Honor Bound

 

SANDRA BROWN, as ERIN ST. CLAIRE

Stats: Mass market paperback, Silhouette, 1993

How acquired: Bought.

First line: The refrigerator door was open, projecting a pale, blue-white wedge of light into the dark kitchen.

(Goodreads synopsis below.)

My thoughts: Ms. Brown has come a long way since writing this drivel. Oh, the writing is decent enough. But the story.

First off, when I read the back cover synopsis, I thought this was going to be an historical romance. I mean, Indian (in the days before the term Native American was the norm) kidnaps white woman and takes her to his reservation. But then the first line of the first chapter talks about a refrigerator door being open, and I was a little jolted. Lucas constantly says things like "I'm sure an Anglo virgin like you can't imagine anything worse than having an Indian between her lily white thighs" and "...you'd want to die before having your pure Anglo body tainted by an Indian", and so on and so on, me big bad Indian, you rich white privileged Anglo woman. Was there really so much prejudice and racism towards Native Americans in 1986? I don't remember that, nor do I remember ever actually hearing a white person referred to as an Anglo. But then, I was only twenty-three then and living in my own little world. I do remember hearing stories of the racism my half Choctaw grandmother experienced when she was young - how she and her siblings had to go to another town for school because the whites didn't want them at the local school and the Indians didn't want them at the Indian school - but that would have been in the 30's/40's. 

Then when Lucas discovered Aislynn had given birth to his baby while he was in prison there was the whole I'm taking my son to live on the reservation with me cuz I won't have him brought up in the Anglo world and you either marry me and come along or say goodbye to your son. I like the marriage of convenience trope, and I even often like the forced marriage trope, but this one left bad taste in my mouth.

Of course everything comes out roses in the end, but it wasn't always a pleasant journey getting there.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Lucas Greywolf was her forbidden fantasy, wild, rebellious, a Navajo -- and an escaped convict. Aislinn had been terrified when he first grabbed her, but now she was intrigued. Why had he taken her hostage -- and where were they heading? 

Every moment of their mad dash across Arizona drew Aislinn closer to this unyielding man who seemed to drive himself beyond human limits. And they they reached his reservation, and Aislinn learned why they had come....

His Runaway Son (Harlequin Superromance No. 699)

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS INFORMATION THAT MAY BE CONSIDERED SPOILERS.

DEE HOLMES

Synopsis from Goodreads: Burke Wheeler. Undercover cop. Devoted father. Ex-husband. For the past few years Burke's had very little to do with his ex-wife, Abbie except insofar as she's the mother of his sixteen-year-old son, Justin. Then comes a day every parent fears and dreads. Something Burke's faced as a cop but never as a father. Justin is missing. A runaway. Burke and Abbie know they have to confront their own conflicts, lay aside old animosities, if they're going to find their son. In the process of looking for Justin, they find each other, too.They find each other all over again.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Harlequin Enterprised, Limited, 1996.

How acquired: From a BookCrossing member.

First line: “Mrs. Wheeler, I know you're upset, but if we're going to find your son, I need a few questions answered.”

My thoughts: Not the best Harlequin I've read, not the worst. Didn't really care much for the heroine. During the marriage she wanted the hero to give up being a cop. Now they're divorced, and she still wants him to give up being a cop. Not that he was blameless in the marriage falling apart, but he went through a character transformation and realized where he'd gone wrong and I felt like he grew as a person and would not make the same mistakes. She, on the other hand, is still basically the same person she was when the book started, though less naive about what her teenage son has been up to. At the end he never said he was going to give up being a cop, so I'm not sure how long the new remarriage will last before she starts in again about that.

Girl Trouble (Harlequin Presents No. 1964; Man Talk No. 2)

SANDRA FIELD

Synopsis from Goodreads: He wanted a lover...

Cade McInnes had fallen in love with Lori when she was sixteen and he was old enough to know better. But he hadn't known better. They had parted bitterly.

Not a family!

Now it was ten years later. Lori had a bad marriage behind her and two adorable daughters, Liddy and Rachel. Except they didn't seem all that adorable to Cade. Liddy had taken an instant dislike to Cade. Which was fine with him--he wanted only one blond in his life, not three. But getting Lori into his bed meant accepting two little girls into his heart!

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 1998.

How acquired: Via BookCrossing.

First line: Two shocks in one day.

My thoughts:  The first chapter opens with Cade MacInnis (while it's spelled McInnes in the synopsis, inside the book it's spelled MacInnis) standing outside a photography studio, staring at a picture of Lorraine Cartwright, and remembering the past. The second chapter opens with Cade going to the gym. The third chapter opens with Cade calling his mother. Do you see the pattern here?

