I loved the first Kate Morton book I read, The House at Riverton, so as soon as I saw she’d written another book, I bought it straight away. It’s another multi-generational story, covering more than a hundred years. Cassandra, her grandmother Nell, and a lady called Eliza who is an important part of Nell’s childhood all have their own stories which unfold as you go through the book.
It’s an amazingly complicated structure but Morton does it brilliantly. The chapters jump around between the times but the characters she creates are so strong, it’s very difficult to become confused. The story starts when Nell dies and she leaves Cassandra a house in her will. (There seems to be a bit of a theme about non-English people inheriting houses in England, see When She was Bad if you don’t believe me). Cassandra lives in Australia and as far as she knew Nell has also lived in Australia all her life – Nell actually brought up Cassandra after her tarty mother dumped her – so she’s quite surprised to discover Nell has a house in England. Cassandra travels to England to see the house and to try and solve the mystery of who Nell’s real parents are. At the same time, you read about Nell trying to solve the mystery herself and then you get to see the mysterious Eliza growing up and eventually coming into contact with Nell.
It took me a while to get into the story. The characters – apart from Eliza, who first appeared a short way into the book – were not immediately as likeable and interesting as the characters in The House at Riverton. This book is to a great extent more plot-driven than character-driven – which would usually not be a positive trait but it didn’t matter in The Forgotten Garden. The plot is so fast-paced and exciting, full of twists and turns, you don’t really have space in your brain to worry that the characters aren’t brilliant. As the book progresses, it becames more and more difficult to put it down. Sometimes you can guess in advance what’s going to happen but even when you’re right things are never quite as you expect them to be. And I love how Morton will mention characters in one plotline, only for them to pop up later in the past or future. It’s all so cleverly done and I can’t imagine how much time Morton must have spent putting it all together.
Eliza is an authoress so the book features three of the fairytales she wrote. Usually I hate it when you have to break off from reading the main story in order to read something written by a character. But I couldn’t get annoyed this time. The fairytales were so beautifully told and original too – and they weren’t exactly irrelevant as far as the plot was concerned.
The whole book was wonderfully written. The language Morton uses always sounds so beautiful. One of the most beautiful users of language I have ever read – maybe not right up there with Jane Austen but like Adele Geras she’s not far off. Morton is one of the few writers where I can see in my mind what she’s writing about. Even when she’s spending ages describing something without anything happening it doesn’t matter. I can’t get bored because there’s just too much to enjoy, whether it’s the images she’s creating, the sounds of the words or just the fact that anything could turn out to be a clue to help you solve the mystery.
I just hope Kate Morton writes some more books.
Monday, 17 May 2010
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
When She was Bad (Louise Bagshawe)***
There’s no doubt that Louise Bagshawe can write. She writes extremely well. Her descriptions are detailed and vivid. I often have trouble ‘seeing’ what writers are describing but it was easy to picture what Bagshawe had in mind, even though she was writing about places I knew nothing about, including some she could have invented for all I know.
Her characters are interesting, her dialogue is witty and you’re never going to get them confused. It’s mostly a serious book but it’s certainly not without humour. When Lita, her main character, goes to work for an advertising firm, Bagshawe describes advertising campaigns that are good or bad, successful and unsuccessful. And she does it convincingly. Her advertising campaigns actually sound like advertising campaigns. When Lita has an idea that is hailed as brilliant by the other characters, I’ve already decided for myself that it’s a great idea. (Okay I have no interest in buying the products but that’s probably more to do with me than the writing.) The plot at times seemed more like a series of episodes but there were plotlines that went all the way through the book and at times it really was enthralling.
So why didn’t I like the book?
The main problem was that I didn’t like the characters. Lita, a Bronx girl who becomes a famous model and then a top advertiser, is cold, hard and on some occasions just nasty. Bagshawe tries to give the impression that she needs to be nasty in order to survive and maybe there’s some truth in that but it never really feels as though Lita is putting on an act.
