The Foundling at the Toll Gate
Jan. 24th, 2011 06:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
insanenekoRead two more GH books, The Foundling and The Toll Gate. They were both great, though romance is not the point of either. What made them good was their main characters, guys who are NOT selfish assholes who learn to be nice (to at least the lady they fall in love with if no one else).
In The Foundling, Gilly, the Duke of Sale, is an orphan from birth. He's smothered in the well-meaning tyranny of concern by his uncle and servants. He's 24 and wants to assert himself, but he's too kind-hearted to be mean enough to do it. He even proposes marriage because it's been understood for a long time that he'd marry a particular lady and he hasn't the heart to make her look bad by not doing it. One day he decides to ditch everyone and everything and be an ordinary guy by going off to help a cousin who is being blackmailed. It turns into quite an adventure, but he finds that he's up to the challenge. He manages not by being amazingly dashing or incredibly arrogant, but by being nice and likeable and able to talk to everyone. I just wish he'd gotten someone better to marry as his betrothed is rather insipid. I liked his relationship to his cousin (not the one he helped out, but another one who's more like a big brother to him), as well as to his very autocratic but well-meaning uncle.
The Toll Gate is about the rather happy-go-lucky Captain John Staple who takes a wrong turn on the way to his friend's place and ends up at a toll gate manned by a young boy. He stays the night and ends up keeping on as he discovers there's something going on. He also falls in love. He tries to pretend to not be a gentleman and doesn't really manage, but he does solve the mystery and get his lady. He's a likeable guy and I enjoyed the adventure. The lady's grandfather and the protective servants were pluses. The lady was just okay. She seemed okay, but I wasn't particularly wild about her.
Still trying to read An Infamous Army and failing. I think it's too grand in scope, it's not keeping me interested. Will keep trying until I have to return it to the library...
In The Foundling, Gilly, the Duke of Sale, is an orphan from birth. He's smothered in the well-meaning tyranny of concern by his uncle and servants. He's 24 and wants to assert himself, but he's too kind-hearted to be mean enough to do it. He even proposes marriage because it's been understood for a long time that he'd marry a particular lady and he hasn't the heart to make her look bad by not doing it. One day he decides to ditch everyone and everything and be an ordinary guy by going off to help a cousin who is being blackmailed. It turns into quite an adventure, but he finds that he's up to the challenge. He manages not by being amazingly dashing or incredibly arrogant, but by being nice and likeable and able to talk to everyone. I just wish he'd gotten someone better to marry as his betrothed is rather insipid. I liked his relationship to his cousin (not the one he helped out, but another one who's more like a big brother to him), as well as to his very autocratic but well-meaning uncle.
The Toll Gate is about the rather happy-go-lucky Captain John Staple who takes a wrong turn on the way to his friend's place and ends up at a toll gate manned by a young boy. He stays the night and ends up keeping on as he discovers there's something going on. He also falls in love. He tries to pretend to not be a gentleman and doesn't really manage, but he does solve the mystery and get his lady. He's a likeable guy and I enjoyed the adventure. The lady's grandfather and the protective servants were pluses. The lady was just okay. She seemed okay, but I wasn't particularly wild about her.
Still trying to read An Infamous Army and failing. I think it's too grand in scope, it's not keeping me interested. Will keep trying until I have to return it to the library...
