Library Loot - Heroes and Research

So, y'all, I finally finished my work in progress novel! Whoohoo! Submitted for a few contests, even. Anyhoo, now that I'm in the process of submitting The Duke of Snow and Apples piece by piece to my critique group (and looking for a critique partner other than my mum - although I do love my mum), I'm also starting preliminary research for the next book in my series about the Seven Dowagers - Lord of Dreams. Which means looking for books at the library because they are free and now that I'm currently between jobs free is awesome. Which also means that when I find another good book at the library, I better grab it.


I'm annoyed by anachronistically feminist heroines in historicals. I really am. Maybe it's because I'm third wave feminist (i.e. the "I can stay in the kitchen and make babies and cookies if I damn well want to because it's my choice!" feminist), but I often hate the cutesy hoyden heroines who run around in pants for no reason and just plain ignore the world they are currently living in.

But there were feminists and and women's rights crusaders in 18th and 19th century England! So for my next book, Lord of Dreams, I focused on the idea - what if my heroine is the daughter of a feminist radical, and actually wants to dance and wear beautiful gowns and have a Blooming (my fantasy setting's version of a season)? So I'm researching real-life feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (mother of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley) with this biography to see what narrative details I can uncover.

Hero is next. I've wanted to read it for a while, but I had such a huge TBR that I wasn't too crazy about reading it. However, I finally decided to bite the bullet and order it, at around the same time The Booksmugglers gave it a glowing review, so now I'm pretty excited to read it!











And lastly is What Angels Fear by C.S. Harris, another "why not? It's free" request from the library that finally came in. I read a good review of a later book in the series over at Dear Author, so I thought I would start with the first novel in this mystery series set during the Regency. And you know I loves me some Regency.