Also, everything comes to her too easily. Yes, she works her butt off and she is clearly (and believably) intelligent. But it’s not always easy to sympathise with successful characters. From a very early stage in the book I realised that whatever happened, Lita was going to land on her feet, probably within the next few pages. Not only that, she was going to end up somewhere even better than where she was before. So I very quickly stopped worrying about her.
There is another important main character called Becky. She doesn’t appear in about the first third of the book but from that point on maybe just under half the book is from her point of view, half is from Lita’s and there’s a little bit from various other characters. I did like Becky at first. I did feel some sympathy for her when she arrived at the English house she inherited, only to be made to feel very unwelcome by the snobby relatives living in the house at the moment. But then later Becky becomes unrealistically intelligent and competent, full of ideas about things she didn’t have a clue about before. So in the end she’s just a slightly warmer version of Lita.
Their relationships are also rather unconvincing. There’s a total twat called Rupert who dupes Lita and nearly manages to dupe Becky but it just didn’t ring true for me how someone as intelligent as Lita was so completely taken in. Then Lita meets a couple of other men, neither of whom I liked, before finding one who just happened to be right for her. Not that he ever seemed right for her but he was an improvement on the others.
The relationship between Becky and the guy she likes is great at first. I loved the way they disliked each other on sight, yet it was clear they really fancy each other. Then there are lots of arguments and misunderstandings and very occasionally a very short amount of time (maybe two seconds) when they’re actually enjoying each other’s company. But then it gets a bit unrealistic and it’s never really resolved between them.
Another thing I didn't notice myself but which seems worth mentioning is that the book is full of errors (click the title of the review and it should take you to the Amazon reviews). Lita ages five years in the time it takes Becky to age one year. There are references to a song and to linguistic phrases that weren't around at the time when the book is set. I don't know for sure whether this is true as I'd have to read the book again and I don't want to do that but I thought it was worth mentioning. And well done to the reviewers for paying enough attention to the book to spot things like this.
I have another Louise Bagshawe book on my shelf waiting to be read – and I will read it. But to be honest, the thing that interests me most is whether it has a character called Victoria in. In both of the Bagshawe books I’ve read (the other is Tuesday’s Child), there’s a total bitch called Victoria. They’re not the same person. So what’s she got against Victorias? (Although I can’t think of anyone called Victoria I actually like…)
Her characters are interesting, her dialogue is witty and you’re never going to get them confused. It’s mostly a serious book but it’s certainly not without humour. When Lita, her main character, goes to work for an advertising firm, Bagshawe describes advertising campaigns that are good or bad, successful and unsuccessful. And she does it convincingly. Her advertising campaigns actually sound like advertising campaigns. When Lita has an idea that is hailed as brilliant by the other characters, I’ve already decided for myself that it’s a great idea. (Okay I have no interest in buying the products but that’s probably more to do with me than the writing.) The plot at times seemed more like a series of episodes but there were plotlines that went all the way through the book and at times it really was enthralling.
So why didn’t I like the book?
The main problem was that I didn’t like the characters. Lita, a Bronx girl who becomes a famous model and then a top advertiser, is cold, hard and on some occasions just nasty. Bagshawe tries to give the impression that she needs to be nasty in order to survive and maybe there’s some truth in that but it never really feels as though Lita is putting on an act.
Also, everything comes to her too easily. Yes, she works her butt off and she is clearly (and believably) intelligent. But it’s not always easy to sympathise with successful characters. From a very early stage in the book I realised that whatever happened, Lita was going to land on her feet, probably within the next few pages. Not only that, she was going to end up somewhere even better than where she was before. So I very quickly stopped worrying about her.
