That I felt a certain level of emotional distance from the protagonists at critical moments was this book's only substantial flaw for me.

While I definitely enjoyed If His Kiss is Wicked, I found I wasn’t nearly as emotionally involved as when I read ASTBS and OFE. I wasn’t sure if it was just my reading mood, or the book.

However, the plot itself was excellent and I kept reading to find out what exactly happened to Emma. Whereas in the other two books I kept reading because of the heroine and hero.

It did throw me out of the story somewhat when Restell takes Emma to the gaming hell. I just flat-out didn’t believe it would have happened and found myself wishing she hadn’t made that story choice.

Still, I’m a Goodman fan and can’t wait till Goodman’s next book is released!

I read a lot of comments by people who don’t like taking books in public with some of the covers used on romance novels. I don’t find them offensive at all. Many of them are photo art as far as I’m concerned. I did like the Goodman book and will read more of her in the near future. I’ve decided that a couple people on my Christmas list will like IHKIW. so part of my gift selection is already settled. For myself, working backwards into her other series should be interesting. I’ve already gone over her listing in Fantastic Fiction.

Well, I am not sold on every star in the genre, so I guess me feeling is that I don't find Goodman any less deserving as those authors who currently enjoy much more play. After all Brenda Joyce's Dark Rival, to which I gave a D grade, has been on the bestseller list since its release. I don't even think Goodman made the list.

I see what you are saying. Yes, not everyone on the bestseller list is a great writer. There are a lot of different aspects to writing but pacing is one that many readers really look for, I think, and that’s where (based on my reading of Goodman’s earlier books) I think Goodman could improve. I will try another of Goodman’s more recent books sometime and see what I think.

t's tough for me to comment on her books because the things she does well, she does so spectacularly well that I want to love her books, and yet, I have very mixed feelings when I hear you and Jane say that she should be a big star by now. It's difficult for me to imagine an author whose books I often struggle to finish as a big star. Yes, some things about her writing are truly exceptional, but…

Well, I am not sold on every star in the genre, so I guess me feeling is that I don’t find Goodman any less deserving as those authors who currently enjoy much more play. After all Brenda Joyce’s Dark Rival, to which I gave a D grade, has been on the bestseller list since its release. I don’t even think Goodman made the list.

Janine: IHKIW is a much tighter book, IMO, than some of Goodman's previous novels, but I can't really predict how you will like it, since it still feels very much like a Goodman book. I would recommend some of her earlier books, especially the Thorne brothers books, beginning with My Steadfast Heart, then on to My Reckless Heart, and With All My Heart.

Thanks for trying to steer me toward good books. Unfortunately, I tried the first Thorne brothers book (Was it My Steadfast Heart?) and couldn’t finish it. In fact I would say that of the five Goodman books I’ve tried, this was my least favorite. I don’t really want to try it again.

And I love the first and last of the Dennehy sisters books, Wild, Sweet Ecstasy Only In My Arms. The first one is about a female reporter in New York, and the last one is about a nun and her Apache raised hero.

I read Only In My Arms and am happy to say that it’s my favorite of the five Goodman books I’ve tried. I got it out of the library so I don’t have it to reread, but if I did, I would probably consider it worth rereading. I do agree with you and anu that there is some distance to her writing sometimes, but I didn’t feel it in this book.

I think Goodman's style did change some when she went to Regency England as her primary locale, with a more stylized voice than in a lot of her earlier books. So if you want to try her again, I would suggest starting with her back-back list.

Hmm. It’s actually in part her new style that makes me more interested in her new books. Yes, the two more recent books I’ve tried, ASTBS and the second Compass Club book, both had problems and somewhat more emotional distance than the two Dennehy books I’ve read, and I didn’t finish ASTBS, but at the same time, I love that witty British-sounding dialogue and I don’t remember anything like that in the Dennehy books or even in the first Throne brothers book.

So I don’t really want a recommendation for her earlier books (though I have been trying to track down a copy of Wild Sweet Ecstasy for a while now; it’s not easy to find). What I’m hoping for is a recommendation for a new, European-set Goodman book that is more spare but just as elegant, more emotionally engaging but no less witty.

It’s tough for me to comment on her books because the things she does well, she does so spectacularly well that I want to love her books, and yet, I have very mixed feelings when I hear you and Jane say that she should be a big star by now. It’s difficult for me to imagine an author whose books I often struggle to finish as a big star. Yes, some things about her writing are truly exceptional, but…

And now that I think about it, the books of hers I love the most -’ ASTBS, Wild, Sweet Ecstasy, My Reckless Heart, Only in My Arms -’ are also the most passionate.

Heh. Haven’t read any of the Dennehy series except for Mary and Ryder’s story, but My Reckless Heart is not one of my favorites. Mainly because I don’t like the plot–seems everybody in Romance pre-1865 is against slavery–and, more important, because I had the opposite reaction of you.

I just didn’t find it especially passionate among Goodman’s backlist. Primarily I think because I didn’t get much of Decker’s perspective. We got very few glimpses into his thoughts, altho as I said before, Goodman does an excellent job of showing where he is mentally and emotionally through his actions, facial expressions and voice intonations. Still, the story is almost exclusively Jonna’s–whom I love–but I couldn’t really get into the romance because I did not feel connected to Decker.

My favorite Dennehy sister was Mary Magaret – Forever in my Heart. But then, as a middle sister myself perhaps I was predisposed to the middle Dennehy. I thought this book was emotionally intense. I loved it.

