Midsummer Moon

OK, I'll admit - my absolute favorite thing about this book is that the real hero is Merlin's pet hedgehog. Oh, there's a human hero, of the usual tall, dark and handsome type, for love interest - but it's the hedgehog who really saves the day. He's a perfectly natural hedgehog, not an anthropomorphized animal - he just does his hedgehogly thing. As the human slave to three pet hedgehogs, I got a great kick out of him.Let's see. Merlin hasn't invented quite as many things as Ayla (you may remember Ayla, from the "Clan of the Cave Bear" series - Ayla domesticates the horse, Ayla domesticates the dog, Ayla invents the slingshot, Ayla invents the sewing needle, Ayla invents the cotton gin - no wait, that was someone else...) but she has her share - the telephone, and, more importantly to the English forces arrayed against Napoleon, the hang glider.This is the only romance novel I've ever even tried to convince a guy to read, and the guy liked it. He missed a bit, not being as familiar with all the "conventions" of Regency era romances as most regular readers of them are, but he still enjoyed it.My tastes in romances are pretty particular- I have high standards I demand of the writing, and clumsy or poorly written books turn me off. Kinsale will never fall into that category - she, along with a precious few others - Mary Balough, Edith Layton... writes well enough that if her books weren't pre-stigmatized as romances, they'd be among our better-written novels by contemporary novelists.

I read this book for the first time several years ago and keep returning to it as a favorite. The charactors are charming, I fell in love with them all, and would like a follow-up story on Ransom's brother and his romantic trials with his wife. I especially liked the relationship between the brothers, who struggle with love, competition, jealousy and personal growth. The story also brings out one of the true, but often neglected aspects of loving someone; fear. When you love, you must allow the freedom to take risks, even at the cost of your own terror for them. For its humor and charm, this is the best of Kinsale.

The characters in this early Kinsale are totally individual and there are quite a few eccentrics running around. Ransom is wonderful...totally besotted but very stiff and British in a way that comes accross as refreshingly accurate rather than an exagerrated charicature. He also has his touching well hidden flaws -including a phobia about heights which causes some really believable conflict with the aviatrix/inventor heroine. I could not believe some of the other reviewers found the emotion in any way lacking - I thought it was wonderful and really intense. Kinsale is in my top 5 author list and I loved this book and have been re-reading it on and off since I bought it about 7 years ago.

If you're sick of the stereotypical heronie who "can ride and shoot as well as any man," how about one in the decidedly unconventional role of an engineer/avatrix, who, praise God, is not interested in pretty clothes or housekeeping or man hunting? In a male character we would consider single-minded pursuit of a goal laudable, but a female character is considered "ditzy" if she's more interested in her own projects than in conniving how to get the hero to fall for her charms. This book is one of Kinsale's greatest--unless one is lacking in humor and/or imagination.

I've read lots of other reviews for this book, and most people don't like it at all. Conversely, books other people adore, I either find mediocre (like A Knight In Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux) or downright hateful (like The Flame and The Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss). I'm a big Laura Kinsale Fan; I have yet to read a book by her I didn't like, but I have to say, this is one of my all-time favorites.Maybe it's because it's one the best "funny" romances I've ever read. People like Jill Barnett, Rebecca Paisley and Geralyn Dawson have written historical romances with a decidedly humorous bent, with ditzy, sweet heroines and forbidding, stern heroes. For some reason, all the books I've read by the authors above have irritated me. Midsummer Moon is the one of the few humorous romance I've been able to thoroughly enjoy. I found Merlin's absent-mindedness hilarious without verging into ridiculousness, and I thought the chemistry between her and Ransom was wonderful. I also loved the fact that Ransom finally gave up trying to change her--it's significant that Merlin finally gave up trying to resist him only then.But is it a particularly realistic book? No. Will the liberties taken with scientific fact irritate you? Perhaps. Will Merlin irritate you? Maybe. But as far as "humorous" romances go, I say this is the best I've read so far, and it's one of my favorite romances from a very talented author.