19. A Scholarly Gentleman

The title: A Scholarly Gentleman
The author: Catherine Blair
Publication: Zebra, 2002
Got it from: D., Christmas 2006

I don't usually read category romances, but D. got this one for me for a larf a couple of years ago and as I am still fighting an ear infection and have no energy to read anything heavy, I thought I'd give it a whirl. And I have to say, for a category romance, it wasn't bad. After the truly painful Madrigals and Mistletoe, I was wary of categories in general and Zebra Regencies in particular. This one proved that shorter romances can be good (somewhere in the B range) and needn't necessarily be formulaic.

The story is about Jordan DeVaux, an astronomy professor at Cambridge. Jordan's cousin has just died, leaving him a lordship and a mountain of debt to deal with, not to mention a strong-willed widow. She also happens to be the same woman who Jordan was once engaged to until she called the wedding off and ran off with his cousin. Will they possibly ever get back together? The agony is unbearable!

Here's what I'd like to talk about: the cover copy. Sure it's okay. Yes, it does cover the plot of the book pretty well.* But let's just sit back and ponder it for a moment: the guy is an astronomy professor. What a wasted opportunity! I mean, the sexual metaphors practically write themselves. Here are a few suggestions for terms they could have used:

-he's a "rocket ship entering her heavenly body"
-anything about her "celestial orbs"
-him showing her the rings around Uranus
-taking a "meteor shower" together
- the passionate removal of an asteroid belt
- his exploding supernova
- her Black Hole
- the roiling, grinding motion in their fiery cores

Anyone else want to try?

*Although as an aside I hate it when they get details wrong: they kissed in the observatory, not the library, ppl!