fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2525 ]

[ SECRET POST #2525 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2525 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

__________________________________________________

02.

__________________________________________________

03.

__________________________________________________

04.

__________________________________________________

05.

__________________________________________________

06.

__________________________________________________

07.

__________________________________________________

08.

__________________________________________________

09.

__________________________________________________

10.

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 063 secrets from Secret Submission Post #361.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm trying to remember a book series that was mentioned here a while back (the secret was complaining about how the book covers depicted the main character as a thin woman when the books described her as having a fuller figure). It's about a female detective and I think it takes place in the 19th century but I'm not too sure about that part. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

I think I remember that. It wasn't really a detective novel as much as a supernatural novel with mystery elements in it. The book was called Soulless by Gail Carriger.

Is the steampunk-ish novels with werewolves?

The Parasol Protectorate, maybe?

Ah, that's why I was thinking it had 'umbrella' in the title, but couldn't turn anything up with a search, earlier.

Also...Spiiiiiiiiiiine.

I would assume so, at least. :D

Right? It's a picture from raccoonmama on tumblr, and she caught this smile and I just thought it was such a great picture of him. Plus the lighting at youmacon, and the way it messes with the color scheme just made me ridiculously happy as well. |D

It is a fabulous shot, indeed.

OP

turns out you were all right! the series is indeed The Parasol Protectorate, the first book of which is called "Soulless" and it does apparently have werewolves and steampunk elements. thanks for your help!

Gail Carriger also has another series out about a Victorian ladies' spy academy! Haven't read it yet, but it sounds like fun, as most of Gail's work is. :D

Not OP, but I have a follow up question:

Does it have a FUCKING ROMANCE subplot? Cause I'm a fucking sick as fuck of reading about fucking LOVE in my supernatural stories that feature a female main character, and the endless parade of dicks that get trotted out as the IDEAL MAN OHMIGODIHAVESOMUCHLOVEFORHIMMYHEARTCOULDBURST.

Fuck yes I'm bitter about this. If I want to read a story about a female main character in almost any genre there is always fucking EMOTIONS and LOVE and shit in it. If I want to read a story about a badass who occasionally gets laid but doesn't spend pages being all swoony and shit about it, I need to read about a male main character.

I might be mixing my paranormal steampunk books, but didn't these ones feature lesbians? So yes to romance, no to parades of dicks.

There is lesbian, het, and m/m romance, and a lot of the characters involved are bisexual.

Romance is a big part of it, yep. It's about upperclass Victorians so marriage is a pretty big deal. However, Alexia's personality doesn't go away and she doesn't stop being a badass, and the many gay/bi characters also have significant time spent on their relationships/involved in The Love Triangle, which is actually really, really nice ~~although I was a bit disappointed with Genevieve's ending~~.

I'm sorry, I saw the words "The Love Triangle" and then forgot everything else in your post. Now all I can see is "The Love Triangle"

Isn't there always a fucking love triangle? one of the very many reasons I HATE romance subplots.

Fucking PAAAAASS.

What else have you got? (I'll try to be less obnoxious about any future recommendations, if you'd be kind enough to give them.)

"The Love Triangle" was a bit of an oversimplification on my part. I generally hate them too, but it's not really as in your face as other stories. Without spoiling much (not that you care), during a rough point in her marriage, Alexia went on holiday with Genevive, and things happened. In fact I rather like Alexia's relationship with her husband because they don't just get married and that's it, they go through continuous development over the next four books, and it's at no cost to the plot, humor, or the important emphasis on friendships. In fact, I'm not even sure if I'd call their romance a subplot? It's part of the story, which happens to be a romantic comedy, a fact which the summary on the back of the book does not hide. Please don't read the above description as me trying to convince you to to change your mind (I'm sure you wouldn't enjoy it and trying to force yourself through it would be a waste of time), I'm merely prone to tl;dr ~~and am hoping that someone else might see this and become interested~~.

While you're certainly entitled to your own taste, there really is no need to be so aggressive about it, and I'm not really interested in being your personal book-rec machine. However, I do mention my own interests from time to time on here, so feel free to skim my comments and check anything out that interests you. I love having more people to discuss things with.

DA

I dunno about the romance being "at no cost the plot". All that handwringing angst in Blameless about Alexia being pregnant and Lord Maccon drowning his manly sorrows in booze was just tiresome after two pages never mind a whole novel's worth. It felt really artificial and contrived even by silly rom-com steampunk standards, which is saying a lot.

Then again I thought the whole "tension" with Genevieve was dumb, too. It was clear from the beginning that it was going absolutely nowhere, and I thought it was idiotic that Alexia was oblivious to Genevieve's interest. Alexia obviously knows what homosexuality is, but when Genevieve makes a move all of a sudden Alexia's IQ drops thirty points and she has no idea what's going on? Too much of a strain on credibility for me, tbh.

My advice to the romance-hating OP is to skip this series. It's not as bad as some romance-themed books but it doesn't seem like something they'd enjoy.

Fair enough. It's been a little while since I read it and actually this is the only Steampunk rom-com story I've read, so I have nothing to compare it with.

Ugh, Genevieve. I want to like her, but yeah. I don't know if the publisher made her change what she was originally going to do or what, but I hated her whole vengeance plotline (it was way more irritating than anything Alexia and Lord Maccon ever did, to me), and I thought her punishment was unfairly harsh, compared to what Professor Lyall got.

I dunno I think it does make some sense that Alexia was aware of male homosexuality but didn't understand lesbians. Everything she knew about sex was from her father's journals, and iirc he was totally gay and only married Alexia's mother so he could have an heir? Other than that Alexia was pretty sheltered, at least in regards to sex.

But yeah, I agree OP shouldn't read it, it's pretty clearly not their thing. ~~I probably sounded really oversensitive above but it was more the tone of the reply that got to me than the fact that someone doesn't like a thing.~~

Eh, it's not as bad as the type you describe, but romance is a strong theme in this series, yes.

Lemme put it this way: I started reading the first book, saw the writing on the wall in the first scene between Heroine and Obvious Antagonistic Love Interest, and started flipping through the book. Out of five scenes that I picked completely at random, four were Belligerent Sexual Tension and one was about the plot promised on the back cover.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #2525 ]

looking for novel about lady detective

Re: looking for novel about lady detective

Re: looking for novel about lady detective

Re: looking for novel about lady detective

Re: looking for novel about lady detective

Re: looking for novel about lady detective

Re: looking for novel about lady detective

Re: looking for novel about lady detective

Re: looking for novel about lady detective

Re: looking for novel about lady detective

Re: looking for novel about lady detective

Re: looking for novel about lady detective

Re: looking for novel about lady detective

Re: looking for novel about lady detective

(if anyone DOES care about spoilers, don't read this)

Re: (if anyone DOES care about spoilers, don't read this)

no subject

Re: looking for novel about lady detective

Re: looking for novel about lady detective