Talk sweetly to me

73pctGeek reviewed Talk sweetly to me by Courtney Milan (Brothers sinister series -- Coda)

Talk Sweetly To Me

3 stars

Another in the Brother's Sinister series, but other than being a romance set in Victorian England I failed to see any connection. Rose Sweetly works as a computer for a scientist and has a crush on her rakish neighbourhood writer. All my previous complaints about Milan books are back in force; an overly rushed romance, an implausibly wonderful love interest, and an oh-so-exceptional protagonist. My biggest peeve is that Rose's experiences as a Victorian-era British Black woman seem under-explored but if you like Milan's "formula", you'll like this.

Heather reviewed Talk sweetly to me by Courtney Milan (Brothers sinister series -- Coda)

Review of 'Talk sweetly to me' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

This is a rare historical romance novella set in England that acknowledges that England at that time was not uniformly white. Rose is black. She is staying with her pregnant sister who is about to have her baby while her Naval Officer husband is at sea. They are dealing with the horrible racism of the doctor who is supposed to be helping. At the same time, a once in a lifetime astronomical event is about to take place. Because Rose is just a woman who does the calculation in the lab, she isn't going to be allowed into the prime viewing space to watch it.

When she finds out that she has a suitor who is white, she is unimpressed by his assertions that everything will work out just fine. She knows that he has no idea of the prejudice that they will face as an interracial couple.

This is …

This is a rare historical romance novella set in England that acknowledges that England at that time was not uniformly white. Rose is black. She is staying with her pregnant sister who is about to have her baby while her Naval Officer husband is at sea. They are dealing with the horrible racism of the doctor who is supposed to be helping. At the same time, a once in a lifetime astronomical event is about to take place. Because Rose is just a woman who does the calculation in the lab, she isn't going to be allowed into the prime viewing space to watch it.

When she finds out that she has a suitor who is white, she is unimpressed by his assertions that everything will work out just fine. She knows that he has no idea of the prejudice that they will face as an interracial couple.

This is part of the Brothers Sinister series but it can be read alone. There is great dialogue between the characters. I like these stories because they feature women who know their worth (and it is based on something other than their money or their looks) and men who are actually nice and worth caring about. This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story

betty reviewed Talk sweetly to me by Courtney Milan (Brothers sinister series -- Coda)

Review of 'Talk sweetly to me' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Both sweet and romantic, this novela manages to handle an A plot about the transit of Venus and B plot about a breech baby. Miss Rose Sweetly likes Stephen Shaughnessy, but doesn't trust him, or take him seriously. She's looking for a man who can handle marrying a black woman in Victorian England. Also she wants to do astronomical calculations. Shaughnessy seems to want to scandalize people, and she's pretty sure he doesn't grok how much her association with him imperils her, and he hasn't mentioned marriage, but if he did, does he really get what he's signing up for?

(By the end: yes.)

(Milan includes in her afterword: "By 1882, Britain had probably trained at least as many black doctors as there were dukes," which seems to be a pretty direct response to a very common line of criticism, and cracked me up a little.)