*/***** (1/5)
1. GUARDIANS OF THE WEST
2. KING OF THE MURGOS
3. DEMON LORD OF KARANDA
4. SORCERESS OF DARSHIVA
5. THE SEERESS OF KELL
I read David Eddings' Belgariad (beginning with PAWN OF PROPHECY) and Mallorean (beginning with GUARDIANS OF THE WEST), around the same age at 16-17. Enjoyed Belgariad quite a bit and I still have fond memories of it. However, unlike the Belgariad, I was frustrated, disgusted and just plain annoyed by Mallorean.
I can't remember other examples when I had two such polar opposite reactions by works from the same author.
Everyone calling each other "dear" as a sign of affection really grated on me, mainly because the person using the word came off as a patronizing prissy. It was mostly Polgara doing it in The Belgariad, but in Mallorean, we find that everyone in David Eddings' world throws around "dear" as a sign of affection. I think I wanted to scream my lungs out every time Eddings had one of his characters use the word.
In the Mallorean, I remember hoping to see Garion and Ce'Nedra act like adults. No such luck, Eddings has 25-26 year-olds act like adolescent, imbecilic, incompetent and inept babies. The presence of Polgara, Belgarath and Poledra really made Garion & Ce'Nedra look dumb most of the time. Garion is constantly going OH-MY-GOD "What are we going to do, Grandfather?" or "Aunt Pol, do something!" or "Oh my god, they're blocking our way, what are we going to do?" C'mon, you're a king, you're an adult, can't you make some decisions on your own, Garion?! Don't get me started on Ce'Nedra, Eddings needs a helpless, stupid and just plain dumb girl in the Mallorean and Ce'Nedra fits the bill. Unlike other women in Eddings' novels, Ce'Nedra constantly needs protection, she's fragile, and Eddings uses her to ask the dumbest questions during banter to move the conversation forward (Polgara answers them with a "dear", of course). Don't get me wrong, I like Ce'Nedra's character best from Belgariad/Mallorean, and whenever Eddings deigns to write her perspective every now and then, I enjoy the story that much more. But she's completely useless besides breeding some kids for Garion. Even Velvet - who's younger than Ce'Nedra - is smarter and more competent than Ce'Nedra.
All the books in the Mallorean were just plain pointless. Eddings could have written the 5-book series in one 500-page book. There was a lot traveling, pointless banter to make Ce'Nedra look dumb, waking up in the morning, setting up camp, etc.
What I found most frustrating in the Mallorean was the lack of personal choice. The lack of choice was there on some level in the Belgariad, but Garion was more or less a teenager in the Belgariad so I didn't find it as bad. In the Mallorean, everyone has a =task= to do at a certain =time= and there's no wavering on that =task=. Everyone does what they're supposed to do, and the formulaic and predictable prophecy comes to fruition. What's funny is I remember the Mallorean hinging on a character's =Choice= at the end. Pfft, give me a break. Lamest ending ever. There's always a voice guiding Garion, or Belgarath or Polgara to help him, or if he wanted to do something that he wasn't supposed to do, his limbs become locked in place so he can't. Choice?!? Please...
In the Mallorean, the characterizations have exacerabated with age and the feeling of deja vu in the story is too strong to even acknowledge the Mallorean as a piece of literature.
Alright I'll stop whining now. In general, I do like Eddings, I think he writes acceptable literature for young adults, but you can only take so much of the same thing. Read the Belgariad, and be content with it.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Heroes: from the male vs. female point-of-view
So this is just an observation after having read about the preposterously, farfetched Adrien Hunt in Judith Ivory's ANGEL IN A RED DRESS' .
I suppose this goes without saying, but if you'll indulge me here.
In terms of the hero, female romance novelists often portray their heroes with outlandish displays of power cocooning a vulnerability and weakness that only the heroine is privy to. ANGEL IN A RED DRESS' Adrien is every bit as vain and outlandish as they get.
Male authors from other genres, on the other hand, often take the opposite route: you have a seemingly ordinary guy cloaking a hidden power, a hidden strength.
Age plays a large factor. Often female authors' heroes are older, more experienced and more established in their power. While male authors' heroes are a bit younger, and their power is veiled. Adult SFF author Richard Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs is old and experienced though, and every bit as powerful, just not as ridiculously outlandish or such a pretty-boy. Same goes for Matt Stover's Caine.
Which one do you prefer? I think you can tell my preference . . . Of course Ivory's Adrien Hunt is really an extreme archetype in romance.
I suppose this goes without saying, but if you'll indulge me here.
In terms of the hero, female romance novelists often portray their heroes with outlandish displays of power cocooning a vulnerability and weakness that only the heroine is privy to. ANGEL IN A RED DRESS' Adrien is every bit as vain and outlandish as they get.
Male authors from other genres, on the other hand, often take the opposite route: you have a seemingly ordinary guy cloaking a hidden power, a hidden strength.
Age plays a large factor. Often female authors' heroes are older, more experienced and more established in their power. While male authors' heroes are a bit younger, and their power is veiled. Adult SFF author Richard Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs is old and experienced though, and every bit as powerful, just not as ridiculously outlandish or such a pretty-boy. Same goes for Matt Stover's Caine.
