For those of you keeping count, I read my 782nd book this weekend — Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas. It’s the first book in her popular “Wallflower” series.
I enjoyed it. One of the best things about historicals is the witty banter between the hero/heroine, which Kleypas excelled at in this book. I also loved the friendship between the four “wallflowers.” I think we’ve all been a wallflower at some point in our lives. I wish I’d had friends like Lillian, Daisy, and Evie to hlpe me through the tough times.
But I had one quibble with the book, and it’s more a quibble with historical romances in general — why does the heroine almost always have to be a virgin? I realize that times were different back then, but c’mon. People had sex then, too. Men and women. Otherwise the human race would have died out a long time ago.
I can think of only two historicals I’ve read in recent years where the heroine hasn’t been a virgin — one of the Bridgerton novels by Julia Quinn and a book by Karen Hawkins. The names escape me at the moment.
Sometimes, when I read a historical, I just want the heroine to have her way with the hero, instead of it always being the other way around. I want her to be the one doing the teasing and chasing and seducing. If anyone knows of any historicals that break the mold a bit, please let me know. I’m always on the lookout for a good, different read.
What about you? Have you read the “Wallflowers” series? Do you like your historical heroines to be virginial? Inquiring minds want to know …
