In lots of ways, The Perfect Lover seemed more like part of a big blockbuster novel than a Mills & Boon. It was written as the fifth book in the Perfect Family series, which is about a big family that’s very rich and very close. Either the hero or the heroine of each book is part of the family – and in some cases, they both are. But of course, in a blockbuster novel, all the family members’ stories can happen at pretty much the same time. In a Mills & Boon series they have to take it in turn to fall in love.
A lot of The Perfect Lover is set in the past. In a previous book in the series, Louise was in love with her cousin Saul and wanted to spend some more time with him so she took Saul’s girlfriend Tullah into a maze (presumably a maze owned by the family) and left her there. It’s fair to say Saul didn’t exactly welcome her with open arms after that. In this book, we see how Saul’s rejection of Louise has affected her life. Her university work has gone downhill and her new tutor, Gareth Simmonds, is putting real pressure on her to direct her attention back to her work, which she doesn’t feel capable of doing.
We then have the parallel story of Louise in the present. She has graduated from university (albeit with a lower grade than expected), she has a good and very challenging job, and she’s a great deal more grown-up, with no romantic feelings for Saul whatsoever. Gareth reappears in her life when he gets a new job that is in some way connected to Louise’s job (I didn’t really take in all the details, it all sounded a bit boring) and they have no choice but to develop a working relationship.
If the story had been about Louise and Gareth rediscovering one another and falling in love, that would probably have made quite a good book. It would probably be quite a strange and interesting experience, meeting your old university tutor and discovering not only that he is human, he’s actually quite sexy as well. The fact that Gareth had once caught Louise crying drunkenly over Saul would only increase the embarrassment when they met again.
But Penny Jordan adds a twist to the story – one which for me spoils the book. Gareth and Louise don’t fall in love when they meet again – apparently they fell in love when they were tutor and student. And not only did they fall in love, they had sex.
Even if they’d admitted to each other that they liked each other, it would still have been a bit dodgy – I find it very unprofessional of Gareth to have sex with his student in any circumstances. But the fact Gareth didn’t know that she loved him makes it worse. As far as he was concerned, she was in love with Saul – and therefore on the rebound and in a bit of an emotional mess
Gareth and Louise don’t seem to love each other at all. They don’t even like each other. Gareth thinks Louise is a stupid, spoiled baby. Louise thinks Gareth is horrible and overbearing and interfering. And I agree with them – that’s exactly what I think of both of them. There’s no real sexual tension between them, or reluctant admiration, or a meeting of intellectual equals. It’s just Spoiled Brat meets Sex Mad Idiot. It doesn’t sound like a match made in heaven to me.
It’s true that Louise did, in a sense, invite Gareth to have sex with her. But it was hardly a romantic invitation. All she told him was that she just wanted to have sex – she didn’t care who it was with. Gareth than apparently “lost control” because he loved her.
Now, I have heard that men have less control than women. There is probably a point where they can’t help themselves. But there was never any need for Gareth to reach that point. He could, for example, have kept his clothes on. And his love for Louise really doesn’t seem like a good reason for taking advantage of her. Surely, if you love someone, the last thing you’d want to do is to take advantage of them when they’re vulnerable and force them into something you’ve got every reason to believe they don’t really want. Louise is unhappy and heartbroken – she’s in a situation where not many people would be able to think straight. She is a virgin at nineteen so she’s obviously waiting for someone special, and while Louise might think no-one will ever be as special as Saul, Gareth presumably knows there’s a good chance this won’t be the case.
I can quite see that Gareth might want to stop Louise from losing her virginity to the first random bloke who comes along but manhandling her onto the bed himself seems a bit off. Everyone quite rightly makes a big fuss when Louise takes Tullah into a maze and abandons her – it was a horrible thing to do. But I’d say Gareth’s behaviour is much worse. Tullah was probably frightened and upset but nothing was likely to happen to her. Louise isn’t going to get her virginity back. So why would Louise want anything to do with Gareth after that? Gareth didn’t rape her exactly but he did take advantage of her when she didn’t really know what she was doing
And wouldn’t he rather sleep with someone who actually wants him?
It would have been much more convincing if Gareth loved Louise enough to turn her down. The fact she propositioned him is still going to make her feel embarrassed enough to want to change courses. But this way, he hasn’t done anything wrong. Louise could still realise later on that she likes him. And the fact he was able to turn down sex that was offered on a plate is only likely to increase her respect for him. It must have been hard in more ways than one but Gareth could and should have said no.