Which one do you prefer? I think you can tell my preference . . . Of course Ivory's Adrien Hunt is really an extreme archetype in romance.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Angel in a Red Dress, by Judith Ivory [2]
**/***** (2/5)
Compared to UNTIE MY HEART (2002), Judith Ivory elects to write about a novel more epic in scope with ANGEL IN A RED DRESS (2006) accompanied by a particularly strong historical backdrop: the French Revolution. The evolution in the strength of Judith Ivory's writing and prose shows, with a continued attention to setting the scene. She does it very smoothly as the mood and disposition of the characters and/or story impact the surroundings at a given moment in time (and vice-versa). For example, the hero Adrien impinging on a room's smell and accommodations.
Unfortunately for me however, I did not enjoy the story and found characters tough to swallow in this grand 458-page paperback spanning over nine months (discounting the prologue). This book would receive 1 star if not for Judith Ivory's markedly strong prose and writing. I thought the book flailed around impotently for more than 200 pages in the beginning, really not finding its drive until the second part. Then, once we reach the impetus of the novel by the end of the first part (Shadows in the Sun), it fizzles out for more than 2-3 chapters in the following second part (Shadows in the Shade).
The story is mostly about 35 year-old Adrien & 23 year-old Christina's "romance." The divorced Christina starts out as Adrien's mistress and finds herself unwittingly in the middle of Adrien's surreptitious operations. Adrien's secret operation involves rescuing French aristocrats from the guillotine and smuggling them into England during the French Revolution. The first part takes place in England, the second in France, and finally the brief and torturous (literally) third part (Shadows in the Dark) ends in England. All in all, it wasn't fun nor engaging, and although I did enjoy the history Ivory deftly intermingles into the story, I found Adrien and Christina's characterizations often times unbearable. The characterization of notorious libertine Adrien Hunt is completely over-the-top, too fantastical, while the characterization of Christina Bower Pinn too subservient, lacking in self-respect. Yeah, I couldn't overcome the suspension-of-disbelief factor where Adrien was concerned, the entire notion of his character was ludicrous. Again, story & characters: bleh.
Like UNTIE MY HEART, the ending here was once again abrupt for a book not in a hurry at all! In fact, the ending in ANGEL IN A RED DRESS is worse than UNTIE MY HEART. The love scenes are sparse and light, the sensuality and passion not the strongest either if that's what you're looking for.
I didn't quite grasp the reasoning behind the title of this book, it isn't really about the heroine Christina. ANGEL IN A RED DRESS firmly belongs to its hero Adrien down to every word on every page. At one point, a besotted stable boy comforts the beautiful heroine Christina, calling her an angel while she publicly parades around as Adrien's mistress. I suppose that scene gives the book its title along with an emblematic red scarf. However, the larger-than-life character of Adrien Hunt overshadows and clouds the story and all other characters including his heroine Christina.
The story, possible SPOILERS.
Christina Bower's self-made rich father is a rising barrister on the King's bench, and he longs for a title for his grandchildren. After a brief meeting with the notorious libertine the Earl of Kewischester Adrien Hunt, Christina weds Richard Pinn at her father's behest. Only to have Richard Pinn divorce her three years later for not producing an heir and the mounting evidence of Christina's sterility.
Thirty-five year-old Adrien Hunt, the Earl of Kewischester, thrives as a notorious libertine, and he's already fathered 5 bastard children. At one point in the novel, Christina's best friend Evie notes there isn't a woman within miles of the earl's Kewischester estate at Hampshire that doesn't know the earl intimately. In fact Christina's (married) best friend also admits sleeping with the earl a few years back! UNTIE MY HEART's hero had a harem too. Ivory certainly relishes on detailing her heroes' experience.
Ivory packs too many layers onto her hero Adrien. He's the scheming, cunning sailor, the pompous, powerful earl, the Madman, the licentious libertine, the brilliant botanist, the articulate French poet, the lucky leprechaun, the industrious, wealthy entrepreneur, the invincible survivor conquering certain death time and time again, the affectionate father, the outlandish, preening dandy and lord knows what other layer I'm missing. The end result? Too fantastic, too nonsensical, but that may be Ivory's intent, and the attraction for many historical romance heroines: layers upon layers upon layers of trophies added on to Adrien's characterization. After the first 3-4 layers, the next and the next and the next become so frivolous, so meaningless, it's quite preposterous. There's no way to relate to Adrien Hunt, no way to ground him, except from the eyes of his enamored heroine Christina.
Despite Adrien's dissolute lifestyle, Christina is predictably attracted to Adrien from the start. And the fact that her best friend has even slept with Adrien doesn't curtail that attraction in the least. You see, Adrien Hunt is handsome beyond belief, he preens himself like a dandy and prides himself on his elegance, grace and power while flaunting his tall, broad-shouldered and muscular frame. Yeah, just another fantastic layer piled on, nothing to get too excited about where Adrien Hunt is concerned. A lot of romance novelists do it, but the tall, muscular and assertive hero surrounding himself with sycophants seemed more pronounced here. Appeared like Adrien travels with his own groupies. Certainly, outlandish displays of wealth and power invigorate Christina's attraction, he is an earl after all...
Similar to Ivory's UNTIE MY HEART, ANGEL IN A RED DRESS describes the hero Adrien's handsomeness incessantly ad nauseam and without mercy. Even at the end, we read about a doctor admiring Adrien's sharp, handsome face and beautiful teeth while he lay shot 3-4 times (once in the abdomen), and cut up brutally over including the face. Yup even other men forget themselves around the magnificent Adrien Hunt.