In terms of passion, I thought the first compass club book – Let Me Be The One(?) was very hot. It was also one of the few Goodman regencies I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. Her prose has become more ‘stylized’ in recent years and I tend to agree with Janine on this: I would prefer tighter writing. (Which is why I second the Thorne Bothers and the Dennhey Sisters recommendation!)

This is the biggest-minor complaint I have about Goodman. I think the only books that I didn't feel that emotional distance was in Only in My Arms and Season to be Sinful.

I definitely felt that ASTBS is one of Goodman’s most passionate books. But this is really the first where I felt the distance you’re talking about, anu. I think it’s interesting, though, that you locate it in the show, not tell aspect of Goodman’s style. I hadn’t thought about it like that, but I agree that Goodman is somewhat unique in that way, and that us readers are very used to being told how into each other the protagonists are. Maybe for me it comes down to whether Goodman uses that showing to express the passion she wants to. And now that I think about it, the books of hers I love the most — ASTBS, Wild, Sweet Ecstasy, My Reckless Heart, Only in My Arms — are also the most passionate. Very interesting point.

That I felt a certain level of emotional distance from the protagonists at critical moments was this book's only substantial flaw for me.

This is the biggest-minor complaint I have about Goodman. I think the only books that I didn’t feel that emotional distance was in Only in My Arms and Season to be Sinful.

The closest I come to pinning down the reason for the distance is the lack of mental lusting/loving in Goodman’s stories. She’s a show/don’t tell type writer, which means much less time is spent on characters mentally undressing each other, worrying over their changing feelings for each other. It’s shown instead through h/h interactions, conversations, how an H feels the gaze of the other H on them, for example.

Compare this to say Nalini Singh’s Visions of Heat, where the physical and mental lust was the primary characterization of the hero. But I felt like I knew who he was inside and out. I don’t think I would have if I didn’t “hear” from him so much, about how much he wanted the heroine.

It may be an unfair comparison–Singh is obviously doing something totally different from Goodman–but it’s illustrative of how varied approaches to characterization change the way readers relate to the h/h.

Goodman most reminds me of Jayne Ann Krentz, storytelling wise. JAK was always about two independent people coming together. While h/h clearly love and lust for each other, she never did the mental lusting that other authors did. And as much as I adore many of her books, I felt a certain distance from the h/h because I became so used to the other.

I LOVE My Reckless Heart; it's probably my favorite Goodman in terms of the characters, the setting, the historical events in the novel's background, and the economy of prose.

Janet, how is the economy of prose in If His Kiss is Wicked? The main thing that is keeping me from trying Goodman again (after trying five of her books) is that I feel that her writing isn’t economical enough for me.

Have you read any of her older ones, Phyl, or just the newer ones?

No, just the newest ones, starting with the Compass Club. I found More than You Know and More than You Wished on Fictionwise just now and I’ll buy those. I’ll have to see what I can find at the library from her backlist. It’s good to know her older stuff is worth seeking out.

Been reading her ever since I discovered My Reckless Heart tucked away innocuously in the romance shelf of my local library 7 years ago.

I LOVE My Reckless Heart; it’s probably my favorite Goodman in terms of the characters, the setting, the historical events in the novel’s background, and the economy of prose. That both Decker and Jonna were proud and defensive and independent made the trajectory of their relationship so delicious, IMO. My first Goodman was Wild, Sweet Ecstasy, and that book is probably my sentimental favorite of Goodman’s books. But I also adored the Compass Club books, and think that Goodman’s genius of setting four books *simultaneously* has really been under-recognized by the Romance reading community.

Danielle: Me, too.

've only read 6 of her books. I have enjoyed each and every one I've read, but this one tops them all.

Have you read any of her older ones, Phyl, or just the newer ones? Although I think Goodman keeps getting stronger as a writer, I find her older books delicious, as well, in part because she set a number of them in America, including her Dennehy sisters series, her Hamilton brother books, and two of her “Heart” series books. Plus, I love the way she portrays male friendships.

And you know, until I read the review for it here at DA, I'd never heard of this author, never picked up one of her books.

I’m so glad that Jane created another convert; Goodman has an enormous — and worthy — backlist. If you haven’t read the Compass Club series, I highly recommend that, as well as her recent release A Season To Be Sinful. There are really very few Goodman books I wouldn’t recommend, actually. I mean, how many authors can make an ex-nun’s story sexy and romantically convincing?

One of the things I love about it is the strong mystery element that is so integrated into the story, and is not a tack-on.

I think this is one of Goodman’s most suspenseful and best paced books in terms of the mystery plot, but because Goodman is always so interested in the psychological dynamics of her characters, her pacing issues never eclipse the powerful strengths in her writing.

Kristie: aren’t you already looking forward to next summer? If we could only get her to write more books a year!

One of the reasons I like Goodman so much is that you are never left wondering “what did s/he see in him/her?”

So true! Goodman’s books remind me that it’s not the “types” that are tired; it’s the way they’re served in different books. Goodman always breathes life into her characters so that they move quickly beyond their surface type and become real people with real issues. So their love always feels real to me.

HelenKay: I hope you enjoy her books!

Anna: I second Janine’s recommendation for interlibrary loan. Or maybe even Paperback Swap.

Based on all the stellar reviews I've seen for this book, I installed Mobipocket reader on my PDA, and have now bought and dl'd If His Kiss is Wicked. Yay!

I really hope you enjoy it, Ann.

Anyways, this book is tempting me to ignore or rationalize away my incentive, and this doesn’t help! Arghhh! :)