Class through the ages

Romantic_L_eads Recommendations and reviews of romantic fiction

Romantic Leads March, 2000

This month's selections are a study in class barriers through the ages. First Lady is a fantasy about a U.S. First Lady and her affair with an average Joe. Dropping back a couple of centuries, A Worthy Wife investigates what makes a woman suitable for marriage to an Earl. Then, set a century earlier, Amethyst contrasts the nobility and merchant class of Restoration London.

First Lady

By Susan Elizabeth Phillips (Avon - Feb 2000, $7.99)

If there is a political junky in your family, First Lady is the perfect romance to read to put in the right frame of mind for the U.S. primaries.

Cornelia Case is the widowed First Lady of the United States. Since her husband's replacement is single, she is drafted into continuing in her official capacity. Problem is, she's burnt out and no one will let her take a break.

Dodging Secret Service agents, Nealy sets out on an adventure in the "real world" and through mischance ends up a passenger on a road trip from hell.

Mat Jorik, a between-work journalist, is taking his ex-wife's orphaned kids to Iowa to deposit them with their grandmother. The two girls, an obnoxious teenager and a carsick infant, have birth certificates with his name as father although Mat knows that a lie.

As the older brother to seven sisters he wants nothing to do with any more needy females. He drafts Nell, Nealy in disguise, to take the job of nanny cum driving companion. The trip is as much a trial for Mat as it is a savoured adventure for Nealy who has been sheltered by Secret Service protection since childhood.

While agents are hot on her trail, Nealy uses her freedom to learn first hand about the country she serves. Mat is entranced by Nealy's naïve enjoyment and they grow close, sharing secrets and ultimately of course, sex.

When Nealy's identity is revealed Mat is in an impossible position. How can any relationship develop between America's princess and an unemployed opportunist? Worse, Nealy confided the best news story of his life_ the story that could catapult his career and cause a ruinous scandal. But Nealy and the kids will be hurt worst of all.

As usual, Phillip's female characters are strong yet flawed and her hero is a chauvinist turned sensitive guy. First Lady is funny and smart in the way of her previous work and oozes rampant patriotism. Carrying Americana ambience to the extreme, readers are bombarded with such a plethora of brand names I expected product sponsorship notices on the back cover. But First Lady is an election year product tie-in worth buying.

A Worthy Wife

By Barbara Metzger (Signet - February 2000. $5.99)

A gentle regency romp, A Worthy Wife is a farce that rises above the crowd.

Aurora Halle McPhee's wedding is interrupted when Kenyon Warriner, Earl of Windham, arrives to reveal that her intended is a bigamist. When she wails, "but I need a husband" he assumes she's pregnant and offers to do the honourable thing. So, they marry.

This is the beginning of a series of silly and thoroughly fun misadventures that endear the hero to the heroine and set up scenes of frustrating hilarity.

A Worthy Wife is a hysterical 100-yard dash.

Amethyst

By Lauren Royal (Signet - Feb 2000, $8.99)

Amethyst is a fine debut for a career that seems poised for take-off.

Amethyst Goldsmith is a talented jeweller resigned to marry the apprentice her father has chosen. When the great London fire of 1666 leaves her orphaned and destroys her shop, Colin Chase, Lord Greystone, leads Amy to safety. Their previous betrothals, not to mention different stations in life, forbid them to pursue the attraction that simmers between them.

Anyone who knows human nature realize that what is forbidden is all the more desirable.

Amethyst is chock-full of intriguing Restoration-era detail, at times to the point of overflowing. Look forward to the next instalment in the Chase family's romances.

Janine Taylor is a Halifax writer. She can be reached at romanticleads@hotmail.com or http://ajaninet.tripod.com

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