Even though Adrien razes a trail of women behind him, Christina takes a chance, and becomes his mistress publicly. The first 200 pages or so chronicle how Christina becomes Adrien's mistress and then how they live like that. The book conveniently avoids any deprecating, humiliating gossip which would shame Christina as Christina brazenly plunges on in the affair. She isn't concerned about having children since she's barren anyway.
I thought Christina had no self-respect for herself consistently melting at Adrien's touch. At several points in the novel, she asks Adrien if he loves her in the midst of an affair mutually and publicly acknowledged as earl-mistress. I had to laugh. You want the guy to verbalize the words, "I love you," as a condition to stay on as his mistress? You go girl, way to stand up for yourself!
Accompanying this affair and mostly separate from it: Adrien's clandestine operations smuggling French aristos out of France and saving them from the guillotine. Christina seems to stumble upon these operations by coincidence quite a bit and overhears many conversations. The cunning and devious English Foreign Minister Edward Claybourne enlists Adrien's services to track down a "Madman." The Madman is a thorn in Claybourne's shoe, you see, for being more clever than Claybourne and riling the French authorities more than Claybourne, the nerve! Now Claybourne wishes to hunt down and eliminate the Madman, considering him a threat to Claybourne's position. Claybourne doesn't know the identity of the Madman and discounts Adrien as a possible candidate since Claybourne believes the dissolute Adrien lacks the magnanimous heroism requisite for such operations.
Alongside Christina & Adrien's love(less) affair, the chase to catch the Madman (both Claybourne and the French authorities are after him) while Adrien keeps everyone guessing shapes the remainder of this story. During this time, I found Adrien's invincibility quite ludicrous. He gets shot over and over, beat up brutally, cut up, tortured viciously. Yet he survives through everything with only a few scratches. He gets shot in the abdomen yet the bullet just squishes his intestines.
Adrien is a regular energizer bunny, takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'!
Overall, I found the book too girlish, Christina constantly in a state of swooning stupor around Adrien. Too many avid descriptions of the hero without really adding much: tall, dark, handsome, sensual, brooding, attractive, invincible, lucky, cunning, powerful, attractively arrogant, wealthy, affectionate, flexing muscles, yes, yes we get it what else is new?!
Again, solid prose here, yet characters and story are a huge let-down.
More random thoughts and musings.
- I didn't understand Christina's motivations behind her request for separate lives after marriage with Adrien becomes evident. A week ago she learned that Adrien truly loves her, and that she has a chance at happiness if only he agrees to marry her. After the marriage proposal finally comes under trying circumstances, she balks, citing Adrien's crazy life as the Madman rescuing French aristocrats from the guillotine as too strenuous to her lifestyle. Huh? A week ago, that risky lifestyle was still there yet she would have jumped at Adrien's acquiescence for marriage. I don't get it!
- Adrien's cousin and ex-wife Madeleine is more childish at 32 than Christina at 22, 23. Despite having survived 2 miscarriages and the death of twins, Madeleine childishly tattles on Adrien's surreptitious activities as the Madman. Huh? Later, we learn that she tattles on him because she heard of a doxy Adrien dotes on: Christina. Ah, petty romantic behavior, that explains it.
Compared to UNTIE MY HEART (2002), Judith Ivory elects to write about a novel more epic in scope with ANGEL IN A RED DRESS (2006) accompanied by a particularly strong historical backdrop: the French Revolution. The evolution in the strength of Judith Ivory's writing and prose shows, with a continued attention to setting the scene. She does it very smoothly as the mood and disposition of the characters and/or story impact the surroundings at a given moment in time (and vice-versa). For example, the hero Adrien impinging on a room's smell and accommodations.
Unfortunately for me however, I did not enjoy the story and found characters tough to swallow in this grand 458-page paperback spanning over nine months (discounting the prologue). This book would receive 1 star if not for Judith Ivory's markedly strong prose and writing. I thought the book flailed around impotently for more than 200 pages in the beginning, really not finding its drive until the second part. Then, once we reach the impetus of the novel by the end of the first part (Shadows in the Sun), it fizzles out for more than 2-3 chapters in the following second part (Shadows in the Shade).
The story is mostly about 35 year-old Adrien & 23 year-old Christina's "romance." The divorced Christina starts out as Adrien's mistress and finds herself unwittingly in the middle of Adrien's surreptitious operations. Adrien's secret operation involves rescuing French aristocrats from the guillotine and smuggling them into England during the French Revolution. The first part takes place in England, the second in France, and finally the brief and torturous (literally) third part (Shadows in the Dark) ends in England. All in all, it wasn't fun nor engaging, and although I did enjoy the history Ivory deftly intermingles into the story, I found Adrien and Christina's characterizations often times unbearable. The characterization of notorious libertine Adrien Hunt is completely over-the-top, too fantastical, while the characterization of Christina Bower Pinn too subservient, lacking in self-respect. Yeah, I couldn't overcome the suspension-of-disbelief factor where Adrien was concerned, the entire notion of his character was ludicrous. Again, story & characters: bleh.
Like UNTIE MY HEART, the ending here was once again abrupt for a book not in a hurry at all! In fact, the ending in ANGEL IN A RED DRESS is worse than UNTIE MY HEART. The love scenes are sparse and light, the sensuality and passion not the strongest either if that's what you're looking for.
