abbylee

Thanks to jadelennox with influence by afuna, I have been craving reading some Eva Ibbotson *all day*. So now you guys should be encouraged to be aware of her awesomeness, too. Eva Ibbotson writes in a couple of different genres, and I pretty much love everything I've picked up.

The first book of hers I read was Journey to the River Sea which if I recall correctly, reminded me very much like The Secret Garden or The Little Princess, both in plotting and voice style. I kept on meaning to try some of her other stuff, and then just never got around to it.

Then a few years ago I picked up some of her Middle Years fantasy stuff. I started with The Secret of Platform 13, at a time where I was being decent about documenting my readings and said: Like [Frances Hodgson] Burnet, her writing should be appealing to kids of many ages. It's simple enough for younger kids to have read to them or to read on their own, but it's long and plotty enough to keep older kids entertained.
I spoke about Island of the Aunts and said: I loved this book. It's got a perfect quirky pitch, with Myrtle's small but not at all unpleasant mustache, the children feeding the stoorworm peppermints, and the leopard skin bed on the Hurricane.. It had me at the first line: Kidnapping children is not a good idea. All the same, sometimes it has to be done.

Last year, I ended up looking at her stuff again and found that she had a third type of book: young adult romance. And, oh my, her books are *exactly* what I am looking for when I pick up something from this genre. The settings aren't modern, but OH, are these girls awesome. Sure, they break down and they cry, but then they pick themselves up again and DO SOMETHING, where doing something is usually protecting their family or pursuing a career. It's perfect fantasy romance, without being completely fantasy. And I'm going to make these sound as ridiculous as possible:

Magic Flutes (aka A Reluctant Heiress) - Tessa is a princess who has left home and hiding as a backstage worker at an Opera; her family is selling their castle so that she can have a dowry to marry the neighbour prince. Guy is an orphan who recently came into some money and is buying the castle as a present to his fiance. But before they learn of this connection, they meet and fall in love. I remember this one as presenting the not-love-interests as being silly and wrong, but well-meaning.

A Company of Swans - I don't remember the romance at all. But the main heroine runs away to join the ballet in the Amazon! How is that not awesome?

A Song For Summer - Ellen is raised by her mom and aunts who are all awesome feminists and who are a little surprised to raise a daughter who is brilliant, and applies her brains to keeping house. She wants adventure too, and more opportunities to look after people, so she picks herself up and goes off to Austria (in 1937, ooops) to work at a countryside school. There, we get awesome children, amusing adults, music, and intrigue. Plus, a handsome gardener with a secret!

The Morning Gift - Ruth's (Jewish) family somehow accidentally leave her stranded in Vienna when the Nazis invade. A family friend ends up smuggling her out, and there's a MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE. Which just gets better when they can't stay away from each other in England because she then somehow accidentally ends up as his student, and he can't ignore how brilliant and smart she is. It's all my favourite cliches what with them geeking out over biology or whatever, and I don't even think I ended up bothered by the power imbalance of him being a professor.

The Secret Countess - Anna's a countess in Russia in 1917, and escapes to London and ends up working as a servant. Ooops, she falls in love with an earl. Whatever will she do?!?!

So, uh, there went my evening. Come squee with me? Recommend other awesome stuff that has the best of all worlds: great writing, strong characters, lots of heart, and the best romantic cliches?

Also posted on LiveJournal

After seeing some other discussions, I feel like I should make a public post that says that I have little idea how I'm going to be handling my access and subscription lists, and am still figuring it out. So, please don't take any offense or get weirded out by the relationships I've chosen; in about a month I suspect I'm going to go through and fix everything.

... I can't believe this is my big first post.