Another problem with their relationship is, what does Gareth see in her? She might be pretty. She’s probably extremely intelligent. But as Gareth points out to her at every opportunity, she’s one of the most immature people in the world. (Trust me. It takes one to know one.) She might have the ability to pass a law degree, to argue her points convincingly, and to write a good essay about them. But that doesn’t mean she has the maturity to deal with adult relationships. You hear about child prodigies who go to university at ridiculously young ages and pass degrees but that doesn’t mean they’re capable of adult relationships. Louise probably should be capable of it – but because she’s had nineteen years’ experience of life rather than because she’s capable of passing a law degree. Gareth might admire her brilliant mind and she might have a nice body but emotionally she hasn’t grown up at all.
That’s not a criticism of Louise particularly. Everyone grows up at different rates (and Louise might well have had a very sheltered upbringing) and even if you’re not a bunny boiler, it probably is really hard when the guy you love marries someone else. But she is a baby, Gareth knows she’s a baby (he tells her so at every opportunity)… and yet he falls in love with her?
Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad if that’s as far as it went. He can’t help who he falls in love with. But the fact she lacks the maturity to know what she wants just makes his decision to have sex with her even more disturbing and creepy.
Then they meet up again three years later and they argue and Louise tells herself and the readers that she hates Gareth. And the only reasons I have for doubting her are that she’s in a Mills & Boon, and Saul has already been married off. But then right near the end of the book, she decides she does love Gareth after all, and she always has, and she didn’t love Saul. The girl just can’t make up her mind! Then she tells Gareth she loves him and Gareth says he felt the same way about her all along and he wouldn’t have slept with her if he hadn’t loved her. Well, that’s one point in his favour, but he still shouldn’t have done it and the fact that he did do it shows that he can’t have cared about her all that much.
I would love to believe that Louise and Gareth are perfect for each other. They do, after all, have two of my favourite names ever. But there was nothing in the book to suggest they would make a good couple. Most of their time together has been spent arguing and shagging. We never (except in the throes of passion) see them enjoying each other’s company. When Louise is a student, there is no indication that they like one another. That part of the story is told from Louise’s point of view and she thinks of nothing but Saul. Gareth said he realised he loved her when she was arguing passionately about something during a tutorial. But we’ve seen Louise argue. She sounds like a spoiled brat. A child.
So it’s a bit of a mess. For both of them. And when Louise blames Gareth for the fact she changed her degree course and didn’t get a first, I can only sympathise with her. What else was she supposed to do? Carry on having private tutorials with him? Regardless of whether she loves him or not, he’s shown himself to be unprofessional and a bit of a sex maniac.
It should have been interesting to see them getting to know one another again. It’s not every day you meet your university tutor who had sex with you once after you told him you wanted a shag and you didn’t care who with. But you hardly see them together at all. They snap at one another a few times (they don’t see one another that often) and then they both get involved in a crisis where they don’t really have much option but to be polite to one another.
True, Gareth gets to see Louise doing her job well, and later he sees her behaving in a mature manner during the crisis, which involves her cousin Jack. Louise gets to see that Gareth is capable of behaving responsibly and kindly towards a distressed teenager without getting into bed with them. But this only takes a day or two. The next day, they’re engaged.
As far as I can see, the marriage is completely without foundation. Whether they did secretly love each other or not, Louise has changed a lot. She isn’t a brat anymore (although she does a good imitation of one on the few occasions she can’t avoid talking to Gareth). She’s grown-up, responsible, and actually pretty boring. Gareth doesn’t know the new Louise well enough to know if he loves her or not. And Louise might go off him completely once she’s actually got him. Maybe she only loves the guys she can’t have. They don’t have enough time either to fall in love if they weren’t in love before, or to work out whether they still love each other.
It’s such a shame. Penny Jordan is a good writer and she has created some strong characters who would be really interesting if they weren’t the hero and heroine of a Mills & Boon and therefore expected to live happily ever after. In a big blockbuster novel it would probably make a great storyline as their relationship is so complicated and has various angles which can’t really be examined in a feel-good romance. They could take months, even years to get to know one another again. And if their marriage didn’t last a week – which I don’t think it would – it really wouldn’t matter.
Showing posts with label Mills and Boon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mills and Boon. Show all posts
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Thursday, 11 February 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
The Boss's Unconventional Assistant (Jennie Adams)****
I have read the odd Mills & Boon and found it amusing but up until I read this book the funniest bits were the sentences that didn’t quite make sense, like ‘putting her shoes on, she ran after him’. I loved the image of the heroine kind of hopping and hanging onto the banister as she literally tried to run and put her shoes on at the same time. Yes, I do know the authors didn’t mean for me to imagine this but that is what they’re saying.
Then there are some other sentences that sound very grand and sensual on first reading but when you think about them, they’re actually a bit mad. The one my mum (who has only read about one Mills & Boon) likes to quote is: ‘Standing in front of her, he was unmistakeably male’. Well considering the guy was naked at the time I would hope it was unmistakeable! What’s the alternative? ‘Standing in front of her, it was difficult to tell whether he was male or not’????? If that’s the case, the heroine’s got a problem!
