Unladylike Rules of Attraction by Amita Murray - Summer Reading Spectacular!
Circulating Ideas 262
The Summer Reading Spectacular rolls on!
I do not read a lot of romance novels. In fact, the only romance novels that I have read have been to prepare for the podcast (well, if you don’t count the ones I peeked at as a teenager to find the naughty bits). I have enjoyed them, but they’re still not my preferred genre.
However, I am not one to mock the genre and have come to appreciate its intricacies, even if they are not personally appealing to me. Genre work is often not given its full due and romance perhaps gets the worst of the criticism in no small part because its audience is primarily female (surprise, surprise, it’s the patriarchy in disguise!).
I have learned so much over the years about genres due to the work of wonderful librarians like Robin Bradford and Becky Spratford. Becky has also been one of the podcast’s biggest cheerleaders over the years, and I greatly appreciate her. Check out her recent post about the Summer Reading Spectacular!
I hope you enjoy my interview with Amita Murray, author of Unladylike Rules of Attraction, the very first Regency Romance that I’ve ever read! No, I’ve never even seen Bridgerton, much less read the Julia Quinn books! Should I read them? Should I watch the show? Let me know!
Check out my interview with Amita now, either as a podcast or the transcript!
From the author of Unladylike Lessons in Love comes the second spectacular novel in the Marleigh Sisters series, following Anya as she must marry in order to inherit a fortune…and fight her attraction to the man who stands in her way.
Anya Marleigh is a singer and sitar player in Queen Charlotte’s court. She is left a fortune by Dowager Countess Budleigh, one of her elderly clients who used to hire her for musical evenings. But there is a condition attached. Anya must marry before her next birthday if she wants to see any of the fortune. The executor of the will is an insufferably conceited man who must consent to her marriage—if he doesn’t give his consent, the fortune reverts to him.
But Damian Ashton is only part of the problem. The Budleigh family see Anya as a usurper. They believe the fortune is rightfully theirs, and they will do all in their power—including accusing Anya of murder and Damian of some dubious and criminal dealings—to get their hands on the fortune. Now Anya must do everything she can to thwart their efforts, save herself from the gallows, and at the same time, resist the powerful attraction she feels towards Damian—who surely is only interested in keeping the Budleigh money.
Can Anya sort out the tangle—or must she lose her heart to find her fortune?
Summer Reading List
One of the things I’m enjoying is putting together a Summer Reading List, with each guest author adding a book or two of their choosing. I’ll update the list with each episode until we have our complete list at the end of the summer!
The Steerswoman (Cory Doctorow’s pick)
How to Solve Murders Like a Lady; Children of Anguish and Anarchy; Georgette Heyer; Saara El-Arifi; the Daevabad Trilogy (City of Brass, Kingdom of Copper, Empire of Gold); (Amita Murray’s picks)
Ready Reference
Mentioned on the podcast:
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Unladylike Rules of Attraction (Marleigh Sisters #2)
Unladylike Lessons in Love (Marleigh Sisters #1)
“How can we talk about sex and race?” [The Bookseller]
The Circ Desk
The Circ Desk, featuring Rebecca Vnuk from Library Reads and Yaika Sabat from NoveList, provide lively conversation about books, authors, genres, and whatever comes to their minds. In this episode, they chat about Regency romances!
The Circ Desk recommends:
Steve Thomas is a public library manager who lives in the suburbs of Atlanta with his wife, two kids, and one dog. He has worked in libraries since the year 2000 and has hosted the Circulating Ideas podcast since 2011. He really likes Coke Zero.
Currently Reading: The Bourne Evolution by Brian Freeman