I didn't quite grasp the reasoning behind the title of this book, it isn't really about the heroine Christina. ANGEL IN A RED DRESS firmly belongs to its hero Adrien down to every word on every page. At one point, a besotted stable boy comforts the beautiful heroine Christina, calling her an angel while she publicly parades around as Adrien's mistress. I suppose that scene gives the book its title along with an emblematic red scarf. However, the larger-than-life character of Adrien Hunt overshadows and clouds the story and all other characters including his heroine Christina.
The story, possible SPOILERS.
Christina Bower's self-made rich father is a rising barrister on the King's bench, and he longs for a title for his grandchildren. After a brief meeting with the notorious libertine the Earl of Kewischester Adrien Hunt, Christina weds Richard Pinn at her father's behest. Only to have Richard Pinn divorce her three years later for not producing an heir and the mounting evidence of Christina's sterility.
Thirty-five year-old Adrien Hunt, the Earl of Kewischester, thrives as a notorious libertine, and he's already fathered 5 bastard children. At one point in the novel, Christina's best friend Evie notes there isn't a woman within miles of the earl's Kewischester estate at Hampshire that doesn't know the earl intimately. In fact Christina's (married) best friend also admits sleeping with the earl a few years back! UNTIE MY HEART's hero had a harem too. Ivory certainly relishes on detailing her heroes' experience.
Ivory packs too many layers onto her hero Adrien. He's the scheming, cunning sailor, the pompous, powerful earl, the Madman, the licentious libertine, the brilliant botanist, the articulate French poet, the lucky leprechaun, the industrious, wealthy entrepreneur, the invincible survivor conquering certain death time and time again, the affectionate father, the outlandish, preening dandy and lord knows what other layer I'm missing. The end result? Too fantastic, too nonsensical, but that may be Ivory's intent, and the attraction for many historical romance heroines: layers upon layers upon layers of trophies added on to Adrien's characterization. After the first 3-4 layers, the next and the next and the next become so frivolous, so meaningless, it's quite preposterous. There's no way to relate to Adrien Hunt, no way to ground him, except from the eyes of his enamored heroine Christina.
Despite Adrien's dissolute lifestyle, Christina is predictably attracted to Adrien from the start. And the fact that her best friend has even slept with Adrien doesn't curtail that attraction in the least. You see, Adrien Hunt is handsome beyond belief, he preens himself like a dandy and prides himself on his elegance, grace and power while flaunting his tall, broad-shouldered and muscular frame. Yeah, just another fantastic layer piled on, nothing to get too excited about where Adrien Hunt is concerned. A lot of romance novelists do it, but the tall, muscular and assertive hero surrounding himself with sycophants seemed more pronounced here. Appeared like Adrien travels with his own groupies. Certainly, outlandish displays of wealth and power invigorate Christina's attraction, he is an earl after all...
Similar to Ivory's UNTIE MY HEART, ANGEL IN A RED DRESS describes the hero Adrien's handsomeness incessantly ad nauseam and without mercy. Even at the end, we read about a doctor admiring Adrien's sharp, handsome face and beautiful teeth while he lay shot 3-4 times (once in the abdomen), and cut up brutally over including the face. Yup even other men forget themselves around the magnificent Adrien Hunt.
Even though Adrien razes a trail of women behind him, Christina takes a chance, and becomes his mistress publicly. The first 200 pages or so chronicle how Christina becomes Adrien's mistress and then how they live like that. The book conveniently avoids any deprecating, humiliating gossip which would shame Christina as Christina brazenly plunges on in the affair. She isn't concerned about having children since she's barren anyway.
I thought Christina had no self-respect for herself consistently melting at Adrien's touch. At several points in the novel, she asks Adrien if he loves her in the midst of an affair mutually and publicly acknowledged as earl-mistress. I had to laugh. You want the guy to verbalize the words, "I love you," as a condition to stay on as his mistress? You go girl, way to stand up for yourself!
Accompanying this affair and mostly separate from it: Adrien's clandestine operations smuggling French aristos out of France and saving them from the guillotine. Christina seems to stumble upon these operations by coincidence quite a bit and overhears many conversations. The cunning and devious English Foreign Minister Edward Claybourne enlists Adrien's services to track down a "Madman." The Madman is a thorn in Claybourne's shoe, you see, for being more clever than Claybourne and riling the French authorities more than Claybourne, the nerve! Now Claybourne wishes to hunt down and eliminate the Madman, considering him a threat to Claybourne's position. Claybourne doesn't know the identity of the Madman and discounts Adrien as a possible candidate since Claybourne believes the dissolute Adrien lacks the magnanimous heroism requisite for such operations.
Alongside Christina & Adrien's love(less) affair, the chase to catch the Madman (both Claybourne and the French authorities are after him) while Adrien keeps everyone guessing shapes the remainder of this story. During this time, I found Adrien's invincibility quite ludicrous. He gets shot over and over, beat up brutally, cut up, tortured viciously. Yet he survives through everything with only a few scratches. He gets shot in the abdomen yet the bullet just squishes his intestines.
Adrien is a regular energizer bunny, takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'!
Overall, I found the book too girlish, Christina constantly in a state of swooning stupor around Adrien. Too many avid descriptions of the hero without really adding much: tall, dark, handsome, sensual, brooding, attractive, invincible, lucky, cunning, powerful, attractively arrogant, wealthy, affectionate, flexing muscles, yes, yes we get it what else is new?!
Again, solid prose here, yet characters and story are a huge let-down.
More random thoughts and musings.
