Friends, I’ll open this post with an irony warning! Prepare yourselves….
As a nonbinary person, I may need some help working out the following. It takes place in The Sicilian Marriage by Sandra Marton, which I enjoyed, during a sex scene when both characters are naked:
“She made a woman’s automatic gesture of modesty and he shook his head, took her hands again and kissed the palms.”
Now, pray help me a mo: Is a woman’s automatic gesture of modesty anything to do with washing machines? I mean, *those* are automatic, right? Perhaps she’s ashamed that the bedsheets are dirty and is thus trying to shoot off and do a touch of laundry? On the other hand, maybe the automatic gesture is something to do with belching, because that’s definitely automatic, and I have noticed that some people, women included, get very upset about noisy air-releases.
Or maybe her “automatic gesture of modesty” is something to do with cake. Having been raised in England, I was taught to be very modest about how I stuff my face with desserts, but since I’ve come out as nonbinary, I’m happy to say I’ll bury my whole head in a tray of brownies….
In all seriousness, there’s much to enjoy in The Sicilian Marriage. Marton has a great authorial voice, writes sex scenes with feeling, and invents a marvelously silly situation that creates suspense. (I am a fan of this! I do like silly romances!) The gender politics are goofy—but personally, in category romance, this usually gives me a giggle—and it did flag at the end for me with lots of circular conversation. Also, the heroine has a habit of totally losing her salmon about the same thing over and over. The hero can also be a bit of a dipstick. Super-fun, nonetheless.
Three stars. Rollicking read.
Happy romancing today!
Romancey Pants 