Feisty Bad First Impressions

First, my apologies to Ms. Killion, who sent this book to me ages ago for a review. My Slump From Hell is a really terrible excuse, but it's the only one I have.

Highland Dragon is the author's second published book, and unfortunately was a bit of a slog for me to get through. It would be easy to blame my slump, but in reality it was the ol' Bad First Impression problem. After a bang-up prologue, the book started to sink thanks to the heroine. But more on her in a bit....

As a young lad Calin MacLeod witnessed his father's murder. His father made the mistake of falling for the beautiful Lena Kinnon, when she showed up at their home, already pregnant, begging for protection from her vile husband, Laird Baen Kinnon. Naturally Laird Kinnon (AKA The Beast) is none to pleased with his wife running out on him. Shortly after giving birth to their daughter, Akira, she is murdered, along with Calin, and several of his warriors. The only reason Akira escapes the same fate is because Calin sneaks out from his hiding place, spirits the child away, and vows that one day he shall marry her and unite their clans.

Fast forward, and Calin has decided the time has come. He shows up at the Neish household to claim Akira, only to learn she's been spirited away to a slave auction because she's "a witch." So off he goes to rescue her, so he can take her back home and wed her. Besides the small issue of her being kidnapped, the girl also has no idea The Beast is her father. When she learns that bit of truth, it's going to get very sticky indeed.

As I've already mentioned, the prologue of this story is fantastic. The problem comes when the reader meets Akira as a grown woman. Yes, gentle readers, we have one of those heroines. Sigh. Feisty. And not Good Feisty. No, Akira is Stupid Feisty. Instead of lying through her teeth at the slave auction to save her own neck, she "fights" back by opening her stupid mouth. Hell, even the child who was up for auction before her had the sense to LIE! Frankly, heroines with no sense of self-preservation deserve whatever happens to them, says me. Then of course, there's that added hoydenish touch that all feisty heroines have in historical romances - yep, the girl likes to climb trees.

Sigh.

I liked Calin a bit better, although he's one of those romance heroes who just won't come out and tell the heroine what the heck is going on until naturally she hears the truth from a third party. What is it with romantic couples that won't talk to each other?

My bad first impression of the heroine soured this story pretty early on for me, and it made the first half of this book a real slog. I never really felt like the author got a good handle on the conflict until after the couple finally has their wedding. By that point, the two villains (one the dreaded "other woman") start playing a more prominent role, and the conflict picks up a bit. By this point Akira morphs from feisty, to a bit of a Mary Sue - the kind of heroine who lacks self-confidence, and yet has everyone from the hero to small children eating out of the palm of her hand. But at least she stops climbing trees.

It's the villains and the derring-do-style action that picked up the second half of the story for me. One of the characters has a change of heart, and I'm not sure how believable it was, but it did make for compelling reading. The author also writes "hot" very well, so if you're a sucker for sexy medievals, Killion is an author to keep an eye out for on that front.

Also, of note, the author does employ the use of the brogue here. Readers tend to be very passionate on this issue. I generally can't stand it, but I will say that Killion at least employs it consistently, and it's easy to follow. I never had to stop and "think" about the dialogue, trying to decipher what the hell the characters were saying to each other. Also the epilogue is straight up Sunshine Care Bear Rainbows. I'm such a little hypocrite, that I actually sort of expect these in historicals (I tend to despise them in contemporaries though - go figure) and am OK with them. But certainly, this is another issue that readers tend to be quite passionate about.

All and all? This was a totally mixed bag read for me. The hero was OK, the heroine largely didn't work for me, but some of the conflict was interesting. If you're a squeeing fangirl for medievals, this one may be worth a look.

Final Grade = C-

Football Schmootball

I'll admit I was eye-ing the Chicago Bears as a possible football bandwagon, but during last night's game where Jay Cutler threw four interceptions and Brian Urlacher suffered a season-ending injury, I wasn't much in the mood to keep watching. So I improvised and read a book instead.

Karen Templeton is one of my go-to category romance authors, mostly because I think she writes "real" characters. Characters that don't come off as silly or contrived, and act like "normal" people. From Friends To Forever is part of Silhouette Special Edition's on-going Famous Families promotion and is book four in Templeton's Guys & Daughters series (which I adored).

Lili Szabo is a nice Hungarian girl visiting relatives in the States. After taking care of her for several years, her mother has passed away and Lili is at loose ends, not sure what to do "next" with her life. A vacation to visit distant relatives seems like just the ticket, and it's there that she crosses paths with Tony Vaccaro, her cousin by marriage.

As teenagers, Tony and Lili spent a lot of time together when she visited one summer. They bonded, over the fact that a broken leg had effectively ended his athletic aspirations and that she felt like a square peg in a family full of colorful circus performers. Now they're all grown up, and Tony finds himself attracted to Lili. Unfortunately the timing sucks for everyone involved. Lili is set to return to Hungary in a few weeks and Tony is still coping with being a single dad to three young daughters after his wife's death.

One thing I've noticed about many of the Famous Families books is that they are very series "heavy." This book is no exception. Several past characters from previous books turn up in this installment and as a "fan," I got a kick out of seeing all of them. But for newcomers? Yeah, probably not going to care all that much and I suspect it'll feel like "series-itis."

The conflict takes a while to get moving, and it involves The Dead Wife and a secret from her past that effectively throws Tony for a loop. This bit of conflict is compelling, and has a ton of emotional juice to move the story forward. However it's really complicated, and so fraught with heartache, that I felt the matter was resolved a little too conveniently at the end.

