so

Addendum to this post:

Not that I recommend Mary Balogh without reserve!

In general, there's a fairly strong slut-shaming thread that runs through her stuff, and also a thread of disapproval for willing sex work. It could just be romance editorial being editorial, but ehhh, I'm not really willing to allow her the benefit of the doubt.

Also, some of the male leads are really annoyingly alpha male. Generally the misunderstandings aren't too terrible, but this is an average for like ~30-40 books. But oh, God, I cannot stand the autocratic posturing in some of these, even accounting for historic Regency/Georgian gender disparity.

Speaking of books, though, I bought and finished Robin McKinley's Deerskin yesterday. Uh. I wish I'd had some warning, because I was looking for something in the line of Chalice, which had no rape or incest. It was kind of a distressing read, and I'm not altogether certain I like the denouement of it, but I am glad there have been Yuletide fics that detail something of an epilogue for the book because I needed those.

I liked Lissar, though, and I would have enjoyed the book a lot more if she had left before the third day, though the vengeance bit obviously wouldn't have had as strong an impact. Put it down to personal preference that I would have been okay with something less dramatic.

I still want to read something like Chalice, though, if anyone wants to rec something. People coming together to fix a thing that is broken! Lady protagonist being resourceful! Fantasy that is set somewhere that isn't here. I am looking for that especially, because I am not in the mood for urban fantasy and/or paranormal romances.