Then I read The Boss’s Unconventional Assistant and I found out that Mills & Boons could not only be intentionally funny, they could actually be rather hilarious. Soph might be my favourite Mills & Boon character ever and not just because she shares my name. It actually took me a while to get used to the fact Jennie Adams calls her Soph – that is really the only criticism I can make. My friends call me Soph all the time and they might even talk about me as Soph but I would never introduce myself by that name. Some names like Jo and Sue are short forms but I can accept them as proper names. Soph however is more of a nickname.
In fact she herself introduces herself as Sophia first and then asks people to call her Soph. She says that everyone calls her Soph but that’s not always true – when Soph goes to visit her sisters, they call her Sophia. I didn’t keep a tally, but I’m sure they called her Sophia more often than they called her Soph. And I was a bit surprised to read that she went a bit mushy inside when the hero, Grey, called her Soph for the first time. That sounds more like friendliness than romance to me – a change from Sophia to Sophie would have seemed more convincing. And yes, my boyfriend does call me Soph. But not usually when he’s being romantic. It’s always Sophie or cariad. If he says ‘I love you Soph’ it usually means I’ve done something a bit silly like getting canopy and canapé mixed up. Or boudoir and abattoir.
And while we’re on the subject of names, isn’t Grey a short form of Graham? Maybe it is his actual name and Adams has given him an unusual name to make him seem sexy but for a boss to ask his assistant to call him Grey and for him to insist on calling her Sophia seems a bit odd.
But never mind, Soph does suit her. She’s not only an unconventional assistant, she’s an unconventional Mills & Boon heroine too. Most of them are fairly quiet an unassuming and make no attempt to wear the trousers. You do get the odd one who answers back but that’s usually part of the sexual undercurrents. It’s not unknown for the heroine to be taking care of the hero when he’s injured – that happened in the last Mills & Boon I read, The Italian Playboy’s Secret Son - but the hero is always pretty much in charge even when she’s pushing him along in a wheelchair (Grey isn’t in a wheelchair but Cesar in The Italian Playboy’s Secret Son is). Most heroines have a nurturing side to their personality but they tend not to do it with aromatherapy candles and massage oils. And they definitely don’t have crimson or green hair. Crimson lips and green eyes, possibly. But not hair.
I absolutely loved Soph. She is bubbly and fun and capable of getting into awkward situations but not because she’s lacking in intelligence. The first time we see her she is wondering how to smuggle a rabbit into Grey’s house without him knowing. I’m not even sure if I’ve read about a heroine who has a pet before, certainly not one whom she rescues one on the way to her new job and decides to take with her.
She’s cheerful and determined but she comes over as sweet rather than overbearing. She can be bossy, she has no trouble making sure Grey does his physiotherapy but there’s something so charming about it and it isn’t because she wants to overpower him. It’s not even because her job is to look after Grey while he recovers from a broken arm and sprained ankle. She’s just genuinely worried about him. And not just because she fancies the pants off him. She’s practical and self-sufficient – even when she does fail to understand how to set up a visual link on the computer, she knows exactly who to phone and has it sorted by the time Grey has come back into the room. But she’s also very vulnerable, even before she starts falling in love with Grey.
Grey isn’t so vivid a character but who could be? He starts off quite growly and grumpy – he’s been told to take some time off work but he really doesn’t want to do that. Soph isn’t the type to get in an argument but she certainly doesn’t agree with his decision and she’s not afraid to let him know that. But then you gradually see him realising that there’s more to life than work. At first it’s just little signs, small reactions to Soph, and slowly you realise that he’s actually a really nice guy – probably as close to being worthy of Soph as anyone can get. And you really want it to work out for them. (Yes, I know, it’s Mills & Boon, of course it’s going to work out for them. But there’s nothing wrong with hoping.)
Jennie Adams’ writing has all the requisite (but not always present) romance but it is also full of humour. The part where Grey discovers the presence of Alfie (Soph’s rabbit) is one of the funniest things I’ve ever read – and I’ve read a lot of books. The scenes that take place in Grey’s office are also nicely done. Adams doesn’t get boringly technical about his work and if she does describe something there is a point to it – either it’s an opportunity for humour or something that shows you how Soph and Grey’s relationship is developing. It’s still Mills & Boon in that Adams follows the conventional structure but it’s full of originality.
Then there are some other sentences that sound very grand and sensual on first reading but when you think about them, they’re actually a bit mad. The one my mum (who has only read about one Mills & Boon) likes to quote is: ‘Standing in front of her, he was unmistakeably male’. Well considering the guy was naked at the time I would hope it was unmistakeable! What’s the alternative? ‘Standing in front of her, it was difficult to tell whether he was male or not’????? If that’s the case, the heroine’s got a problem!