- I didn't understand Christina's motivations behind her request for separate lives after marriage with Adrien becomes evident. A week ago she learned that Adrien truly loves her, and that she has a chance at happiness if only he agrees to marry her. After the marriage proposal finally comes under trying circumstances, she balks, citing Adrien's crazy life as the Madman rescuing French aristocrats from the guillotine as too strenuous to her lifestyle. Huh? A week ago, that risky lifestyle was still there yet she would have jumped at Adrien's acquiescence for marriage. I don't get it!
- Adrien's cousin and ex-wife Madeleine is more childish at 32 than Christina at 22, 23. Despite having survived 2 miscarriages and the death of twins, Madeleine childishly tattles on Adrien's surreptitious activities as the Madman. Huh? Later, we learn that she tattles on him because she heard of a doxy Adrien dotes on: Christina. Ah, petty romantic behavior, that explains it.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Into the Fire, by Anne Stuart [4]
****/***** (4/5)
There's too many things to like about Anne Stuart's INTO THE FIRE. In my continuing quest for a fusion between romance and other genres, this particular one blurs the lines of distinction between contemporary romance, suspense and mystery, though it's still a romance at heart. I thought INTO THE FIRE does a very decent job in all of these genres and yet still manages to pull off a world unto its own. Aside from the contemporary world, the novel seemed to breath a new world within the garage building in remote Cooperstown, Wisconsin (U.S.), where most of the novel takes place. It was surreal, yet grounded. The settings -- though good -- I thought could have been better if Anne Stuart spent even more time than she already did describing the decrepit garage building. As it is, the inanimate garage building still came alive. The prose isn't bad at all, and the characterizations were excellent with ample backstories and well-realized. Especially Bad-Boy Dillon Gaynor. The romance was very passionate, electrically charged. Anne Stuart even made me laugh as she sprinkles in some witty dialogue.
I've heard you haven't read bad boys until you've read Anne Stuart's bad boys. Within the context of the romance genre, I would have to agree. Although INTO THE FIRE's Dillon is a convicted felon, a high-school dropout, a drunk, a drug dealer, and an all-around insensitive jerk, he still manages to capture our good-girl heroine Jamie Kincaid's attentions, and later, her heart. You have to hand it to Anne Stuart for getting bad boys right, and still have the reader find them endearing, at least on some level. I've also heard Anne Stuart redeems her heroes fully by the end and such is the case here as well because bad-boy Dillon doesn't have the most noble, gentlemanly intentions towards his heroine Jamie starting out.
Jamie signifies courage during very trying circumstances and a spunky wit on her own right, and in that regard, her character pretty much golfs par for romance. What I found funny though: she drives all the way from her home in Rhode Island to Dillon's car garage in Wisconsin for some answers only to find herself wanting to flee Dillon -- constantly. Classic case of a heroine's nerves and instincts guarding her falling heart, but I thought it was funny here, and unique in the midst of the eerie, suspenseful car garage building. For those of you that are a bit squeamish (I myself can't take S&M), I must warn of a rape scene in the beginning. It's part of Jamie's flashback, and I thought it was important in two respects: it showed Jamie's strength of character and it signified in the overall love story and passion between Jamie and Dillon.
My problems?
Well for one, I thought the book contained too many plot holes. I didn't mind that it often bordered on paranormal elements, but it didn't provide a reasonable explanation for the happenings in Dillon's car garage at the end. Either make it paranormal or provide me with some reasonable explanations please.
And secondly, this is getting back to my need for some satisfactory ending - not necessarily happy 100%, but satisfactory nonetheless. I didn't like how the ending didn't spend enough time between its hero and heroine, Jaime and Dillon. It also felt contrived and rushed.
Finally, I felt Dillon was reformed too easily, and all the criminal charges against him absolved too conveniently. Could be related to my problem with plot holes.
The premise (spoiler-free).
Twenty-eight year-old school teacher Jaime Kincaid has just lost her beloved cousin Nate to death. Tall, dark and handsome, Nate possessed a beguiling smile and a comforting, easy presence. Nate and Dillon Gaynor have been best friends forever and Nate was found bludgeoned to death in his best friend's car garage. Jaime fears thirty year-old Dillon for many reasons: she's had a crush on Dillon since she was 15, Dillon's James-Dean, Rebel-Without-a-Cause persona infringes on her deepest, darkest desires, and he's violent in the worst ways having served jail time for almost beating someone to death when he was 19. Yet, Jaime treks out there in her Volvo for some answers and Nate's belongings since Dillon ignores her letters. The police have dropped Nate's case and Jaime is determined to get some answers.
As she arrives at Dillon's eerie car garage, she's horrified to watch Dillon beating someone up. Nope, Jaime thinks, he hasn't changed at all.
Bad-Boy Dillon Gaynor has his own reasons for intentionally withholding Nate's belongings and hoping to see Jaime again in person after 12 years. They aren't the most noble reasons either, he just wants to use her for his own satisfaction. As soon as Jaime arrives, she wants to escape, to return to Rhode Island while Dillon treacherously sabotages her means to return. He effectively imprisons her in his creepy, dilapidated car garage building.
The story continues its wild ride from there as good-girl Jaime and bad-boy Dillon struggle with ghosts from their past and with each other.
A very engaging reading experience, and it had me completely hooked from beginning to end.