There is another important main character called Becky. She doesn’t appear in about the first third of the book but from that point on maybe just under half the book is from her point of view, half is from Lita’s and there’s a little bit from various other characters. I did like Becky at first. I did feel some sympathy for her when she arrived at the English house she inherited, only to be made to feel very unwelcome by the snobby relatives living in the house at the moment. But then later Becky becomes unrealistically intelligent and competent, full of ideas about things she didn’t have a clue about before. So in the end she’s just a slightly warmer version of Lita.
Their relationships are also rather unconvincing. There’s a total twat called Rupert who dupes Lita and nearly manages to dupe Becky but it just didn’t ring true for me how someone as intelligent as Lita was so completely taken in. Then Lita meets a couple of other men, neither of whom I liked, before finding one who just happened to be right for her. Not that he ever seemed right for her but he was an improvement on the others.
The relationship between Becky and the guy she likes is great at first. I loved the way they disliked each other on sight, yet it was clear they really fancy each other. Then there are lots of arguments and misunderstandings and very occasionally a very short amount of time (maybe two seconds) when they’re actually enjoying each other’s company. But then it gets a bit unrealistic and it’s never really resolved between them.
Another thing I didn't notice myself but which seems worth mentioning is that the book is full of errors (click the title of the review and it should take you to the Amazon reviews). Lita ages five years in the time it takes Becky to age one year. There are references to a song and to linguistic phrases that weren't around at the time when the book is set. I don't know for sure whether this is true as I'd have to read the book again and I don't want to do that but I thought it was worth mentioning. And well done to the reviewers for paying enough attention to the book to spot things like this.
I have another Louise Bagshawe book on my shelf waiting to be read – and I will read it. But to be honest, the thing that interests me most is whether it has a character called Victoria in. In both of the Bagshawe books I’ve read (the other is Tuesday’s Child), there’s a total bitch called Victoria. They’re not the same person. So what’s she got against Victorias? (Although I can’t think of anyone called Victoria I actually like…)
Sunday, 28 March 2010
A Compromising Position (Carole Matthews)***
I like Carole Matthews’ way of telling multiple-viewpoint stories. I think she’s the only author I’ve ever found who’s had one first-person narrator and various people in the third person. It works well in the Chocolate Lovers series but it’s even better in this book. Maybe it’s because Emily is such a big character, you get used very early on to the fact that she features both as “I” and “Emily”. In the Chocolate Lovers series, first-person heroine Lucy is barely mentioned in the section from other people’s points of views but Emily is central to everything that goes on in the book.
It took me a while to get to like her. She spends a lot of time early on telling us how her friend Cara really isn’t normal. She does have a point about that. Cara is very New Age and into spells, massage and dreadlocks. But considering Cara has just come to Emily’s rescue by giving her a place to live when her boyfriend posted a saucy picture of her on the Internet, Emily probably should have been nicer about her.
Besides, it’s not as though Emily is so very normal herself. On the very first page of the book, she is wailing like a banshee in public. I might have been more forgiving if she was a natural crybaby but she manages to be very brave for the rest of the book even though her life is full of disasters. So the banshee wailing seems like attention-seeking to me.
Also, while I haven’t really delved into the sex lives of most people I know because I’m really not interested, I shouldn’t imagine most women spend their bedroom time dressing up in Saucy Santa outfits, writing Ho Ho Ho on their bottoms, and allowing their boyfriends to photograph it. She wasn’t to know that he was going to put it on the Internet and that her bottom was going to turn into one of the Internet’s most-viewed pages but still, I think most people wouldn’t do it in the first place. And if I’m wrong about that, I think I’d rather not know about it really.
When Emily says she’s a normal person, it’s difficult not to laugh. When she says she’s organised and competent, I found it hysterical. And then I found out she was a teacher… now I’m not saying teachers don’t or shouldn’t have a sex life but you just can’t take this book seriously.
A Compromising Position is loads of fun and Matthews really keeps you guessing. I had no idea who was going to end up with whom. Emily and Cara are both in love with Adam, whose ex-wife Laura is married to Barry but seems more inclined to share her problems with Adam. Emily’s ex-boyfriend Declan is also keen to get back with Emily, at least when he’s not enticing Cara into someone else’s hot tub.