GIRL TROUBLE is part of a multi-author series titled “Man Talk”. The entire book is told from Cade's point of view. We never see anything from the heroine's point of view, are never privy to her inner thoughts. And I gotta tell you, I loved that. Back in the day they were all from the heroine's point of view. Then we started getting books told from alternating points of view, and while I still love the old romance books, I loved also getting inside the hero's head. But this is the first romance I've read that is entirely from the hero's point of view, and I would gladly read many more.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's get back to the book. I very much liked Cade, though there were a couple of times when I wanted to tell him to stop being childish. (Of course Lori, as she's now called, doesn't want you to come over when her young daughter, who doesn't like you, by the way, has just learned her father was an abusive jerk. What possible good could you do by inserting yourself into that situation?) I loved the girls, Rachel and Liddy. Loved that Rachel, the older of the two, quickly accepted Cade, while five year old Liddy made no secret of her disdain for him. Usually it's the younger child who attaches herself to the new man in mom's life and the older one who holds him at arm's length. I liked Lori well enough, and that was well enough for me.

He hadn't wanted to leave. And he was hurt by Liddy's attitude. Hurt that a five-year-old didn't like him.

The conflict with Lori's father was resolved ridiculously fast, and her reaction the first time things start to get a little sexual with Cade was a bit over the top, setting up Cade to become quite angsty, which I didn't mind. I got really tired of hearing the ex-husband's name and was glad he did not make an appearance. I really expected him to show up at some point, and maybe even show Liddy his true colors, leading to her opening up to Cade, so I was very happy (and relieved) that the story didn't play out that way.

This is the first book I've read by Sandra Field. But as much as I liked it, I don't feel compelled to seek out more of her books. I suspect a small part of my enjoyment was the novelty of the point of the view. But whatever the reason, I really enjoyed this book.

KISS OF DARKNESS (Silhouette Shadows No. 32)

SHARON BRONDOS

Synopsis from Goodreads: Adrian Smith's latest orders tore at a conscience that shouldn't exist, pricked a heart that was his curse. But he'd made his deal with Death centuries ago, and now he had to do Its bidding. He would kill the scientist who was on the brink of prolonging human life; then he would return to his own private hell...

Adrian had expected his prey to be an old man whose time was near, but instead, he found himself preparing to harm a beautiful young woman, bursting with life. Yet Adrian could no sooner murder Sue Cooper than he could hope to fight Death and Its agents of evil when they came to do the job themselves...

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Silhouette Books, 1994.

How acquired: Given to me by a neighbor many years ago.

My thoughts:  I was unfamiliar with Silhouette Shadows when I picked up this book to read, and partway through my curiosity got the better of me and I looked up the line. It seems to have had a limited run, from March 1993 to March 1996, with only 66 titles. Some familiar authors and some I'd not heard of. 

Five hundred years ago Adrian lay wounded on a battleground, where he was approached by Death, who offered him immortality in exchange for enslavement. In agonizing pain, Adrian accepted. Since then he has lived his undead life mostly in isolation, leaving his solitary hut only to do Death's bidding.

Sue is a scientist on the brink of a breakthrough in her latest research project, looking for a way to extend the human lifespan. Death does not want her project to succeed, so he orders Adrian to kill her. But of course, once Adrian meets her, he is loathe to take her life.

The story has a different take on vampirism, which was interesting, and not what it seemed in the end. One of Adrian's abilities is to ward. At Sue's apartment, he places magical wards on the door and windows, to keep anyone else out. The description of him doing so is always vague:

After locking it, she saw him step back and make a few movements with his hands.

The next morning, while Adrian is asleep, Sue sneaks out of the apartment. How did she get past his wards you ask? Quite simply:

She set down her bag and tried to imitate in reverse exactly what she had seen Adrian do last night. After two attempts, she heard a soft hum and then a click. When she tried the door again, it opened readily.

I don't know why but this really bothered me. She is a human, with no magical powers or abilities. Yet by simply imitating the hand movements Adrian did, she can turn his wards off and on. It just didn't make sense to me. As silly as this sounds, given the paranormal nature of the book, it just wasn't believable.

This book was not great. It was like one of those corny old B movies. Yet I enjoyed it so much that I feel the need to search for more Silhouette Shadows. 

Click here if you'd like to explore the line yourself. 