There's too many things to like about Anne Stuart's INTO THE FIRE. In my continuing quest for a fusion between romance and other genres, this particular one blurs the lines of distinction between contemporary romance, suspense and mystery, though it's still a romance at heart. I thought INTO THE FIRE does a very decent job in all of these genres and yet still manages to pull off a world unto its own. Aside from the contemporary world, the novel seemed to breath a new world within the garage building in remote Cooperstown, Wisconsin (U.S.), where most of the novel takes place. It was surreal, yet grounded. The settings -- though good -- I thought could have been better if Anne Stuart spent even more time than she already did describing the decrepit garage building. As it is, the inanimate garage building still came alive. The prose isn't bad at all, and the characterizations were excellent with ample backstories and well-realized. Especially Bad-Boy Dillon Gaynor. The romance was very passionate, electrically charged. Anne Stuart even made me laugh as she sprinkles in some witty dialogue.
I've heard you haven't read bad boys until you've read Anne Stuart's bad boys. Within the context of the romance genre, I would have to agree. Although INTO THE FIRE's Dillon is a convicted felon, a high-school dropout, a drunk, a drug dealer, and an all-around insensitive jerk, he still manages to capture our good-girl heroine Jamie Kincaid's attentions, and later, her heart. You have to hand it to Anne Stuart for getting bad boys right, and still have the reader find them endearing, at least on some level. I've also heard Anne Stuart redeems her heroes fully by the end and such is the case here as well because bad-boy Dillon doesn't have the most noble, gentlemanly intentions towards his heroine Jamie starting out.
Jamie signifies courage during very trying circumstances and a spunky wit on her own right, and in that regard, her character pretty much golfs par for romance. What I found funny though: she drives all the way from her home in Rhode Island to Dillon's car garage in Wisconsin for some answers only to find herself wanting to flee Dillon -- constantly. Classic case of a heroine's nerves and instincts guarding her falling heart, but I thought it was funny here, and unique in the midst of the eerie, suspenseful car garage building. For those of you that are a bit squeamish (I myself can't take S&M), I must warn of a rape scene in the beginning. It's part of Jamie's flashback, and I thought it was important in two respects: it showed Jamie's strength of character and it signified in the overall love story and passion between Jamie and Dillon.
My problems?
Well for one, I thought the book contained too many plot holes. I didn't mind that it often bordered on paranormal elements, but it didn't provide a reasonable explanation for the happenings in Dillon's car garage at the end. Either make it paranormal or provide me with some reasonable explanations please.
And secondly, this is getting back to my need for some satisfactory ending - not necessarily happy 100%, but satisfactory nonetheless. I didn't like how the ending didn't spend enough time between its hero and heroine, Jaime and Dillon. It also felt contrived and rushed.
Finally, I felt Dillon was reformed too easily, and all the criminal charges against him absolved too conveniently. Could be related to my problem with plot holes.
The premise (spoiler-free).
Twenty-eight year-old school teacher Jaime Kincaid has just lost her beloved cousin Nate to death. Tall, dark and handsome, Nate possessed a beguiling smile and a comforting, easy presence. Nate and Dillon Gaynor have been best friends forever and Nate was found bludgeoned to death in his best friend's car garage. Jaime fears thirty year-old Dillon for many reasons: she's had a crush on Dillon since she was 15, Dillon's James-Dean, Rebel-Without-a-Cause persona infringes on her deepest, darkest desires, and he's violent in the worst ways having served jail time for almost beating someone to death when he was 19. Yet, Jaime treks out there in her Volvo for some answers and Nate's belongings since Dillon ignores her letters. The police have dropped Nate's case and Jaime is determined to get some answers.
As she arrives at Dillon's eerie car garage, she's horrified to watch Dillon beating someone up. Nope, Jaime thinks, he hasn't changed at all.
Bad-Boy Dillon Gaynor has his own reasons for intentionally withholding Nate's belongings and hoping to see Jaime again in person after 12 years. They aren't the most noble reasons either, he just wants to use her for his own satisfaction. As soon as Jaime arrives, she wants to escape, to return to Rhode Island while Dillon treacherously sabotages her means to return. He effectively imprisons her in his creepy, dilapidated car garage building.
The story continues its wild ride from there as good-girl Jaime and bad-boy Dillon struggle with ghosts from their past and with each other.
A very engaging reading experience, and it had me completely hooked from beginning to end.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
When Love Awaits, by Johanna Lindsey [1]
*/***** (1/5)
Johanna Lindsey should have retitled WHEN LOVE AWAITS to MISCONCEPTIONS, MISUNDERSTANDINGS AND CONFUSIONS. Every romance novel plays out some misunderstanding or misconception between its hero and heroine, but this novel takes this plot device to new heights. WHEN LOVE AWAITS comprises of incessant bickering and one misunderstanding after another from page 1 to the very last. Johanna Lindsey is a bit more brutal in terms of violence than I'm used from romance authors, showing the heroine getting beat up by villains and almost raped. But brutal writing can be a good thing when it's fun, or when it's necessary to the overall plot, and/or when there's a suitable payoff towards the end. In this case, it isn't fun nor necessary, and there was no payoff at the end. Interestingly enough, even though we have beatings, mistresses and almost-rapes, the love scenes and passion in WHEN LOVE AWAITS are flat, Lindsey electing to take a lighter direction there. Again, the plot centers around misunderstandings while the prose is pretty bad, and the settings worst. I found the characterizations of both our hero and heroine equally invidious, not a single endearing trait between the two.
