RomanticLeads Recommendations and reviews of romantic fiction
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RomanticLeads Recommendations and reviews of romantic fiction
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March 1999 TRADITIONAL ROMANCE heroine’s can be pretty annoying_ too proud, too rich and too beautiful. If the writer isn’t careful she can even become TSTL_ too stupid to live, in Internet Chat lingo. Miranda Jarrett has given us a completely untraditional heroine and Cathy Maxell has successfully kept her latest romance heroine alive and sparking despite being too everything. Wishing By Miranda Jarrett (Sonnet – 1999, $8.99) Wishing is the third in an historical series about the Fairbournes. You might want to read the first two stories to get the background for this novel, but Wishing delivers what the others didn’t _ the unique and strong heroine I’d been wishing for. Sea captain Samson Fairbourne makes a cynical wish to the gods to help him find the perfect woman, vowing to marry her if he finds her. When Polly Bray is dragged from the water hundreds of miles from her capsized fishing boat, she seems far from ideal. She actually seems far from real. She is not tempted by elegant gifts, she is practical, honest and even a skilled sailor. Samson falls for her, hard. He decides to make her his wife but plain Polly Bray isn’t to be owned. She wants to get back to her shabby home and rebuild the life she left behind in Massachusetts. Every romantic heroine these days is beautiful, elegant and independent. Polly Bray is much more than this. She’s steadfast and true. Because of You By Cathy Maxwell
(Avon – 1999, $7.99) In the mood for a
mystery? Go elsewhere, this refreshing story is a straight, sexy,
heart-brightening romance peopled by good guys who just don’t know it yet. It’s 1806 and a
stranger has brought the killer influenza to the village of Sproule. The
vicar’s daughter, Samantha Northrup is the stranger’s only hope. Events and fearful
villagers conspire to force Samantha to nurse and then marry the stranger,
Marvin Browne. Samantha falls in love with Marvin but turns out he’s not plain
old Marvin, he’s the prodigal son of the earl. Yale Carderock left
England 11 years ago, disinherited and angry. After earning his fortune in the
Orient, he is back in Sproule distraught to find his father has died. Every Cathy Maxwell
novel has at least a couple of good absurd scenes that, depending on your bent,
induce either a snicker or a guffaw. Because of You hasn’t the slapstick of
her last couple of novels but it’s snappy pace will keep you glued to the
page. Maxwell is a pleasant companion as you commute, stir soup or pretend to be working. Definitely search out her backlist in the used bookstores and libraries. When Venus Fell By Deborah Smith (Bantam - 1998, $29.95HC) Complex, witty and poetic, yet this story refers to so many current events that you might expect Ginger Spice to make a guest appearance. Nightclub musicians, Venus and Ella Arinelli, are enticed to the Tennessee Mountains for a visit. Gib Cameron is holding money for them, left by their infamous, anti-government father, Simon. The Cameron family is mourning for their patriarch. Due to past events, the Camerons view the Arinellis as a kind of good luck charm and welcome them with open hearts. Venus, having grown up in the school of hard knocks, is suspicious of this overly friendly clan. Gib wants her to stay to help his family recover and for himself, too. Smith is a lovely writer who can make you cry with laughter and still fills the pages with poignant prose. Her final chapter criminally reduced the novel's best feature - a complex cadre of characters - to a series of pop psychology one-liners. Her fans expect better.
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