The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart
My rating: 4/5 cats
i admit i have a weakness for all that wuthers, so i really enjoyed this. it’s got everything you need to make your own gothic romance playset, so it’s a little predictable, but it’s a quick read and perfectly acceptable (i.e. not to be ashamed of) escapist fiction. plus, they reissued them in these nice trees-and-moors covers, which means the old, bad romance-looking ones are gone for good. when i was reading that damn nora roberts book for school, i was very much aware of its physical presence. i don’t have a very big embarrassment-button, but there was something about reading it in public that added a layer onto the experience of it, because i am not usually aware of how i am perceived unless i am acting in a completely unacceptable way (and i have also a broad tolerance for what is acceptable) but i felt watched and judged—which i know was completely in my mind. but i felt like observers were clucking their tongues “that poor girl isn’t getting any and is compensating by reading romance novels. how said. and so young.” don’t worry about me, strangers, i do all right.
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