Then there’s Chris, who is such a total typical lad, I was just waiting for him to fall in love. The fact he insisted on carrying a picture of Emily’s bottom around with him and kissing it made me wonder if he might fall in love with her. I quite fancy him actually. At least he knows what he wants from what girl (though it probably helps that he wants the same thing from all of them) and he’s honest about it. I don’t want to sleep with him though. I just want to look after him. So I’m not sure we’d get on. Then there’s this guy called Sebastian, who has connections to almost all the main characters but they don’t know he knows all of them. If they had known, this book would have been a lot shorter.
It is very funny the way Adam and Emily fall in love with each other at first sight (not that it stops Adam from shagging Cara and worrying about Laura, or Emily from considering taking up with publicist Jonathan Gold) without realising that they kind of know each other already. Adam knows Cara has a friend called Emily whose bottom has been on international news (he has seen a photograph of her but presumably he didn’t really look at her face) and Emily knows Cara fancies a guy at her work called Adam. But then they have a chance meeting in a bar when Emily’s dyed her hair (and isn’t flashing her bottom) and they don’t really talk. They just drool and Adam tells her she has sauce on her nose and Emily is so humiliated, she runs off. They then spend half the book trying to find each other. This does go on a bit long. There’s a limit to how many times Emily and Adam can narrowly miss meeting one another. When Emily finally realises who he is and she decides to jump out of the window in order to avoid meeting him, things really have got a bit silly.
So it’s definitely not a book to take too seriously. It’s quite satisfactory the way all the coupling works out in the end but there’s nothing to tell you these are the ‘right’ characters, or that they’re going to live happily every after. And it’s not all that realistic. Emily might be nice-looking but she’s thirty-two. About ten years older than most successful glamour models. And I’m sure that if I created a website and put my bottom on it, I wouldn’t start earning lots of money from it, like Declan does when he puts Emily’s nether regions on the Net. I’m not even sure how he does manage to earn so much money from it. Is it pay-per-view? Perhaps, but once the national newspapers have got hold of it, and once Chris has forwarded it to his Facebook friends, there’s no need to look at the original.
And it’s also a bit disturbing that Adam takes on a job as a porn photographer in order to prove to Laura that he can look after their son Josh when she goes to Australia to find herself. Josh takes it all in his stride – he seems to know a lot more about glamour models than Adam does – but I’m not sure Laura would be too happy if she knew about it. So Adam’s pretty much deceiving her in order to get custody of Josh, and I don’t think that’s fair. But the rest of the book is so mad, it’s hard to get too uptight over these little problems. I couldn’t ever see Emily, Adam, Cara, Laura, Josh and Sebastian as real people (Chris I believe in apart from the bottom-kissing) so it doesn’t matter what Adam does really. I was amused enough to keep reading but I didn’t care about the characters.
It took me a while to get to like her. She spends a lot of time early on telling us how her friend Cara really isn’t normal. She does have a point about that. Cara is very New Age and into spells, massage and dreadlocks. But considering Cara has just come to Emily’s rescue by giving her a place to live when her boyfriend posted a saucy picture of her on the Internet, Emily probably should have been nicer about her.
Besides, it’s not as though Emily is so very normal herself. On the very first page of the book, she is wailing like a banshee in public. I might have been more forgiving if she was a natural crybaby but she manages to be very brave for the rest of the book even though her life is full of disasters. So the banshee wailing seems like attention-seeking to me.
Also, while I haven’t really delved into the sex lives of most people I know because I’m really not interested, I shouldn’t imagine most women spend their bedroom time dressing up in Saucy Santa outfits, writing Ho Ho Ho on their bottoms, and allowing their boyfriends to photograph it. She wasn’t to know that he was going to put it on the Internet and that her bottom was going to turn into one of the Internet’s most-viewed pages but still, I think most people wouldn’t do it in the first place. And if I’m wrong about that, I think I’d rather not know about it really.
