Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
e-reads.com (1999), 392 pages
Description
A duke's well-ordered world is turned upside down when a female inventor sends his heart soaring in this Regency romance by a New York Times-bestselling author. Merlin Lambourne has invented the "speaking box"--a sort of telephone--which is so valuable that Napoleon has killed for it. Sent by the crown to bring both inventor and invention to safety, Ransom Falconer, Duke of Damerell, is shocked to learn Mr. Lambourne is a Miss. Perhaps more shocking, however, are his feelings for the eccentric genius. She is everything he doesn't like: incapable of following orders, unaware of conventional etiquette, preoccupied, disorganized, and unkempt. Yet she beguiles him. One of the most ingenious inventors in England, she is also one of the country's greatest hopes in the defense against the power mad Napoleon Bonaparte. Now, if he could just get her mind out of the clouds and convince her to marry him . . . Merlin is not absentminded, it's just that she only seems to be able to pay attention to one thing at a time. And maybe she does take everything people say literally, but people ought to say what they mean. Now this Ransom Falconer wants her to forget her current interest in flying machines and focus on the speaking box she's lost interest in finishing. It's quite disconcerting. In fact, everything about him is disconcerting; in her isolated life Merlin has never met anyone who affects her quite like Ransom does. With her trademark blend of heartwarming characters and a hilarious conflict, Midsummer Moon is yet another winner from the author of Flowers from the Storm, praised by Lisa Kleypas as "the gold standard in historical romance." … (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Larou
If it was published today, Midsummer Moon would likely be marketed as Steampunk Romance – not only has it a workable flying machine and the telephone being invented during the Napoleonic Wars, one of its protagonists is the classic Mad Inventor – obsessed with machines and a genius with
While a female engineering genius at the beginning of the nineteenth century might be unlikely, it is not completely impossible, and Kinsale does her best to make her heroine plausible by providing her with an appropriate backstory (raised in isolation from society by an eccentric, childless uncle who hoped she might fulfill his dream and invent a flying machine), and all reservations the reader (this reader, anyway) might have harboured at first soon evaporate in the face of how utterly charming a character Merlin turns out to be. Kinsale manages to give the unworldly inventor trope a nice feminine twist, and I found Merlin in her mixture of innocent naiveté, bubbling enthusiasm and scientific brilliance quite irresistible.
As clueless as Merlin appears in some things, she still is an eminently practical girl, and has both her feet planted on the ground – it just so happens that it is not quite the same ground everyone else treads on. In a nice complement to this, her male counterpart and eventual love interest, fears nothing so much as losing said ground from underneath his feet, as he has a major phobia of heights. And as Merlin’s greatest dream is to invent and build a flying machine, you can probably see where the central conflict is going – a conflict that chiefly gravitates around the heroine’s insistence on her independence even if it means sacrificing her love, something you don’t see often in a Romance novel.
Midsummer Moon is an early work of Laura Kinsale (apparently her second published one) and an unusually light-hearted one for her. While there is some dramatic tension revolving around French spies and various attempts at abducting Merlin, at its heart the novel is a comedy and (at least as far as I am concerned) a very funny one, at that. Even as such, it has more historical depth than most serious Regency Romances around, and while it is not Flowers from the Storm, it still is a highly entertaining and often moving romp of a book.
(And a special mention goes to Merlin’s hedgehog, which surely must be one of the cutest pets in Romance or any kind of literature, ever. It’s utterly adorable and would make reading the book worthwhile all on its diminutive own.)
Show More
engines, but scatterbrained and extremely naive concerning any more worldly affairs. Well, almost classic – for while this role is usually ascribed exclusively to males, in Laura Kinsale’s novel the brilliant inventor is a woman. (And while there is Girl Genius, this novel was first released in 1987 and hence clearly predates the comic - I would even not be completely surprised to find out that Midsummer Moon was an influence on it.)While a female engineering genius at the beginning of the nineteenth century might be unlikely, it is not completely impossible, and Kinsale does her best to make her heroine plausible by providing her with an appropriate backstory (raised in isolation from society by an eccentric, childless uncle who hoped she might fulfill his dream and invent a flying machine), and all reservations the reader (this reader, anyway) might have harboured at first soon evaporate in the face of how utterly charming a character Merlin turns out to be. Kinsale manages to give the unworldly inventor trope a nice feminine twist, and I found Merlin in her mixture of innocent naiveté, bubbling enthusiasm and scientific brilliance quite irresistible.
As clueless as Merlin appears in some things, she still is an eminently practical girl, and has both her feet planted on the ground – it just so happens that it is not quite the same ground everyone else treads on. In a nice complement to this, her male counterpart and eventual love interest, fears nothing so much as losing said ground from underneath his feet, as he has a major phobia of heights. And as Merlin’s greatest dream is to invent and build a flying machine, you can probably see where the central conflict is going – a conflict that chiefly gravitates around the heroine’s insistence on her independence even if it means sacrificing her love, something you don’t see often in a Romance novel.
Midsummer Moon is an early work of Laura Kinsale (apparently her second published one) and an unusually light-hearted one for her. While there is some dramatic tension revolving around French spies and various attempts at abducting Merlin, at its heart the novel is a comedy and (at least as far as I am concerned) a very funny one, at that. Even as such, it has more historical depth than most serious Regency Romances around, and while it is not Flowers from the Storm, it still is a highly entertaining and often moving romp of a book.
