In Progress

• The Proposition by Judith Ivory

Finished

• The Proposition by Judith Ivory

  Rating: ****½
  
  Call me a believer and cue the Monkees music. In the great juggernaut that is the romance novel business, there are a few great writers among a lot of merely overactive imaginations. Judith Ivory, fortunately, has both. Her command of language is excellent and offers a story between the introspective, emotional Julia Quinn and the adventurous suspense of Amanda Quick (and most romance authors). There is a dilemma, quandry, impediment, but it neither takes over the crux of the novel, nor turns the heroines into simpering misses. The action is rational and the characters original.
  
  This novel is a spin on the George Bernard Shaw's take on Pygmalion albeit with a gender role-reversal. The linguist here is a confirmed bachelorette who has two months to pass off a ratcatcher as a duke at an upcoming gala. Ivory peoples her world with vivid characters, from the cook and butler to the dowager ladies. The ending stretched even my willing credulity a bit, but this is a romance and happy endings are de rigueur, so don't think about it too much. Like they say, it's not the destination, but the ride.