Another novel released in the mid-to-late 80s, it must have been fashion to have romance-novel heroes and heroines constantly fight over misunderstandings they refuse to talk about more openly. Ever wanted to scream your lungs out over an overblown misunderstanding that a simple talk could easily clear up? Well imagine screaming your lungs out over and over for 350+ pages because of it.
The idiocy of the hero and the callous, acrimonious nature of the heroine didn't help my enjoyment at all. Two things in this regard.
One, I don't understand how the hero Rolfe could allow his mistress to stay in the same home as the wife he professes to love. It really doesn't matter that the mistress misled Rolfe in believing she's carrying his child, he should have moved the mistress elsewhere. The point is, he's either stupid to believe a word the mistress spews at him and/or cruel to allow her to live in the same home as his beloved wife no matter the child situation.
Two, the heroine Leonie was way too cold throughout. Despite all the times Rolfe asks for her forgiveness and despite all the times he showers her with caring and kindness, she remains pretty stiff with him. The love scenes are equally cold if not moreso. Basically, they bicker and fight over and over and over during the day, go at it at night, and return to their bickering pattern during the day. She mistrusts his fighting ability during a tournament, drugs him so he's forced to avoid the tournament, then runs from his anger only to be captured by thieves and rapists. Towards the end, during a love scene, she thinks she can give everything to this man only to run from him the very next morning again. She believes everything Rolfe's former mistress tells her as well, and allows the mistress to take advantage of every situation. Instead of talking about it more openly with her husband or fighting with the mistress for him, she gives Rolfe a consistent cold shoulder.
The Story.
King Henry II has granted Rolfe d'Ambert the rebellious estates at Kempston, spread out over 6 keeps and various rich lands. Before Rolfe can rule, he must conquer and bring the various keeps to heel. The keep at Crewel falls first and borders Lady Leonie at Pershwick. Leonie's father extricated her from his seat at Montwyn after her mother whom he loved dearly passes away. Although Leonie blames her father for her eviction, it's her stepmother who drugs and keeps her father too comatose to comprehend and rein in his second wife's perfidies.
Although she hasn't met Rolfe, Leonie believes Rolfe a monster, a corrupt mercenary of the King's, while Rolfe believes Leonie behind the sabotages of his estate at Crewel. Rolfe has the King arrange his marriage to Leonie hoping to exact revenge and subdue Leonie into submission. Rolfe's mistress Amelia misleads Rolfe into believing she's carrying his child and Rolfe allows her to stay. Rolfe introduces Amelia as his ward, but Leonie heard the truth from servant gossip yet doesn't openly broach the subject to Rolfe.
Both Rolfe and Leonie harbor ill-begotten misconceptions of each other perpetuated by the books' antagonists that a simple talk could elucidate. This entire fiasco of a book climaxes to a pinnacle of a misunderstanding at the end which is easily dissolved in 1-2 pages.
You get the point.
Johanna Lindsey should have retitled WHEN LOVE AWAITS to MISCONCEPTIONS, MISUNDERSTANDINGS AND CONFUSIONS. Every romance novel plays out some misunderstanding or misconception between its hero and heroine, but this novel takes this plot device to new heights. WHEN LOVE AWAITS comprises of incessant bickering and one misunderstanding after another from page 1 to the very last. Johanna Lindsey is a bit more brutal in terms of violence than I'm used from romance authors, showing the heroine getting beat up by villains and almost raped. But brutal writing can be a good thing when it's fun, or when it's necessary to the overall plot, and/or when there's a suitable payoff towards the end. In this case, it isn't fun nor necessary, and there was no payoff at the end. Interestingly enough, even though we have beatings, mistresses and almost-rapes, the love scenes and passion in WHEN LOVE AWAITS are flat, Lindsey electing to take a lighter direction there. Again, the plot centers around misunderstandings while the prose is pretty bad, and the settings worst. I found the characterizations of both our hero and heroine equally invidious, not a single endearing trait between the two.
Another novel released in the mid-to-late 80s, it must have been fashion to have romance-novel heroes and heroines constantly fight over misunderstandings they refuse to talk about more openly. Ever wanted to scream your lungs out over an overblown misunderstanding that a simple talk could easily clear up? Well imagine screaming your lungs out over and over for 350+ pages because of it.
The idiocy of the hero and the callous, acrimonious nature of the heroine didn't help my enjoyment at all. Two things in this regard.
One, I don't understand how the hero Rolfe could allow his mistress to stay in the same home as the wife he professes to love. It really doesn't matter that the mistress misled Rolfe in believing she's carrying his child, he should have moved the mistress elsewhere. The point is, he's either stupid to believe a word the mistress spews at him and/or cruel to allow her to live in the same home as his beloved wife no matter the child situation.
Two, the heroine Leonie was way too cold throughout. Despite all the times Rolfe asks for her forgiveness and despite all the times he showers her with caring and kindness, she remains pretty stiff with him. The love scenes are equally cold if not moreso. Basically, they bicker and fight over and over and over during the day, go at it at night, and return to their bickering pattern during the day. She mistrusts his fighting ability during a tournament, drugs him so he's forced to avoid the tournament, then runs from his anger only to be captured by thieves and rapists. Towards the end, during a love scene, she thinks she can give everything to this man only to run from him the very next morning again. She believes everything Rolfe's former mistress tells her as well, and allows the mistress to take advantage of every situation. Instead of talking about it more openly with her husband or fighting with the mistress for him, she gives Rolfe a consistent cold shoulder.