Then I read The Boss’s Unconventional Assistant and I found out that Mills & Boons could not only be intentionally funny, they could actually be rather hilarious. Soph might be my favourite Mills & Boon character ever and not just because she shares my name. It actually took me a while to get used to the fact Jennie Adams calls her Soph – that is really the only criticism I can make. My friends call me Soph all the time and they might even talk about me as Soph but I would never introduce myself by that name. Some names like Jo and Sue are short forms but I can accept them as proper names. Soph however is more of a nickname.
In fact she herself introduces herself as Sophia first and then asks people to call her Soph. She says that everyone calls her Soph but that’s not always true – when Soph goes to visit her sisters, they call her Sophia. I didn’t keep a tally, but I’m sure they called her Sophia more often than they called her Soph. And I was a bit surprised to read that she went a bit mushy inside when the hero, Grey, called her Soph for the first time. That sounds more like friendliness than romance to me – a change from Sophia to Sophie would have seemed more convincing. And yes, my boyfriend does call me Soph. But not usually when he’s being romantic. It’s always Sophie or cariad. If he says ‘I love you Soph’ it usually means I’ve done something a bit silly like getting canopy and canapé mixed up. Or boudoir and abattoir.
And while we’re on the subject of names, isn’t Grey a short form of Graham? Maybe it is his actual name and Adams has given him an unusual name to make him seem sexy but for a boss to ask his assistant to call him Grey and for him to insist on calling her Sophia seems a bit odd.
But never mind, Soph does suit her. She’s not only an unconventional assistant, she’s an unconventional Mills & Boon heroine too. Most of them are fairly quiet an unassuming and make no attempt to wear the trousers. You do get the odd one who answers back but that’s usually part of the sexual undercurrents. It’s not unknown for the heroine to be taking care of the hero when he’s injured – that happened in the last Mills & Boon I read, The Italian Playboy’s Secret Son - but the hero is always pretty much in charge even when she’s pushing him along in a wheelchair (Grey isn’t in a wheelchair but Cesar in The Italian Playboy’s Secret Son is). Most heroines have a nurturing side to their personality but they tend not to do it with aromatherapy candles and massage oils. And they definitely don’t have crimson or green hair. Crimson lips and green eyes, possibly. But not hair.
I absolutely loved Soph. She is bubbly and fun and capable of getting into awkward situations but not because she’s lacking in intelligence. The first time we see her she is wondering how to smuggle a rabbit into Grey’s house without him knowing. I’m not even sure if I’ve read about a heroine who has a pet before, certainly not one whom she rescues one on the way to her new job and decides to take with her.
She’s cheerful and determined but she comes over as sweet rather than overbearing. She can be bossy, she has no trouble making sure Grey does his physiotherapy but there’s something so charming about it and it isn’t because she wants to overpower him. It’s not even because her job is to look after Grey while he recovers from a broken arm and sprained ankle. She’s just genuinely worried about him. And not just because she fancies the pants off him. She’s practical and self-sufficient – even when she does fail to understand how to set up a visual link on the computer, she knows exactly who to phone and has it sorted by the time Grey has come back into the room. But she’s also very vulnerable, even before she starts falling in love with Grey.
Grey isn’t so vivid a character but who could be? He starts off quite growly and grumpy – he’s been told to take some time off work but he really doesn’t want to do that. Soph isn’t the type to get in an argument but she certainly doesn’t agree with his decision and she’s not afraid to let him know that. But then you gradually see him realising that there’s more to life than work. At first it’s just little signs, small reactions to Soph, and slowly you realise that he’s actually a really nice guy – probably as close to being worthy of Soph as anyone can get. And you really want it to work out for them. (Yes, I know, it’s Mills & Boon, of course it’s going to work out for them. But there’s nothing wrong with hoping.)
Jennie Adams’ writing has all the requisite (but not always present) romance but it is also full of humour. The part where Grey discovers the presence of Alfie (Soph’s rabbit) is one of the funniest things I’ve ever read – and I’ve read a lot of books. The scenes that take place in Grey’s office are also nicely done. Adams doesn’t get boringly technical about his work and if she does describe something there is a point to it – either it’s an opportunity for humour or something that shows you how Soph and Grey’s relationship is developing. It’s still Mills & Boon in that Adams follows the conventional structure but it’s full of originality.
Monday, 11 January 2010
The Italian Playboy's Secret Son (Rebecca Winters)***
I would love to write for Mills & Boon. Not that I’m saying I’m an incurable romantic but it is good to know in advance if things are going to end happily. So many books, including a lot of romance books, might end happily but they don’t always end with happily ever after. And then there are loads of books that don’t end up happily at all. I prefer books with happy endings and with Mills & Boon that’s exactly what you’re going to get.
