Appointment at the Altar (Jessica Hart)***

Lucy – like author Jessica Hart, in fact – suffers from itchy feet, and the only jobs she has ever had are short-term ones. Whilst working as a cook on an Australian ranch, she meets Guy, who is the big boss of a merchant bank. He challenges her to get a ‘proper’ job – and Lucy duly does… in his merchant bank.

There are a few problems with the plot. Firstly, Lucy’s job situation does not seem like a sign of her immaturity to me. On the contrary, I would say that to travel to far-flung places, taking on a wide variety of jobs along the way and forming social relationships with all different kinds of people along the way, does demand a great deal of maturity. I’m not exactly the most mature person in the world and I’m not sure I could manage a job in a merchant bank but I’d be much better in steady employment in the same place at the same time with the same people than I would travelling all over the world and trying to make friends with new people all the time. Lucy might have certain childish characteristics, which will be discussed later, but she works hard on and does well at all her different jobs and I wouldn’t say her lack of maturity was reflected in her work.

This is not the only weakness in the plot. Hart has to manoeuvre things so Lucy and Guy are in London together. Guy needs to go back to London so Lucy can see him at work – which of course means Lucy can’t stay in Australia. So Hart sends Lucy back home to try and talk her ex-boyfriend Richard out of a coma. Lucy’s sister Meredith, who happens to be in love with Richard, takes over Lucy’s job. The first problem for me is that Lucy doesn’t love Richard, yet leaving her job and travelling halfway round the world for him rather suggests she does. And I’d have thought her boss would have understood her need to go to him even if they’re no more than good friends, so I don’t think he’d insist on Meredith staying to take her place. And it doesn’t seem quite fair on Meredith to be thousands of miles away from the guy she loves just because he’s in love with Lucy. I think these problems could all have been sorted out. Why couldn’t it have been Lucy’s best female friend in a coma? That’s a good but non-romantic reason for her to go back. Then if Hart wanted an ex-boyfriend around the place, Lucy’s friend could always have a non-comatose brother.

True, Richard does create the rather interesting situation whereby Lucy, in order to stop Richard’s parents from getting their hopes up, tells them she already has a boyfriend called Guy – even though she doesn’t like the real Guy at all. For the most part, it is a wonderfully farcical situation. But if you stop and think about it, it seems a bit wrong and disrespectful to tell such elaborate lies to Richard’s parents. They do have a lot on their minds but I’m sure they’re big enough to handle the fact that Lucy could be single and not in love with Richard.

But actually, these problems hardly interfere with the book at all, which is far more about Lucy’s attempts to convince Guy she can be grown up and responsible – whilst trying to convince herself that she really doesn’t fancy Guy. But then again, if your friend is in a coma, would a challenge from the annoying guy who works at the merchant bank really be that important?

I don’t want to be too mean about the book though because I really did love it. Hart’s writing is extremely funny, and her hero and heroine are a delightful couple. Lucy isn’t very good at thinking before she speaks and she really enjoys baiting Guy. This is immature behaviour in some ways but as I said, it doesn’t have a negative effect on her work, and the sparkiness and spontaneity that prompts it are things I hope she never grows out of. She does get into scrapes quite a lot and in some ways she is a little bit dim but at the same time she is very intelligent, determined, committed to whatever she’s doing, and able to make people adore her without trying.

‘Adorable’ people in books can sometimes be a problem because not every reader is going to see the character in the same way as the author. But I really liked Lucy a lot. Guy sees her as someone who is happy all the time, which is the sort of person that usually really annoys me, but Lucy doesn’t seem like one of those annoying relentlessly happy people to me. She’s someone who feels very deeply whatever the emotion happens to be. She feels anger, love and sadness just as strongly as she feels happiness. I do wish she’d been just a little bit sadder about her friend in a coma. But then again, why feel sad about someone who is really just a plot device? The romance is the important thing, and Lucy and Guy’s story is beautifully told.

Guy is lovely too. He can seem a bit sarcastic and superior at times, and that’s why Lucy understandably takes against him at first. But after a while you realise that although he teases Lucy, he doesn’t look down on her and he genuinely enjoys spending time with her. He is very caring, kind and supportive to everyone but it just so happens he has a great sense of humour too and enjoys Lucy’s verbal sparring and general unpredictably. He’s an example of a guy who isn’t a total pathetic wimp but who does have vulnerabilities. He doesn’t shows them in an obvious way but anyone who cares as deeply as Guy does – about his family, his friends, his colleagues and Lucy - is always going to be vulnerable. And that’s enough to make me like him. He doesn’t need to have bad things happening to him – he just needs to show he’s human, that he is capable of feeling hurt and that at least sometimes, Lucy will look after him. That’s how a relationship should work. Well, that’s how mine works.

The Rebel Prince (Faye Morgan)**

The last romance I reviewed was about a princess who falls in love with a non-royal man. The Rebel Prince tells the more traditional story of the non-royal girl who meets a handsome prince. I tend not to enjoy stories about princes unless they’re the wimpy pathetic type. Yes, okay, finding a man with wimpy pathetic qualities in a Mils & Boon is very rare. But the more princely they are, as a rule, the more likely they are to be totally up themselves and physically incapable of showing any weaknesses or vulnerabilities. Which I consider a bit of a turn-off.

There are certainly no weaknesses in the character of Prince Sebastian, who is soon to be crowned King. Even though he has no wish to be a King there is something very strong and capable about him. But I liked him. Why did I like him? Because he’s a really nice guy. I wouldn’t go out with him myself but he is extremely nice and thoughtful and he knows how to have a good time. He treats everyone he meets with kindness and respect. I’m not saying that this is unusual for a Prince – I wouldn’t know – but it is quite unusual for a Mills & Boon hero.

You have to admire Sebastian even more for his patience towards the heroine of the book, Emma. Emma is a bit of an oddball. I usually wouldn’t refer to someone else as an oddball except as a joke because that would be a bit hypocritical but Emma is much worse than me. I’m sure she is. (Well, I hope she is.) The blurb describes her as ‘shy’. While this could refer to her complete lack of sexual experience, she is certainly not shy in other ways. On the contrary, she is extremely outspoken, even rude, and she is not afraid to walk up to a table of distinguished, titled guests and introduce herself as the chef. I applaud the fact that she is not overwhelmed by Sebastian’s social status - but a small amount of deference and respect for someone who is, after all, another human being, shouldn’t be too much like hard work.

Emma’s first appearance is, frankly, bewildering. Yes, being knocked out with a water polo ball probably can send you a bit peculiar. But Emma was talking such rubbish, it became quite disturbing. It was like she was on drugs or something. In another type of book, she might have got away with it, but this is a Mills & Boon. For the most part, she does seem like quite a nice person though, and she certainly doesn’t deserve the cruel treatment by her fellow cooks, even if she does treat them as rudely as she treats Sebastian. Even if they didn’t like her, they could have shown some respect for their national fish.

But there is a lot to enjoy in this book. The idea of the prince falling in love with the cook is always very sweet. There are also some interesting minor characters, including Will the doctor, Sebastian’s Aunt Trudy, and Emma’s cousin Louise. They all have their own interesting sub-plot, and whilst not all are resolved completely, this book is part of a mini-series. Aunt Trudy is probably too old to have a book of her own (although who knows, I have read a Mills & Boon about a fifty-two year old grandmother) but despite my reservations about Emma, I would definitely be interested in reading more about Louise and Will (not that I think they’ll end up with each other...).