Mrs. Martin's Incomparable Adventure

Milan manages to write a charming romance about two women of a certain age, and also manages to give a hot take on the horribleness of sanctimonious rapists such as Brett Kavanaugh and the other men who protect his privilege at the expense of truth, justice, fairness, and women.

On a somewhat related note, it does Biden no good at all with me to say he's finally woke now that two execrable assholes have gotten the astounding privilege of a lifetime appointment to abuse women from the bench of the nation's highest court. His failure to make amends to Anita Hill for the harm he did her, and his failure to apologize directly to the women he has publicly manhandled, is all of a piece. Every single day he spent in office treating his male show more colleagues like humans and his female colleagues like pets has made life worse for every single one of us in ways that even the admirable aims of VAWA cannot mitigate. I guess I'm glad that someone got through to him that his presidential campaign was a no-hoper with women, but too damn little, too damn late.

And I am by no means convinced that Biden gets it even now. Like millions of men, and a devastating number of women, he still thinks violence against women is an entirely different thing from all other forms of harassment. When someone singles you out and yells something at you on the street it isn't a compliment, no matter what the words yelled are.

Mind you, Milan's book isn't as cranky as my review. It isn't cranky at all. The delight of her is that she really does treat all romantic love as equal, never pretending that only some few special couplings are worthy. then too, she is adept at taking modern topical issues into the past and addressing them without excessive anachronism. Whether and how we speak of women loving one another differs over time and place and subgroup of society, but of course the desire exists apart from the discourse. Or maybe I just really love books in which bad people receive the treatment they deserve: Milan only ever punches up.

Personal copy, because I will reread the hell out of it. show less

Violetta Beauchamps has no other options when she goes to the estate of Mrs. Martin to demand the payment for Mrs. Martin's nephew's debts. However, Bertrice has absolutely no intention of financially assisting her Terrible Nephew ever again. Instead, she and Violetta team up to make his life a misery and prove that just because they are old women does not mean they are not worth consideration.

An absolutely charming f/f romance novella with protagonists who are 69 and 73. Violetta and Bertrice are both utterly charming and Milan does an excellent job of crafting complex characters and backgrounds for these two women. While the romance between them does feel a bit rushed (a frequent quibble for novellas), watching the two women discover show more there is more between them is delightful. Also, the various revenges they concoct against the Terrible Nephew elicited several giggles. show less

4.3 stars

*This is a TBRChallenge review, there will be spoilers, I don't spoil everything but enough, because I treat these reviews as a bookclub discussion.
(also, a tv show Succession spoiler!)

“They've had seventy-five years to defeat you,” Violetta said, turning to her. Her eyes were wide and dark, and she was almost certainly the dearest thing that Bertrice had seen in years. “What do you think it means that they've yet to accomplish it?”

As with most Milan stories I read, this had some light and deep. The kind of quotes that make my eyes water out of nowhere, introspect, cheer, and rage with. A novella that read super quick but left me satisfied. I can just about guarantee I'll always recommend a Milan.

Violetta has just been show more let go from her job of overseeing the accounts and running of a tenant building right before she is about to turn seventy, a move by her boss to stop from having to pay her a pension. Having funds that could see her through a few years, Violetta knows she has to plan for the later years of her life. She comes up with the scheme to go to the aunt of one of the tenants who hasn't paid his rent in two years, claiming to be the owner of the building, getting the aunt to pay the back rent and then disappearing with her ill gotten gains.

Bertrice surprises Violetta, though, when she refuses to pay for her “Terrible Nephew” and instead comes up with her own scheme of “helping” Violetta evict the T.N. This, of course, won't help Violetta but she gets wrapped up into it all with a contract drawn up of Bertrice saying she'll pay the back rent if T.N. can't be kicked out. This kicks off some goofy schemes (a choir waking up T.N. in the morning, attacking fowl) and some “do you see what I'm trying to get you to think about” schemes (paying off sex workers to not sleep with T.N.).

While Violetta and Bertrice get together to enact these schemes we get a budding friend and romantic relationship building. Both women in their late sixties, Bertrice forced to marry for security but having that money now and Violetta growing up without much security, they both represent the trials and tribulations women face/d in a society that works to disenfranchise and take their power from them. Their bonding, connecting, and friction from their two different lived experiences was felt.

When the T.N. catches on, he starts to threaten Bertrice with having her declared mentally unstable and while Bertrice acknowledges the danger, she still pushes on, Violetta is beside her alternating worrying, cheering on, and helping. One of the aspects of Bertrice I loved, was the inclusion and discussing how present death can be later in life. She's been depressed as she's had people in her life pass on at greater numbers in the last two years. I haven't been able to shake a comment I saw about the tv show Succession, when Logan Roy's brother gave a brief eulogy I saw a comment discussing what it would feel like to have the only other person who shared memories and moments with you pass on. The lonely feeling that would give to not be able to laugh, cry, discuss, or have that understanding of those things with people who shared that with you. I thought that was touched on here wonderfully.

With the shorter page count, the problem with the T.N. wraps up fairly quickly with Bertrice going for it and the third act breakup of Violetta's lie looming over them but actually brought more lightness than dark drama when readers find out what Bertrice actually knew.

The epilogue was short but sweet and had me cheering for how it wrapped up. I found this a little lighter in tone than other Milan's, even with some of the deeper stop and make you think moments of social commentary. I often bemoan the shorter page count of novellas, but this was just about perfect (and an added bonus saying that I'd never heard about, how eating toasted cheese at night can have you dreaming about Lucifer!). Violetta and Bertrice had a sweet romance, there was bonding over shared experiences, depth, and a man got shown what was up, what more could you ask for? show less

Well this was delightful. A period piece where two 70 year old women fall in love while taking down a douchebag man who has plagued them both. Funny, sweet, feminist and radically defiant of ageism. A quick read too.

This was like a Tom & Jerry cartoon and the entire Sesame Street cast got together and decided to have a baby, and this was their offspring. I read M/M romances all the time, so when this showed up on the "bargain books" table...I thought okay. How different can it be? Well... let me tell you... about 500%. It was supposed to be humorous...but it was instead, more than a little redundant. At one-point these two looney tunes women actually sent an entire flock of geese into the deadbeat nephew's room. If the landlord wasn't concerned about the guy living, there rent-free...and I'm betting he was paying something in some form...why should his aunt and her friend give two figs about it? I've learned my lesson and I think I'll just stick show more with the "hot, sexy" guys. I know I'm probably sitting in the top row, of the minority grandstand with this one... all by my lonesome, but I've sat there before...and I know that we can't, and don't, all like the same things. I'm sure the rest of the grandstand is saying, "She didn't like this??? What on Earth is wrong with her?" NOTE: I do feel that I should add that Courtney Milan is a wonderful author, and this is NOT a good representation of her talents. I have read several of her other books and really enjoyed them. This just didn't happen to be one of them. show less

I've been awaiting this book since late this summer, and it was well worth it. Bertrice and Violetta are both delightful in their own ways- Bertrice's being rather caustic, Violetta's by necessity more pragmatic although she's got a spine of steel when she needs it. I was curious about what other things they did to the Terrible Nephew during the days that were skipped over, but I understand that for character development and pacing purposes it was probably better to keep things brief, and watching him get his comeuppance was glorious.

I've read 15 or so books by Milan, several of them twice, and this is the first one I've given below 3 stars to. I found the younger, poorer heroine to be such a nincompoop. She kept her scheme going past all sense! And decency! And the rest was a large stretch of buyability. It was probably going for a 'fun lighthearted romp' or something but it felt just wacky and off-key to me.