There are however a few problems with them and the first one is evident on the front page. I don’t mean to be rude but this book has an awful title. All recent Mills & Boons have titles like this. It’s like they have a special formula or something.
The titles start with the definite article. The next word refers to the hero of the story. It could be preceded by some adjective, possibly referring to either his nationality or his financial status or it might go straight on to the noun, which tells you his status in the heroine’s life at the beginning of the book. So in the case of this book, the heroine clearly sees the hero as a playboy rather than as a future husband. The other book I bought at the same time as this one is called The Boss’s Unconventional Assistant. Can you see the pattern?
Next, just to show the strength and possessiveness of the hero, the genitive case is used. In The Boss’s Conventional Assistant, it shows the hero’s possession of the heroine, who happens to work as his assistant. In The Italian Playboy’s Secret Son, it refers to another person he possesses. If a person is referred to in the title, it can probably only be either his future spouse or a child, as anyone else is going to get in the way of the relationship. But it might instead refer to some sort of act made by the hero, perhaps a promise or a revenge. The object of the sentence will also be preceded by an adjective, such as Secret or Unconventional in the examples quoted here.
So, if you write a book about a nice rich Welsh guy who promises to take care of some girl but has no intention of falling in love with her (although this being Mills & Boon he naturally does) you might want to call it something like The Welsh Millionaire’s Deathbed Promise. I would actually like to write a book about a Welsh millionaire but it won’t have any deathbeds in so I’ll have to call it something different. But just from looking at this imaginary title you can tell a lot about what the hero of that completely imaginary book might be like. You know where he was born. You know he’s got loads of money. You know he’s lost someone close to him. You know he believes in honouring his promises.
Similarly, you know quite a lot about the contents of The Italian Playboy’s Secret Son even before you have looked at the first page. He’s Italian. He has a son he doesn’t know about. The secret son will have some connection to the heroine of his book – it could be that the child’s mother is the heroine’s sister or best friend and that the heroine is now caring for him. But more likely the hero and heroine have met before and the child was the result. You can also guess why the heroine didn’t tell the hero about his son – the hero is a playboy. So the heroine almost certainly kept the child secret because he probably had loads of girlfriends and no interest in settling down..
And that is the main thrust of the whole book. The secret son in question is indeed the product of a past liaison and heroine Sarah didn’t tell Formula One driver Cesar about him because she didn’t think he would be interested and couldn’t bear to go to him and be rejected. Some might say – as Cesar does, several times – that he had the right to know and she should have told him. Yes, she probably should have done. But Sarah is so loving and caring, both towards her son Johnny and to Cesar, it is impossible to view her as harshly as Cesar does. You know she loves Cesar. You know she’s still unhappy about losing him, even though she lost him due to her own actions. You really want Cesar to forgive her and for them both to live happily ever after.
Cesar is lovely too. Although he is cruel to Sarah, you can understand why. You can see how badly she hurt him and also how much he loves his son. The way Cesar and Johnny instantly adored one another is not entirely realistic – but this is a Mills & Boon. You can see Cesar’s point of view as well. His situation is compounded by the fact he had an accident on the race track and is paralysed from the waist down. It’s an interesting situation for a Mills & Boon hero to be in. He couldn’t throw Sarah on the bed and ravish her even if he wanted to – and you can tell he does. It’s an extra barrier between them and it serves to make Sarah’s love for him all the more believable and Cesar’s anger towards her that bit more reasonable. The poor man must be so unhappy and frustrated and not just in that way.
The beginning of the book seems rather rushed. The first meeting between Cesar and Johnny – and the first between Cesar and Sarah for many years – takes place in the hospital where Cesar is showing no interest in recovering from his injuries. There is clearly a lot of emotion on both sides and at the time I was disappointed with how fast Winters zipped through this part of the story. It is true that it takes place over a fairly short space of time but a great deal happens and I would have liked to see it in more detail. The rest of the book, which shows Sarah struggling to adapt with her son’s new relationship with Cesar, is also very interesting but there is quite a lot that happens that doesn’t need to happen and I personally would have preferred to see more of what happened in the hospital.
But I did enjoy it and I thought it was well put-together. For once, the hero’s sudden decision to marry the heroine, despite the fact he really doesn’t want to be in the same house as her, much less the same bed, is surprisingly convincing, as is Sarah’s decision not to tell him to fuck off. Cesar is overbearing at times but he also had a very warm, gentle and loving side. And all the way through the book, I felt they were made for each other. So many Mills & Boon relationships seem to be very much based on the physical side. The hero’s actions towards the heroine can seem unforgiveable it’s very difficult to believe they will last long together and it’s only too easy to question her decision to forgive him. Sarah and Cesar aren’t like that. They struggle to get on and each hurts the other but their compatibility and their feelings for each other are never in doubt.