Lili seems like a nice enough girl, although she spent entirely too much time in this story cleaning Tony's house. She wants to "feel needed" and Lord knows Tony needs an army of help. I like home and hearth as much as the next girl, but I also need some fire. Luckily the author gives Lili some of that, which is illustrated in the form of a conversation Lili has with Tony's mother-in-law. That sealed the deal for me. The gal had gumption and I like gumption.

Besides the conflict with The Dead Wife, there's the small matter of the happily-ever-after which is a little complicated since Lili is Hungarian and not an American citizen. The author glosses over this aspect, and while most readers aren't likely to give a damn, all I could think about was my Lil' Sis and Super Genius Brother-In-Law, who practically had to fill out INS paperback in blood after they got married. Just sayin'.

All in all? This was an OK read. This wasn't a dud, but it didn't have quite the same magic for me as some of Templeton's earlier titles - especially the other books in the Guys & Daughters series. If you're a fan, it's worth a look. If you're a newcomer? Start here instead.

Grade = C+

ISBN 9780373654703, Silhouette Special Edition #1988, August 2009, $4.99

Old School Romance Lurve

I've said it before and I'll say it again - what makes a book a "keeper" has just as much to do with the space and time the reader is currently occupying as it does with the book itself. Nothing illustrates this more than reading a romance "classic." I love genre fiction with the kind of slavish devotion usually reserved for stalkers, but even I'm one to admit that genre fiction tends to work best in what I call The Here And Now. A large chunk of genre fiction is not designed and written to stand the test of time. Some of it does.....

But a lot of it doesn't.

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It just means that reading a "classic" of any genre sometimes requires the reader to approach the story from a slightly different angle.

Lightning That Lingers by Laura London (the pseudonym for husband and wife writing tandem Sharon and Tom Curtis) was first published by Bantam Loveswept in 1983, and is a favorite among many long time romance readers. I will say for a 26-year-old category romance, this story held up better than I thought it was going to. That doesn't mean it didn't show it's age though, and it doesn't mean that I'm ready to shout from the hill-tops that this is the greatest category romance ever written.

Jennifer Hamilton is a Plain Jane children's librarian (oh, of course she is!). She's young, fresh-faced, and innocent. So when her friends haul her to a local male strip club (The Cougar Club - no I'm not joking) she practically dies of embarrassment. However instead of the floor opening up to swallow her whole (which is what she wants to happen), she catches the eye of the "star" stripper, Phillip Brooks.

The Brooks family is old money American aristocracy. Phillip is actually an out of work biologist (seriously, I'm not joking) who lives in the former family summer home. He's stripping for a "greater good" - and takes care of injured wild life. The moment he spots Jenny he's smitten, flirtation and pursuit ensues, and a happily ever after is right around the corner.

First things first, this book was published in 1983, so it is dated. That can't really be helped. Jenny has a Dorothy Hamill hair cut. Phillip does a strip tease to a Stray Cats song. Swear to God, STDs are referred to as "social diseases" (which I'm pretty sure was dated even back in 1983) and Jenny mentions "Mr. Greenjeans." All in all though, really not bad for a 26-year-old category romance.

Parts of this story are just patently absurd. The first chapter begins by introducing the reader to Phillip and his pet owl, Chaucer, who lives and flies around freely in the rambling family summer home. Insert major eye roll here. Also, I didn't know it was humanly possible to cram so much purple prose in a story that only clocks in at 180 pages.

"Like frigid poison, the icy water bled through her clothes, lacerating her raw flesh, washing her in agony, convulsing her muscles."

Or another gem:

"As she had eased herself gracefully into the bath, he had seen her wince when the sore petals of her femininity touched the water, and he was sorry."

Admittedly I'm a "less is more" kind of reader, but I found myself rolling my eyes or fighting giggles more than once. Sigh....but again, 1983. Purple prose was pretty much the standard back then. Just makes me appreciate today's romance genre more, which allows writers to be a bit more....ummm....frank with their language.

So where does that leave me? Well, I can see why so many readers like this story. Phillip is charming and roguish and Jenny definitely fulfills a common reader fantasy; that of the Plain Jane who manages to snag the attention of the drop dead gorgeous hero. That being said, I didn't believe this romance. Yes Jenny is nice and sweet, but I couldn't figure out what Phillip saw in her. What was it about her that kicked his hormones into overdrive? I have no idea - other than it was probably the fact that she was the only woman not throwing her panties at him. And that's just not enough for me to believe that they're in love. Also, one of the things I really loathe about old school romance (and even some new school romance!) is that innocence is shorthand for "heroine" and Miss Slutty McSlut Slut is shorthand for dastardly "other woman."

Ahem, sorry. Got off track there. There is no dastardly "other woman" in this story and no Miss Slutty McSlut Slut. I might have been a tad annoyed however that the socially awkward, shy, bashful heroine just happened to be a librarian. Stereotype much?

I will say that if I read this book when I was teenager I probably would have loved it beyond all reason. I was a very shy Super Librarian-in-training when I was a teen, and thank the good Lord above, largely outgrew it by the time college rolled around. At 16 I would have been a swooning mess of teenage emo hormones reading this story. But now? As a more....ummm....forthright woman in her 30s? Yeah, not so much.

Final Grade = C

Teenage Super Librarian Grade = B+/A-

Contest Alert! Because I love to pass along the Old School Romance Lurve, I'm giving away my copy of Lightning That Lingers. It's pretty beat up. Lots of spine creasing, and the pages are pretty darn close from starting to separate from the spine. But it's a decent reading copy, and I would love to pass it along to another reader curious to read one of "the classics." Winner will be chosen from random comments on this post Friday, June 5 @ 8AM PST.

ETA: Contest is open to everybody - including published authors and those who live outside the US.