When Emily says she’s a normal person, it’s difficult not to laugh. When she says she’s organised and competent, I found it hysterical. And then I found out she was a teacher… now I’m not saying teachers don’t or shouldn’t have a sex life but you just can’t take this book seriously.
A Compromising Position is loads of fun and Matthews really keeps you guessing. I had no idea who was going to end up with whom. Emily and Cara are both in love with Adam, whose ex-wife Laura is married to Barry but seems more inclined to share her problems with Adam. Emily’s ex-boyfriend Declan is also keen to get back with Emily, at least when he’s not enticing Cara into someone else’s hot tub.
Then there’s Chris, who is such a total typical lad, I was just waiting for him to fall in love. The fact he insisted on carrying a picture of Emily’s bottom around with him and kissing it made me wonder if he might fall in love with her. I quite fancy him actually. At least he knows what he wants from what girl (though it probably helps that he wants the same thing from all of them) and he’s honest about it. I don’t want to sleep with him though. I just want to look after him. So I’m not sure we’d get on. Then there’s this guy called Sebastian, who has connections to almost all the main characters but they don’t know he knows all of them. If they had known, this book would have been a lot shorter.
It is very funny the way Adam and Emily fall in love with each other at first sight (not that it stops Adam from shagging Cara and worrying about Laura, or Emily from considering taking up with publicist Jonathan Gold) without realising that they kind of know each other already. Adam knows Cara has a friend called Emily whose bottom has been on international news (he has seen a photograph of her but presumably he didn’t really look at her face) and Emily knows Cara fancies a guy at her work called Adam. But then they have a chance meeting in a bar when Emily’s dyed her hair (and isn’t flashing her bottom) and they don’t really talk. They just drool and Adam tells her she has sauce on her nose and Emily is so humiliated, she runs off. They then spend half the book trying to find each other. This does go on a bit long. There’s a limit to how many times Emily and Adam can narrowly miss meeting one another. When Emily finally realises who he is and she decides to jump out of the window in order to avoid meeting him, things really have got a bit silly.
So it’s definitely not a book to take too seriously. It’s quite satisfactory the way all the coupling works out in the end but there’s nothing to tell you these are the ‘right’ characters, or that they’re going to live happily every after. And it’s not all that realistic. Emily might be nice-looking but she’s thirty-two. About ten years older than most successful glamour models. And I’m sure that if I created a website and put my bottom on it, I wouldn’t start earning lots of money from it, like Declan does when he puts Emily’s nether regions on the Net. I’m not even sure how he does manage to earn so much money from it. Is it pay-per-view? Perhaps, but once the national newspapers have got hold of it, and once Chris has forwarded it to his Facebook friends, there’s no need to look at the original.
And it’s also a bit disturbing that Adam takes on a job as a porn photographer in order to prove to Laura that he can look after their son Josh when she goes to Australia to find herself. Josh takes it all in his stride – he seems to know a lot more about glamour models than Adam does – but I’m not sure Laura would be too happy if she knew about it. So Adam’s pretty much deceiving her in order to get custody of Josh, and I don’t think that’s fair. But the rest of the book is so mad, it’s hard to get too uptight over these little problems. I couldn’t ever see Emily, Adam, Cara, Laura, Josh and Sebastian as real people (Chris I believe in apart from the bottom-kissing) so it doesn’t matter what Adam does really. I was amused enough to keep reading but I didn’t care about the characters.
Sunday, 7 March 2010
The Perfect Lover (Penny Jordan)**
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.
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.
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.
Monday, 1 February 2010
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...).
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...).
Monday, 18 January 2010
Plane -Jane Princess (Karen Templeton)***
This book tells the story of a princess who meets her handsome normal man. I sometimes find Silhouettes a bit dull but this one had me gripped. And most of the time it had me laughing too.