The Story.
King Henry II has granted Rolfe d'Ambert the rebellious estates at Kempston, spread out over 6 keeps and various rich lands. Before Rolfe can rule, he must conquer and bring the various keeps to heel. The keep at Crewel falls first and borders Lady Leonie at Pershwick. Leonie's father extricated her from his seat at Montwyn after her mother whom he loved dearly passes away. Although Leonie blames her father for her eviction, it's her stepmother who drugs and keeps her father too comatose to comprehend and rein in his second wife's perfidies.
Although she hasn't met Rolfe, Leonie believes Rolfe a monster, a corrupt mercenary of the King's, while Rolfe believes Leonie behind the sabotages of his estate at Crewel. Rolfe has the King arrange his marriage to Leonie hoping to exact revenge and subdue Leonie into submission. Rolfe's mistress Amelia misleads Rolfe into believing she's carrying his child and Rolfe allows her to stay. Rolfe introduces Amelia as his ward, but Leonie heard the truth from servant gossip yet doesn't openly broach the subject to Rolfe.
Both Rolfe and Leonie harbor ill-begotten misconceptions of each other perpetuated by the books' antagonists that a simple talk could elucidate. This entire fiasco of a book climaxes to a pinnacle of a misunderstanding at the end which is easily dissolved in 1-2 pages.
You get the point.
Friday, July 6, 2007
The Secret, by Julie Garwood [1]
*/***** (1/5)
Though Julie Garwood apparently wrote THE SECRET after GENTLE WARRIOR, I found THE SECRET pales in comparison in all respects. The one thing I liked about THE SECRET though: Garwood has her hero and heroine give to each other, both in affection and love. I found the rest of THE SECRET however an interminable series of inane conversations about clan gossip and the bureaucratic operations of a Scottish clan. Unlike GENTLE WARRIOR, THE SECRET falls short in plotting, pacing, settings and prose. I also found GENTLE WARRIOR's passion between its lead pair stronger than this novel's. The main reason I wanted to read this novel: it's the precursor to Julie Garwood's highly recommended THE RANSOM.
The Story, possible SPOILERS.
Frances Catherine (Scottish) and Judith (English) have been best friends since they were 4 years old, constantly meeting at the Festival Games on the border. Frances Catherine's mother and grandmother both died from childbirth and fearing the worst, Frances Catherine secures a promise from Judith to come during Frances Catherine's time of pregnancy.
Now married to Laird Iain Maitland's brother Patrick, Frances Catherine stands before the Maitland Council of Elders for permission to allow Judith to visit. Iain travels to the border to fetch Judith himself. They share an instant attraction and Iain jealously refuses to allow her to travel horseback with any of his companions.
For years, Judith has been gathering information on childbirths from midwives so she can help her friend Frances Catherine. Once she arrives to the Maitland holdings, it's one clan gossip conversation after another. And it's like every woman is pregnant because Judith ends up taking over midwife duties and assists 3 mothers with their childbirths before Frances Catherine. The dumb conversations to impact a change in the clan's traditional way of thinking was painful to read, and romance between Iain and Judith even dumber.
The big secret deals with Judith's troubled past, and it isn't much of a secret since we find out fairly early on. Judith is daughter to the MacLean clan, fierce enemies of the Maitlands. After the series of insipid conversations and birthings, we have a boring ending as Judith finally meets her father Laird MacLean.
Nothing here, moving on...
Though Julie Garwood apparently wrote THE SECRET after GENTLE WARRIOR, I found THE SECRET pales in comparison in all respects. The one thing I liked about THE SECRET though: Garwood has her hero and heroine give to each other, both in affection and love. I found the rest of THE SECRET however an interminable series of inane conversations about clan gossip and the bureaucratic operations of a Scottish clan. Unlike GENTLE WARRIOR, THE SECRET falls short in plotting, pacing, settings and prose. I also found GENTLE WARRIOR's passion between its lead pair stronger than this novel's. The main reason I wanted to read this novel: it's the precursor to Julie Garwood's highly recommended THE RANSOM.
The Story, possible SPOILERS.
Frances Catherine (Scottish) and Judith (English) have been best friends since they were 4 years old, constantly meeting at the Festival Games on the border. Frances Catherine's mother and grandmother both died from childbirth and fearing the worst, Frances Catherine secures a promise from Judith to come during Frances Catherine's time of pregnancy.
Now married to Laird Iain Maitland's brother Patrick, Frances Catherine stands before the Maitland Council of Elders for permission to allow Judith to visit. Iain travels to the border to fetch Judith himself. They share an instant attraction and Iain jealously refuses to allow her to travel horseback with any of his companions.
For years, Judith has been gathering information on childbirths from midwives so she can help her friend Frances Catherine. Once she arrives to the Maitland holdings, it's one clan gossip conversation after another. And it's like every woman is pregnant because Judith ends up taking over midwife duties and assists 3 mothers with their childbirths before Frances Catherine. The dumb conversations to impact a change in the clan's traditional way of thinking was painful to read, and romance between Iain and Judith even dumber.
The big secret deals with Judith's troubled past, and it isn't much of a secret since we find out fairly early on. Judith is daughter to the MacLean clan, fierce enemies of the Maitlands. After the series of insipid conversations and birthings, we have a boring ending as Judith finally meets her father Laird MacLean.
Nothing here, moving on...
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