There are however a few problems with them and the first one is evident on the front page. I don’t mean to be rude but this book has an awful title. All recent Mills & Boons have titles like this. It’s like they have a special formula or something.
The titles start with the definite article. The next word refers to the hero of the story. It could be preceded by some adjective, possibly referring to either his nationality or his financial status or it might go straight on to the noun, which tells you his status in the heroine’s life at the beginning of the book. So in the case of this book, the heroine clearly sees the hero as a playboy rather than as a future husband. The other book I bought at the same time as this one is called The Boss’s Unconventional Assistant. Can you see the pattern?
Next, just to show the strength and possessiveness of the hero, the genitive case is used. In The Boss’s Conventional Assistant, it shows the hero’s possession of the heroine, who happens to work as his assistant. In The Italian Playboy’s Secret Son, it refers to another person he possesses. If a person is referred to in the title, it can probably only be either his future spouse or a child, as anyone else is going to get in the way of the relationship. But it might instead refer to some sort of act made by the hero, perhaps a promise or a revenge. The object of the sentence will also be preceded by an adjective, such as Secret or Unconventional in the examples quoted here.
So, if you write a book about a nice rich Welsh guy who promises to take care of some girl but has no intention of falling in love with her (although this being Mills & Boon he naturally does) you might want to call it something like The Welsh Millionaire’s Deathbed Promise. I would actually like to write a book about a Welsh millionaire but it won’t have any deathbeds in so I’ll have to call it something different. But just from looking at this imaginary title you can tell a lot about what the hero of that completely imaginary book might be like. You know where he was born. You know he’s got loads of money. You know he’s lost someone close to him. You know he believes in honouring his promises.
Similarly, you know quite a lot about the contents of The Italian Playboy’s Secret Son even before you have looked at the first page. He’s Italian. He has a son he doesn’t know about. The secret son will have some connection to the heroine of his book – it could be that the child’s mother is the heroine’s sister or best friend and that the heroine is now caring for him. But more likely the hero and heroine have met before and the child was the result. You can also guess why the heroine didn’t tell the hero about his son – the hero is a playboy. So the heroine almost certainly kept the child secret because he probably had loads of girlfriends and no interest in settling down..
And that is the main thrust of the whole book. The secret son in question is indeed the product of a past liaison and heroine Sarah didn’t tell Formula One driver Cesar about him because she didn’t think he would be interested and couldn’t bear to go to him and be rejected. Some might say – as Cesar does, several times – that he had the right to know and she should have told him. Yes, she probably should have done. But Sarah is so loving and caring, both towards her son Johnny and to Cesar, it is impossible to view her as harshly as Cesar does. You know she loves Cesar. You know she’s still unhappy about losing him, even though she lost him due to her own actions. You really want Cesar to forgive her and for them both to live happily ever after.
Cesar is lovely too. Although he is cruel to Sarah, you can understand why. You can see how badly she hurt him and also how much he loves his son. The way Cesar and Johnny instantly adored one another is not entirely realistic – but this is a Mills & Boon. You can see Cesar’s point of view as well. His situation is compounded by the fact he had an accident on the race track and is paralysed from the waist down. It’s an interesting situation for a Mills & Boon hero to be in. He couldn’t throw Sarah on the bed and ravish her even if he wanted to – and you can tell he does. It’s an extra barrier between them and it serves to make Sarah’s love for him all the more believable and Cesar’s anger towards her that bit more reasonable. The poor man must be so unhappy and frustrated and not just in that way.
The beginning of the book seems rather rushed. The first meeting between Cesar and Johnny – and the first between Cesar and Sarah for many years – takes place in the hospital where Cesar is showing no interest in recovering from his injuries. There is clearly a lot of emotion on both sides and at the time I was disappointed with how fast Winters zipped through this part of the story. It is true that it takes place over a fairly short space of time but a great deal happens and I would have liked to see it in more detail. The rest of the book, which shows Sarah struggling to adapt with her son’s new relationship with Cesar, is also very interesting but there is quite a lot that happens that doesn’t need to happen and I personally would have preferred to see more of what happened in the hospital.
But I did enjoy it and I thought it was well put-together. For once, the hero’s sudden decision to marry the heroine, despite the fact he really doesn’t want to be in the same house as her, much less the same bed, is surprisingly convincing, as is Sarah’s decision not to tell him to fuck off. Cesar is overbearing at times but he also had a very warm, gentle and loving side. And all the way through the book, I felt they were made for each other. So many Mills & Boon relationships seem to be very much based on the physical side. The hero’s actions towards the heroine can seem unforgiveable it’s very difficult to believe they will last long together and it’s only too easy to question her decision to forgive him. Sarah and Cesar aren’t like that. They struggle to get on and each hurts the other but their compatibility and their feelings for each other are never in doubt.