Princess Sophie is a lovely character and she’s very funny – which happens all too rarely in romantic novels. I think she’s the most childish twenty-nine year old I’ve ever heard of (which is saying something) but she is sweet and caring. The blurb says she has the ‘opportunity’ of spending two weeks as a normal person which does kind of suggest the opportunity is offered to her by someone but this isn’t really what happens. Sophie becomes a normal person by disguising herself as a blonde bimbo called Lisa and sneaking out under her bodyguard’s nose. It’s not very realistic but it’s so hilarious I really don’t care. And Sophie’s country, Carpathia, does seem a very old-fashioned sort of place. Maybe it just doesn’t occur to her bodyguard that Sophie might want to run away, or that she’d be able to disguise herself to the extent she does.
The hero, Steve Kolaski, is a lovely, kind man. He’s not my type but that doesn’t matter. More to the point, I’m not sure he’s Sophie’s type either. He’s so paternal towards her it’s quite disturbing that he fancies her. But he is lovely and it’s good to see the friendship between them developing and when they finally get together it is a lovely moment because you know how much Sophie likes him. At least they clearly like and respect each other a lot and they already know they’re capable of living together, at least as boss and babysitter.
The story of how Sophie becomes part of his family is a fascinating one. Well, in some ways it’s the traditional ‘the hero needs a babysitter and the heroine happens to be available’. But making her a princess gives the story an interesting twist. Sophie is neither a brilliant housewife nor someone who is used to looking after children. Because she’s used to having servants, there would be no need for her to learn to cook or clean and although she does read stories to the poor children in the principality, she has never been allowed to take any real responsibility for them. So although she does go through the usual clichéd cooking disasters and losing-a-child disasters, it is more understandable from someone with her background.
Sophie has always worked very hard on her princessly duties and now she works hard at cooking, cleaning and babysitting. She is ignorant, but she’s not stupid – she has no trouble learning to cook when someone actually takes the trouble of showing her round the kitchen. And it is funny watching Steve trying to figure out what’s so odd about her. He knows there must be a reason why this intelligent and hard-working woman is making such elementary mistakes but he can’t quite put his finger on it.
But the wonderful humour can sometimes be a disadvantage because you can get so caught up in that, you forget things. Like I kept forgetting Steve had five children because the twelve year old female twins are barely in the book. Courtney came into it briefly when she started her period but it was almost as though the incident had been brought in to show Steve how important ‘Lisa’ is. I don’t really mind but I do kind of feel Templeton missed some opportunities, like Courtney’s twin sister Bree could have been jealous that Courtney had started her period before she did. That would have been a very interesting psychological challenge for Sophie to deal with and not an unrealistic one – and it would also have given her the chance to show how grown-up she can be.
It also bothers me the way Steve tells Sophie she isn’t beautiful but she is attractive. I think if you love someone they must be beautiful to you. When I first saw my boyfriend I wasn’t that impressed really. Now I think he’s the most gorgeous man in the universe and if anyone says he isn’t handsome I think they’re mad. So why shouldn’t Steve think Sophie is beautiful? He doesn’t have to tell her if she doesn’t like it but telling her she’s not beautiful isn’t very nice.
There is one moment when Steve’s mother calls Sophie by her real name. All writers and editors will make mistakes sometimes and it must be confusing, having a heroine with two names. But it came at a point in the book where I really had no idea if this meant Steve’s mother knew who she was or whether it was a printing error. Steve’s sister knew who she was, so she could have told her mother – plus Sophie was in a daydream at the time and quite possibly wasn’t answering to ‘Lisa’. After a few pages I realised it was definitely a printing error.
But although there was a lot about the book that bothered me I did enjoy reading it. The princess sections were convincing without being over-glamorous and to my surprise I liked the children too. I don’t like reading about cute kids as a rule, they can be cringeworthy but the children in this book were (with the exception of the twins) well-rounded and interesting characters, each with their own problems. Just like the adults.
