For regular readers of Cooper's novels I am sure that many characters played major roles in previous books in the series. There are innuendos and outright sexual comments that sprint across the line of acceptable conduct, circuit the planet to cross the line again, then draw penis emojis on that line. Using this book as a guide to British humour would leave one with the impression that a good joke is something crude mixed with something racist, barely advanced from Fawlty Towers. An incendiary speech is one that muses over how one might say the words “Far Canal.” Shaking breasts is just as good a form of greeting as shaking hands. As for the actual sex, it’s fine, I guess, though one situation made me wonder about Cooper’s knowledge of the mechanics of it. While there is relatively limited shaming, there is unnecessary reveling in excess, with anything involving into alcohol devolving into orgiastic celebrations or, in one case, an actual orgy. Cooper appears to strongly favour characters having children in their late teens or early twenties, leading to a sub-plot of Rupert at risk of being a great grandfather at 60. Racism and homophobia are also run riot through the book, with the homophobic f word used repeatedly and with another f word in front of it on one occasion. There's also some weird phrasing:

Mount! by Jilly Cooper | Goodreads Mount! by Jilly Cooper | Goodreads

Cooper’s books became synonymous with the term “bonkbuster”, but she’s not convinced by the description herself. “They’re a bit of everything, really,” she says. “And happy endings, too. But if they want to call it bonkbuster they can – except it ought to be called ‘shagbuster’ now, bonk is out of date.” The bad: Many of the characters seem like newly named versions of previous characters. It's like Jilly is running out of ideas for characters in her books, so just taking the old ones and giving them new names and voila! New character. They also seem completely undeveloped, so it's really hard to like them. And even the ones who are main characters and who are somewhat developed—aren't really very likeable. She wrote it all right. And under horrible circumstances she did brilliantly. But I suspect the editors never got a chance to make raw Jilly sound like real Jilly. Jilly is about bringing joy into your life: daft, silly, boozy joy, and if you like joy, you’ll like this. If Scotland ever does what it’s threatening, and casts off from Nigel Farage’s England (now there’s a man who looks like he uses Maestro cologne), I will miss her very much. Or Quaite Fraightfully, as we say in Jilly World. Oh, and when you get to that word – don’t say I didn’t warn you. I also agree her nature writing is lovely and her older characters used to be flawed but they generally redeemed themselves in some way.Georgette Heyer is one of my favourite writers. She taught me so much history, and fantasizing about her macho Regency heroes made boarding school much more bearable. I loved setting the Prologue in Mount! in the eighteenth century, because here lies the key to the whole story. But I couldn’t keep it up for an entire book, I rely on modern slang too much. On the other hand, I adore anachronisms. I can’t remember which film it was when some warrior bellowed: ‘Men of the Middle Ages, let us go forth and fight the Hundred Years’ War!’ Taggie gets a bit of a raw deal here. Long-time fans may regret one of the major storylines, which may ruin some of the characters for you if you like your romances "safe" (and given Appassionata, feels a bit out-of-character). Mount! is NOT "safe". It's also not very fairytale-ending unlike some of the others, though of course it ends reasonably happily for all the progatonists. She writes on a manual typewriter, christened Monica. “I feel very guilty about not working. I work at weekends. I do like working, and now Leo’s gone it’s a good substitute for loneliness.”

Mount! - Penguin Books UK

What a big complicated world Cooper has created in this series. Many of them quite fun to read and enjoy.It is a world in which you can tell who the baddies are because they go to elocution lessons, participate in “fain dining” and have vulgar gardens. As a 14-year-old fan I was frankly astounded that such a thing as a vulgar garden could exist, but apparently it can. I love Jilly. LOVE her. I know Emily to Octavia practically word for word. Also Riders and Rivals. I also like the racing stuff, despite having little interest in horses IRL. Rupert will face temptation like never before in Mount! What made you choose to test him and Taggie, which is one of the most loved relationships in your novels? I think Jilly was in a really dark place when she wrote this book. None of the characters are likeable with the exception of Gav and Bao.