LOVERBOY (Harlequin Temptation No. 484)

VICKI LEWIS THOMPSON

Synopsis from Goodreads: He was every woman's fantasy!

Luke Bannister swore he'd never return to his hometown of Chandler, Arizona. He was sick of being labelled a delinquent and sick of his father's constant abuse. But most of all, he was sick of hearing that he wasn't good enough for Meg Hennessy. So he lit out for Hollywood, looking for his big break.

Meg couldn't believe it! After ten years, Luke was finally coming home. Her childhood sweetheart, now daytime TV's sexiest star, had built the reputation of being a "loverboy." Well, he'd better not expect her to join his harem. He'd dumped her once—she wasn't about to let it happen again!

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Harlequin Enterprises, 1994.

How acquired: Through Book Mooch.

My thoughts:  One of Ms. Thompson's better older Harlequins. Luke, the bad boy juvenile delinquent of Chandler, Arizona, took off right out of high school, to look for a better life. Ten years later and he is a soap opera star, on the verge of breaking into the movies. Meg was left behind with a broken heart. She has political aspirations and is now a board member of the local Chamber of Commerce, on the verge of being voted in as president. She's not thrilled that Luke has been asked to come back to Chandler to be the parade grand marshall during the town's annual Ostrich Festival.

Meg dreads having to pick Luke up the airport, while Luke is eager to see Meg again. As they become reacquainted, all sorts of old feelings resurface, but they are set on very different career paths, and neither wants to give up their dreams.

Throw in a young paparazzi photographer looking for her own big break, a brother with a lot of resentment issues, and a couple of parental secrets being revealed, and you have an enjoyable romance that makes you root for the characters to get together while wondering how on earth they will ever be able to have an HEA, and very happy when the resolution finally arrives.

Perfect Chance (Harlequin Presents, No. 1826)

AMANDA CARPENTER

Synopsis from back cover: Take a chance on love....

Mary Newman -- her life was safe, predictable and reasonably happy. Until the day he walked in!

Chance Armstrong -- he had no respect for rules and regulations and cozy life-styles. But he was offering Mary the perfect chance for a lot of excitement, and she was tempted -- oh, so tempted....Until Chance offered the most tempting challenge of all...He asked Mary to marry him!

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Harlequin Books, 1996.

How acquired: Book Mooch

First line: Mary paused to lean against the counter of the nurses' station as she surveyed the emergency room in the Newman wing at Memorial Hospital.

My thoughts: I love the older Harlequins. I want to read every single one written. Amanda Carpenter is an author I wasn't familiar with, but when I requested a couple of books from another Book Mooch member, she threw in several Carpenter books. So I picked this one up one night to read at bedtime.

Forty pages in I had already put little sticky flags on three different passages that I wanted to go back to later, and I was already a fan of Ms. Carpenter. She reminds me a little of Lucy Walker. The story is in third person POV, yet it still feels as if Mary is confiding in the reader. The narration is breezy, casual, and at times amusing.

If he was in his late thirties, he could have three or four marriages by now, and any number of kids. Mary could just picture them, blond hair dripping into their sad eyes, wanting their daddy to stop flirting with her and come home to them.

Mary has been dating Victor, another doctor at the hospital, for two years. When Chance meets her, he pursues her, even though he knows about Victor. Mary is torn between the two, yet she continues to see Victor, and doesn't tell him about Chance, even though Victor saw her leave the hospital arm in arm with Chance. Another book, another author, and I might've been put off at a heroine stringing along one man while kissing another. Rather than facing the truth and owning up to her actions and her feelings, Mary ran and hid from confrontation. Literally, in one scene, when Chance comes to the home she shares with her brother and grandfather, and Mary bolts into the house and up to her room to hide from him. But she's young and naive, definitely not worldly, and the confrontations catch up with her, causing her all kinds of anguish.

What kind of a kiss was that anyway? It was the kind that sucked your soul out of your body.

Hey, she wanted to call to the man who'd just left. You forgot to give my soul back.

You can't help but empathize with her and feel for her. What chance (no pun intended) does she have up against a soul sucker?

Chance is a journalist, a war correspondent. He's taken a temporary teaching position at the local college in order to spend some time near his family. He's started thinking about slowing down, settling down. And then he gets a call from a White House source and quickly begins packing to rush to D.C. to cover a conference. And Mary's reaction made me angry. Made me want to shake some sense into her and tell her for Pete's sake, grow up already!

And of course it all worked out in the end, cuz, you know, it's a Harlequin. And the journey from page 1 to page 187 was just absolutely delightful.