Susan Carroll's The Valentine's Day Ball

In Susan Carroll's The Valentine's Day Ball, Sir Jared Brandon calls his ex-fiancee Maria by the name Titania. The nickname recalls one of their first meetings when he greets her by that name. She, of course, responds with offense that that is not her name, so he identifies the source: "'It's from Midsummer Night's Dream. Shakespeare." Maria, possibly like the reader, does not know the reference but affirms that she does: "'Of course, everyone knows that.' Everyone but her. She had no more knowledge of Shakespeare than the kitchen cat. Papa had never allowed her to attend a play." So Jared clarifies the point: '"Titania,' Jared murmured, 'Proud queen of the fairies. Disdainful but beautiful. It suits you'" (55). After setting up this nickname so clearly, Carroll employs it throughout the novel.

She even uses it and Dream quite explicitly for the reunion of the two lovers:

Jared stepped out of the shadows cast by the church, moonlight illuminating his disgruntled countenance. "Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania."

Maria heaved a tremulous breath, part relief, part indignation. "What are you doing here?"

"Quoting Shakespeare. Having my nose broken. Is it bleeding?" (85)

These battling lovers, separated by a misunderstanding and unwillingly reunited in the cause of opposing a young woman's enforced marriage, echo Shakespeare's only faintly, but the thread of Titania does run through the novel

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