her from the very start), and Genevieve's emotional growth is the central focus of the book, with her needs and feelings emphasized over his - but!!!! The Marrying Season does something the first two books didn't: there are so many ladies!!! So many ladies and they're friends and they support each other, and Genevieve gets to proactively investigate her Mystery with the help of Damaris and Thea, and Myles' sisters and mother and Genevieve's grandmother all work to help her in different ways, and it's just like, gosh! Oh, gosh! And it isn't Myles who saves Genevieve at the end, it isn't Myles who Solves the Mystery, Myles who claimes Genevieve as his, it's Genevieve who saves herself, Genevieve who Solves the Mystery, Genevieve who claims Myles as her own; and she does these things with the friendship of women, with the confidence she earns not just in her relationship with Myles but in her relationships with her grandmother and Damaris and Thea. It's lovely.
It also makes the revelation at the end that all the machinations intended to sink Genevieve were courtesy of a woman who wanted Myles for herself more palatable. While that's still rather eyeball-worthy, the prominence of so many other women in positive, supportive roles is so thorough that it doesn't stick out quite so badly as, say, the revelation at the end of the first book in the series that Thea's cousin's wife was jealous of &c. YAY, MORE LADIES? Yeah. Always yeah.
P.S. spoiler alert: Genevieve and Myles were in love the entire time lololol.
(The sex is fairly formulaic, too, with each couple going through the same basic evolution in bed.)
BUT WHATEVER!!!!!! Let's talk about the real shit here:
Fffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuck, THIS IS A GREAT OTP. BLESS ME. BLESS YOU. BLESS MY ENTIRE FAMILY. BLESS MY COW. I want to like pick Genevieve/Myles up and eat it and carry it with me forever in my heart and/or digestive system. First thing you need to know is um, OBVS I was going to love the shit out of Genevieve and Myles. 1) She's haughty and socially awkward, with no friends and little idea of where to start, and she finds most people irritating or boring. 2) He's a charming and outgoing flirt who befriends everyone and has no trouble whatsoever fitting in wherever he goes. 3) They've known each other almost their entire lives, as he's best friends with her older brother. 4) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PUT A CHOCOLATE GLAZE ON THAT BUSINESS AND GIVE IT TO ME STAT. NO, I DON'T NEED A FORK. PUT THAT NAPKIN AWAY, I'LL LICK MY FINGERS CLEAN
OK, so, ANYWAY, Genevieve gets jilted by her fiancee, Dullsbury (SNORESBURY) (I'm hilarious) (his name is Dursbury), in such a way that her reputation is perhaps Ruined Forever. In steps Myles to heroically propose to her. BUT ALAS, FOR THEY ARE BUT FRIENDS AND NOT IN LOVE, wait, no, I'm sorry, they are totally in love and it is g r 8, GREAT, but ofc they're all like NO IT IS A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE and Genevieve is all O MYLES HAS SACRIFICED HIS LIFE FOR ME, HE MUST DETEST ME and Myles is all O GENEVIEVE THINKS I AM FECKLESS AND THAT I HAVE DONE THIS ONLY OUT OF DUTY, SHE MUST DETEST ME and I'm all [emotionally tearing at hair, face, life, soul, very fabric of the cosmos].
The real conflict in their relationship arises from the very thing that makes their relationship so strong, and that's the history they share. Genevieve, knowing Myles has seen how very Proper she is and how difficult it is for her to maintain even friendships, fears he thinks her cold. Myles, knowing Genevieve has seen how very Improper he is and how very quickly he moves on from one thing to the next, fears she cannot trust him. Apart from society, with only each other, they are able to ignore these things - rather, these things aren't relevant to their immediate situation, and the newness of this change in their relationship, this sudden allowance to want and touch and love each other, is such that these things that might be problems seem not to exist. But when they return, for external plot reasons, to London, to society, to the expectations of society and of the reputations each possesses, their reputations come to define them even within their relationship. (In this way, that aforementioned structure common to each book in the series works for me here as it did not in the previous two books.)
Much of Camp does with their romance is delightful: Myles does not "claim" Genevieve or pressure her, and
So the romance is wonderful - Myles is respectful and supportive of Genevieve (and he so clearly adores her from the very start), and Genevieve's emotional growth is the central focus of the book, with her needs and feelings emphasized over his - but!!!! The Marrying Season does something the first two books didn't: there are so many ladies!!! So many ladies and they're friends and they support each other, and Genevieve gets to proactively investigate her Mystery with the help of Damaris and Thea, and Myles' sisters and mother and Genevieve's grandmother all work to help her in different ways, and it's just like, gosh! Oh, gosh! And it isn't Myles who saves Genevieve at the end, it isn't Myles who Solves the Mystery, Myles who claimes Genevieve as his, it's Genevieve who saves herself, Genevieve who Solves the Mystery, Genevieve who claims Myles as her own; and she does these things with the friendship of women, with the confidence she earns not just in her relationship with Myles but in her relationships with her grandmother and Damaris and Thea. It's lovely.
P.S. spoiler alert: Genevieve and Myles were in love the entire time lololol.