Wayback Machine: Splendid, Dancing at Midnight, Minx by Julia Quinn

May 26, 2020
More old books!

https://juliaquinn.com/
Back in 1995 a new author appeared on the scene: Julia Quinn. She immediately won a place in Romanceland reader’s hearts, and went on to write all about those wonderful Bridgertons. Just recently, she wrote another charming story connected to that series, First Comes Scandal. First Comes Scandal was a feel-good book, and came along at just the right time to cheer me up. Still in need of a few laughs, I decided to climb into the Wayback machine and reread Ms. Quinn’s first three books, Splendid, Dancing at Midnight, and Minx. These three books are part of the Blydon Family series. In the preface of these books, Ms. Quinn states that these books are not as polished as the books she writes now. Umm, that my little Petunias is an understatement.

Sometimes things don’t age well. Starting with Splendid, 1995. This story contained a nice heroine by the name of Emma. The trouble with Emma was that she was a wide-eyed innocent who occasionally turned into a doormat. How did she become a doormat? Well, she fell in love with Mr. Bonehead hero, Alex. Alex distrusts women, but we do not know why. He treats Emma like dirt through most of the Splendid. He has no concern or respect for her reputation, and is responsible for a forced seduction in this book. He blames Emma for all of their troubles, he berates her, he belittles her, and he’s a big old dirt-wad. Doormat Emma lets him get away with it, she was sooooo understanding, and she made me sick.

While there were glimmers of the fun dialog Ms. Quinn has eventually become synonymous with, this narrative in this story had an overwhelming 20th /21st century feel to it.  It is not only the dialog of the characters, but also the construction of the entire book. It reminded me of stories written in the 70s and 80s, with tons of Romanceland clichés thrown in. This book was a big disappointment, but then along came the next book in the series, Dancing at Midnight.
Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Warm/Hot
C-

Dancing at Midnight seemed like an experiment gone wrong. I have to say, if your niche is

light-hearted, witty stories, with fun characters, maybe one should stay the course. At least until one becomes a little more polished, a little bit more experience. Then turn to the dark side. I’ve always been of the opinion that “funny” was harder to write. Making someone laugh is a real art, because not everyone has the same sense of humor. So, to write something which a majority of people find amusing is a good thing, it is a talent. It is possible for dialog with wit to become so fine-tuned, eventually the underlying emotions will shine through. Trying to write angst for the sake of having angst does not work. That is what happened in Dancing at Midnight. The hero, John, was drowning in misplaced guilt. He thinks he is responsible for the rape and death of a woman…he is not.

The balance between fun, and angst in Dancing at Midnight didn’t work. The trauma of his war experience did not work with the silly, fun part of the rest of the book. The writing felt rather hackneyed. Moreover, the heroine, Belle, was a TSTL heroine through most of the book. Then a light shined in the distance: Minx.

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Warm/Hot
D

Minx, 1996. At last, I saw a foreshadowing of the writer Julia Quinn was to become. In this book, Ms. Quinn begins to find her distinctive voice. This is the story of Henrietta (Henry)

and Dunford. Dunford was the wisecracking, advice giving best friend in the other two books in the Blydon Family saga stories. He is the character we have been looking forward to seeing the shoe on the other foot. You know him; he is the one who has been handing out all kinds of advice on love. As if he really knows anything about the subject. At last, we get to see how he handles advice when he tumbles into love. And, it is quite a fun tumble. 

This book made me smile. I found both Henry and Dunford delightful, and their dialogue, banter, and humor was wonderful. When Dunford inherits an estate, he gets more than he expects. He gets a female overseer. Now, I will admit, I found it a little hard to swallow Henry’s taking over management of an estate at the age of 14, but hey, she was an adorable character so I chose to overlook that small problem.

I loved Dunford’s complete lack of control over everything, including his lack of control over his Timothy Toad. It was all great fun. There was only one bump-in-the-road in this story, and that was a silly misunderstanding. I’m not sure why the misunderstanding was tossed into the narrative. The story was flowing along nicely and then a scheming woman tells a lie to our heroine. It was unexpected. I once again blame this bump on an author finding her wings. Thank goodness, it did not go on too long.

For the most part, Minx is the book that saved this trilogy, and gave us an author who would go on to do improved things.  After all, she gave us the Bridgertons.

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Warm/Hot
B-