(And a special mention goes to Merlin’s hedgehog, which surely must be one of the cutest pets in Romance or any kind of literature, ever. It’s utterly adorable and would make reading the book worthwhile all on its diminutive own.)
Show Less
LibraryThing member RandomMichelle
Whoever designer the cover for this reissue (I saw some of the older covers) is a genius. This is a FABULOUS cover. Possibly one of the best I've ever seen. I mean, it's perfect.
LibraryThing member thatotter
Twee and--at times--rather annoying. The quality of the writing itself wasn't bad, but the plot was too much for me, with its implausible aphrodisiac salts and multiple chloroformed kidnappings. The characters were okay, but sort of meh: Merlin was a bit too oblivious and childish, and Ransom
Show More
was...okay, but nothing to write home about. Not purely awful, but reading it felt like a waste of my time. Show Less
LibraryThing member olga10
Light , laugh out loud read!
Not sure I believe the romance between H and h , however it does not take away from my reading enjoyment! whole cast of characters is a pure delight!
Not sure I believe the romance between H and h , however it does not take away from my reading enjoyment! whole cast of characters is a pure delight!
LibraryThing member samnreader
Laura Kinsale is not your flufflifity fluff romantic. And yet, somehow, she has some of the most fluffity fluff "dear god, I wish this hero would strip me naked too," moments mixed with some of the best humor.
The most eligible widower in His Majesty’s domain: rich, titled, powerful, and more
It's very clear there's a few things I like in books:
-Heroines that I understand. I know we all wax on about 'strong women' and I frankly don't know what that means. I think strength can be demonstrated in many ways. Merlin was essentially super smart, super ambitious and kind of a flake. In all honesty, it suited an inventor and I don't think we'd call a male character like her 'weak' -- It may have been overplayed, but ]...eh, I have a complex relationship with that.
-Relationships that develop. In this book, that was fucking bizarre and I'm not gonna lie. While it may have been a head-scratcher, I went with it. I mean, it was Nicholas Boulton and Laura Kinsale and there's nothing else to be done. What resulted was a battle of wills, a jackass that knows he is manipulative, and a heroine with enough force in her sweetness to bring him down, yet enough tenacity to hold on to herself. And honestly, I loved Ransom. I really, really did. He was lovely and loyal, commanding, clever, and played beautifully by NB in the audio version.
He’d thought his offer of marriage was a matter of duty, of taking responsibility for errors committed—and never questioned why he’d persisted in it past all reason and rebuff.
Well, now he knew why. The explanation sat patiently on the carpet in front of him, with chestnut hair and cloudy gray eyes and skin that glowed like soft midsummer moonlight. He loved her; he wanted to stand beside her forever, be the man she turned to for comfort and companionship; the one she went to first with those crazy, clever notions of hers; the one who listened and smiled and knew when to laugh—who recognized the difference between her accidental absurdities and the rare times she made an authentic quip in that quiet, ingenious way she had.
Oh, and that's it. That's all I need. I get extra-some heat, wonderful family and supporting dynamics, a little danger, some big weaknesses. It was a lovely little novel about two opposite strengths making one completely convincing and supportive couple. They were neither dependent nor overly independent of one another, something I can see lasting for a long, long time. Because they both try.
Wings, indeed.
The most eligible widower in His Majesty’s domain: rich, titled, powerful, and more
Show More
than passably attractive, if his female admirers were to be believed—flatly refused, on account of a broken kite. It's very clear there's a few things I like in books:
-Heroines that I understand. I know we all wax on about 'strong women' and I frankly don't know what that means. I think strength can be demonstrated in many ways. Merlin was essentially super smart, super ambitious and kind of a flake. In all honesty, it suited an inventor and I don't think we'd call a male character like her 'weak' -- It may have been overplayed, but ]...eh, I have a complex relationship with that.
-Relationships that develop. In this book, that was fucking bizarre and I'm not gonna lie. While it may have been a head-scratcher, I went with it. I mean, it was Nicholas Boulton and Laura Kinsale and there's nothing else to be done. What resulted was a battle of wills, a jackass that knows he is manipulative, and a heroine with enough force in her sweetness to bring him down, yet enough tenacity to hold on to herself. And honestly, I loved Ransom. I really, really did. He was lovely and loyal, commanding, clever, and played beautifully by NB in the audio version.
He’d thought his offer of marriage was a matter of duty, of taking responsibility for errors committed—and never questioned why he’d persisted in it past all reason and rebuff.
Well, now he knew why. The explanation sat patiently on the carpet in front of him, with chestnut hair and cloudy gray eyes and skin that glowed like soft midsummer moonlight. He loved her; he wanted to stand beside her forever, be the man she turned to for comfort and companionship; the one she went to first with those crazy, clever notions of hers; the one who listened and smiled and knew when to laugh—who recognized the difference between her accidental absurdities and the rare times she made an authentic quip in that quiet, ingenious way she had.
Oh, and that's it. That's all I need. I get extra-some heat, wonderful family and supporting dynamics, a little danger, some big weaknesses. It was a lovely little novel about two opposite strengths making one completely convincing and supportive couple. They were neither dependent nor overly independent of one another, something I can see lasting for a long, long time. Because they both try.
Wings, indeed.
Show Less
Original language
English
Physical description
312 p.; 5.51 inches
ISBN
158586322X / 9781585863228