Laughter Reviews #29 - KEEPER - "HOW TO TAME A MODERN ROGUE"

Giveaway! Details Below



HOW TO TAME A MODERN ROGUE
by Diana Holquist
Contemporary Romantic Comedy

Premise
Opposite personalities must co-operate to maintain a historical fiction for the sake of a medically fragile senior.

Cover
Eyecatching, attractive turquoise color, playful couple (reminiscent of Julie James' covers) not really indicative of much of content - but Apprentice Writer gives extra points for the fact that the male is not only clothed, but wearing cufflinks. What really works is the clever title - alluding to both time periods involved, and tweaking hot-button terms in the genre.

What Works
A whole lot, actually.

Beginning with the epigraphs (you know - those little snippets some authors use to crown their chapters to give readers a hint about what's about to happen). AW is a sucker for epigraphs, and these are really good. The author has quoted from the fictitious historical tome 'The Dulcet Duke' (that title alone makes AW grin), and the language and scenarios are pitch perfect.

Next, the hero. Loved him. Loved his strengths, believed from the beginning that his flaws had a good reason (they do) and would be overcome (they are), loved the way his mind worked, most especially loved the way he made AW laugh. He regularly doesn't even pretend to listen to the heroine, and rather than seeming obnoxious and male chauvinistic, it comes off as cheeky and funny (isn't the most frequent female complant about men that they never listen?). And the way he goes about transforming himself, and figuring out what it is the heroine really needs was genuine and endearing.

Great secondary characters? Got 'em. A wonderful senior character (of which there are too few in fiction - at least, the books AW has been reading), and an exotic mystery man - not to mention his horse - lend charm and substance.

Believable, zippy writing? Got it. One of the things that irritates AW no end are covers/and or descriptions of heros that are ONLY achievable through many, many hours a day spent at the gym plus ingestion of banned substances, with the actual day-to-day hero activities including at most a mild gallop through the park or a round of golf. This hero is a dedicated soccer player, and the sport has signficance throughout the story. AW's household is a soccer-watching one, so the references to 'elbows', the descriptions of how the players interact with each other, and the process of demasking the mystery man were all very well done in her eyes. Another place that got the checkmark for 'mission accomplished' was the way the hero and heroine recover from the so-called 'Black Moment' (when they each believe the relationship is doomed). The way they built their road back to each other was charming and apropriate to the big picture.

What Doesn't
This question led to a whole philosophical debate for AW, as she has always considered herself the type of reader for whom a heroine need not be likable so long as she is interesting. This belief was tested. The heroine starts out stiff, somewhat self-involved, judgemental, and not especially convincing in her profession as school teacher, considering her erroneous belief that penguins live at the North Pole (junior apprentice writer #2's animal habitat project taught AW that the polar opposite is correct) and her deficiencies in basic courtesy towards the hero - something one would think is second nature to professionals trying to drum the essentials into young skulls. At several points, the hero asks himself why he's attracted to her, and in the beginning this reader echoed the question. Which led to another: why was AW more forgiving of the hero's flaws than the heroine's, and more ready to believe they would be overcome? Is she harder on protagonists of her own gender, and if so, why? She did not arrive at an answer, but thankfully, by the end of the book, the heroine has indeed transformed, and AW liked and was rooting for her well before the HEA came along.

Overall
A wonderful example of how a book with a known ending (it WILL be happy, even though in between both main characters think it won't) can nevertheless be non-formulaic.

But does it make you laugh? Yes, yes, yes
Anyone who has read a number of romances, of whatver time period, will delight in how certain recurring situations and stereotypical language are gently, lovingly, and effectively mocked. One word: rippling.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND



GIVEAWAY!

Celebrating Book Blogger Appreciation Week, Apprentice Writer is delighted to host her first ever giveaway for a new copy of HTTAMR, courtesy of the generous people at Grand Central!

The Fine Print:
1. Tell Apprentice Writer of a sport you either love or detest that was mentioned in a novel, and the title of that novel.

2. Be sure to leave a way for AW to get in touch with you.

3. For an extra entry, come back tomorrow and leave a comment on the Q & A post with the author.

4. For another extra entry, tell AW whether you participated in BBAW, and if so in what way.

5. US/Canadian addresses only, no post office boxes.

6. Contest closes 30 September 2009.



Good luck!