Princess Sophie is a lovely character and she’s very funny – which happens all too rarely in romantic novels. I think she’s the most childish twenty-nine year old I’ve ever heard of (which is saying something) but she is sweet and caring. The blurb says she has the ‘opportunity’ of spending two weeks as a normal person which does kind of suggest the opportunity is offered to her by someone but this isn’t really what happens. Sophie becomes a normal person by disguising herself as a blonde bimbo called Lisa and sneaking out under her bodyguard’s nose. It’s not very realistic but it’s so hilarious I really don’t care. And Sophie’s country, Carpathia, does seem a very old-fashioned sort of place. Maybe it just doesn’t occur to her bodyguard that Sophie might want to run away, or that she’d be able to disguise herself to the extent she does.
The hero, Steve Kolaski, is a lovely, kind man. He’s not my type but that doesn’t matter. More to the point, I’m not sure he’s Sophie’s type either. He’s so paternal towards her it’s quite disturbing that he fancies her. But he is lovely and it’s good to see the friendship between them developing and when they finally get together it is a lovely moment because you know how much Sophie likes him. At least they clearly like and respect each other a lot and they already know they’re capable of living together, at least as boss and babysitter.
The story of how Sophie becomes part of his family is a fascinating one. Well, in some ways it’s the traditional ‘the hero needs a babysitter and the heroine happens to be available’. But making her a princess gives the story an interesting twist. Sophie is neither a brilliant housewife nor someone who is used to looking after children. Because she’s used to having servants, there would be no need for her to learn to cook or clean and although she does read stories to the poor children in the principality, she has never been allowed to take any real responsibility for them. So although she does go through the usual clichéd cooking disasters and losing-a-child disasters, it is more understandable from someone with her background.
Sophie has always worked very hard on her princessly duties and now she works hard at cooking, cleaning and babysitting. She is ignorant, but she’s not stupid – she has no trouble learning to cook when someone actually takes the trouble of showing her round the kitchen. And it is funny watching Steve trying to figure out what’s so odd about her. He knows there must be a reason why this intelligent and hard-working woman is making such elementary mistakes but he can’t quite put his finger on it.
But the wonderful humour can sometimes be a disadvantage because you can get so caught up in that, you forget things. Like I kept forgetting Steve had five children because the twelve year old female twins are barely in the book. Courtney came into it briefly when she started her period but it was almost as though the incident had been brought in to show Steve how important ‘Lisa’ is. I don’t really mind but I do kind of feel Templeton missed some opportunities, like Courtney’s twin sister Bree could have been jealous that Courtney had started her period before she did. That would have been a very interesting psychological challenge for Sophie to deal with and not an unrealistic one – and it would also have given her the chance to show how grown-up she can be.
It also bothers me the way Steve tells Sophie she isn’t beautiful but she is attractive. I think if you love someone they must be beautiful to you. When I first saw my boyfriend I wasn’t that impressed really. Now I think he’s the most gorgeous man in the universe and if anyone says he isn’t handsome I think they’re mad. So why shouldn’t Steve think Sophie is beautiful? He doesn’t have to tell her if she doesn’t like it but telling her she’s not beautiful isn’t very nice.
There is one moment when Steve’s mother calls Sophie by her real name. All writers and editors will make mistakes sometimes and it must be confusing, having a heroine with two names. But it came at a point in the book where I really had no idea if this meant Steve’s mother knew who she was or whether it was a printing error. Steve’s sister knew who she was, so she could have told her mother – plus Sophie was in a daydream at the time and quite possibly wasn’t answering to ‘Lisa’. After a few pages I realised it was definitely a printing error.
But although there was a lot about the book that bothered me I did enjoy reading it. The princess sections were convincing without being over-glamorous and to my surprise I liked the children too. I don’t like reading about cute kids as a rule, they can be cringeworthy but the children in this book were (with the exception of the twins) well-rounded and interesting characters, each with their own problems. Just like the adults.
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