Sunday, 8 November 2009
The Secret Daughter (Catherine Spencer)**
Another day, another Mills & Boon. This is from the Presents series which I think is now called Modern Romance. In other words, non-explicit sex and not a lot of it.
There were things I loved about this book, but so many things that infuriated me. Firstly, most importantly, the big twist is not just revealed in the blurb, it’s revealed in the TITLE. It would have been so much more exciting if this hadn’t been given away before I’d even read the first sentence. It’s actually a really interesting story, weightier than a lot of Mills & Boons. So I feel a bit deprived really.
The plot was probably slightly wasted on Mills & Boon. I don’t really mean that in a snobby way, but there’s a lot going on with all the characters, not just the central couple Imogen and Joe, and a 50,000 word novel where the main focus has to be on the romance doesn’t really give Catherine Spencer the opportunity to explore all the stories in detail. There are lots of really interesting characters who barely feature, such as Joe’s family and Imogen’s old nanny. And Imogen’s horrible mother Suzanne is great. Her behaviour is despicable from the beginning to a page or two from the end, but it’s hard not to feel some sympathy for her. She seems so unhappy. And her views aren’t so much wrong as desperately old-fashioned. She’d have got on fine a century or two ago.
Joe, like a lot of M&B heroes, really annoys me. I can understand why he finds Imogen irritating, but the aggressive way he treats her is pretty disgusting. As usual, he expects all to be forgiven because he loves her, but I wouldn’t forgive that easily. Maybe he does love her (although I certainly wasn’t convinced), but that doesn’t change all the horrible things he said to her, and it also doesn’t change the fact that the same could happen again the next time he gets stressed about something.
A quickie wedding that certainly isn’t based on love is the last thing Imogen needs. The poor girl really has nothing on which to base her expectations for a happy marriage. Yes, she is irritating, and not very intelligent, and her sudden u-turn from being snobby about Joe to practically begging him to love her does seem rather pathetic. But no-one deserves to be treated like that. All I can say for Imogen is she’s very lucky she lives in a Mills & Boon. It’s her only hope of happily ever after.
There were things I loved about this book, but so many things that infuriated me. Firstly, most importantly, the big twist is not just revealed in the blurb, it’s revealed in the TITLE. It would have been so much more exciting if this hadn’t been given away before I’d even read the first sentence. It’s actually a really interesting story, weightier than a lot of Mills & Boons. So I feel a bit deprived really.
The plot was probably slightly wasted on Mills & Boon. I don’t really mean that in a snobby way, but there’s a lot going on with all the characters, not just the central couple Imogen and Joe, and a 50,000 word novel where the main focus has to be on the romance doesn’t really give Catherine Spencer the opportunity to explore all the stories in detail. There are lots of really interesting characters who barely feature, such as Joe’s family and Imogen’s old nanny. And Imogen’s horrible mother Suzanne is great. Her behaviour is despicable from the beginning to a page or two from the end, but it’s hard not to feel some sympathy for her. She seems so unhappy. And her views aren’t so much wrong as desperately old-fashioned. She’d have got on fine a century or two ago.
Joe, like a lot of M&B heroes, really annoys me. I can understand why he finds Imogen irritating, but the aggressive way he treats her is pretty disgusting. As usual, he expects all to be forgiven because he loves her, but I wouldn’t forgive that easily. Maybe he does love her (although I certainly wasn’t convinced), but that doesn’t change all the horrible things he said to her, and it also doesn’t change the fact that the same could happen again the next time he gets stressed about something.
A quickie wedding that certainly isn’t based on love is the last thing Imogen needs. The poor girl really has nothing on which to base her expectations for a happy marriage. Yes, she is irritating, and not very intelligent, and her sudden u-turn from being snobby about Joe to practically begging him to love her does seem rather pathetic. But no-one deserves to be treated like that. All I can say for Imogen is she’s very lucky she lives in a Mills & Boon. It’s her only hope of happily ever after.
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Secrets in Texas (Carrie Weaver)**
I wouldn’t usually review a Mills and Boon. After all, they only seem to be available in the shops for a month or so, banished from the shelves once the new shipment comes in. But why not review it? They’re common enough in charity shops after all and the chance of finding this one will be marginally greater if I re-donate it.
Secrets in Texas comes from the Super Romance series. I haven’t read all that many of them, but as far as I can make out they form a series of books that place the hero and heroine in great danger, often with some sort of crime-based plot that to some extent takes precedence over the romance.
In this book, law enforcement officer Angel Harrison has to infiltrate a group of Mormons by marrying Matthew Stone, the son of the head Mormon who is returning to the fold out of concern for the family he left behind years ago, and pretending he wants to return to the Mormon ways. Angel comes with him as his wife – they’re legally married, but certainly to begin with neither of them are even thinking of consummation. Or that’s when they tell themselves anyway.
But Matt finds himself falling for Angel’s strength and free spirit, enjoying watching such a powerful woman and trained killer playing the role of the devoted, passive wife. And Angel discovers that, despite the abusive marriage that led her to train as a law enforcement officer in the first place, maybe it will be possible for her to love again.
The characters are rather nicely done. Angel is very funny, and she and Matt have a great rapport. Matt is often called Matthew (one of the common literary names for unfaithful wankers) in this book, but despite his Uncle Jonathon’s demands that he take a second wife, he is faithful to Angel. Jonathon himself is a real monster, but there is something vaguely sexy about him that probably attracted his many wives. His ‘favourite’ wife, Eleanor, is a fascinating character, such as is not often found in Mills & Boon. Carrie Weaver reveals her character gradually and cleverly.
But other parts of the book really bother me. I know a lot of people object to Mormons, and most readers will probably sympathise with Angel’s disgust – and certainly there is something very wrong in the particular sect she visits. But it is still a religion and a way of life which I’m sure makes some people very happy. If Weaver had written about an evil Catholic community, for example, I’m sure there would have been some very strong objections; if she had written about an evil Muslim community, she really would have been in trouble. So I don’t think she should be passing comments on Mormons like this. Just because the concepts are completely alien to our society, it doesn’t mean they are wrong in other people’s. It happens all the time in the Bible.
The plot is also a bit questionable. Weaver has some good ideas, and she certainly has a flair for creating tense drama, but I didn’t really understand what Jonathon was up to. He seemed to be committing so many crimes at once, it just became confusing. At best, he is completely and dangerously amoral, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to be committing every possible crime on offer to him.
I think really, I’d like to give it three stars. There were parts of the book I really enjoyed, such as when Angel and Matt decided to rattle the headboard in order to fool the bitch sleeping next door into thinking they were having passionate, enthusiastic sex. It’s almost a disappointment when they start doing it for real. And any scene with Eleanor in is great. But my reservations about the book are so strong, I’ll give it two.
Secrets in Texas comes from the Super Romance series. I haven’t read all that many of them, but as far as I can make out they form a series of books that place the hero and heroine in great danger, often with some sort of crime-based plot that to some extent takes precedence over the romance.
In this book, law enforcement officer Angel Harrison has to infiltrate a group of Mormons by marrying Matthew Stone, the son of the head Mormon who is returning to the fold out of concern for the family he left behind years ago, and pretending he wants to return to the Mormon ways. Angel comes with him as his wife – they’re legally married, but certainly to begin with neither of them are even thinking of consummation. Or that’s when they tell themselves anyway.
But Matt finds himself falling for Angel’s strength and free spirit, enjoying watching such a powerful woman and trained killer playing the role of the devoted, passive wife. And Angel discovers that, despite the abusive marriage that led her to train as a law enforcement officer in the first place, maybe it will be possible for her to love again.
The characters are rather nicely done. Angel is very funny, and she and Matt have a great rapport. Matt is often called Matthew (one of the common literary names for unfaithful wankers) in this book, but despite his Uncle Jonathon’s demands that he take a second wife, he is faithful to Angel. Jonathon himself is a real monster, but there is something vaguely sexy about him that probably attracted his many wives. His ‘favourite’ wife, Eleanor, is a fascinating character, such as is not often found in Mills & Boon. Carrie Weaver reveals her character gradually and cleverly.
But other parts of the book really bother me. I know a lot of people object to Mormons, and most readers will probably sympathise with Angel’s disgust – and certainly there is something very wrong in the particular sect she visits. But it is still a religion and a way of life which I’m sure makes some people very happy. If Weaver had written about an evil Catholic community, for example, I’m sure there would have been some very strong objections; if she had written about an evil Muslim community, she really would have been in trouble. So I don’t think she should be passing comments on Mormons like this. Just because the concepts are completely alien to our society, it doesn’t mean they are wrong in other people’s. It happens all the time in the Bible.
The plot is also a bit questionable. Weaver has some good ideas, and she certainly has a flair for creating tense drama, but I didn’t really understand what Jonathon was up to. He seemed to be committing so many crimes at once, it just became confusing. At best, he is completely and dangerously amoral, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to be committing every possible crime on offer to him.
I think really, I’d like to give it three stars. There were parts of the book I really enjoyed, such as when Angel and Matt decided to rattle the headboard in order to fool the bitch sleeping next door into thinking they were having passionate, enthusiastic sex. It’s almost a disappointment when they start doing it for real. And any scene with Eleanor in is great. But my reservations about the book are so strong, I’ll give it two.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
