Sep 18 2008
REVIEW: Overnight Sensation by Karen Foley
Dear Ms. Foley,
Sometimes I’m in the mood for a short, hot story and when I am, I usually turn to Harlequin Blaze books. Most are straight contemporaries, feature believable heroes and heroines and cut to the chase since there isn’t much space for authors to tack on additional subplots. “Overnight Sensation” looked like it had a good plot, one featuring an actress heroine on location to shoot a movie about the special ops hero’s adventures in the jungle. So far, so good.
I loved the first section which seemed straight out of the beginning of “Romancing the Stone.” It also reminded me of a book I’d read once about exotic travel that went bust (“I Should Have Stayed Home: The Worst Trips of the Great Writers.”). Though honestly, how could anyone think traveling in a linen suit makes sense.
On a more serious note, a friend of mine is in the military working in the hospital in Landstuhl, Germany and says that, like the heroine’s brother, the injured come in there from Iraq, are patched up for the journey home and sent out before the medical people feel they can really have much of an affect on the patient’s health. He says it’s hard to see these young people so badly wounded and know the hard road ahead of them to recovery. Or in the case of Ivy’s brother, a short road to an early death.
I do love the twist on one of my usual pet peeves, namely inappropriately timed sex during life or death situations. Here, in real life, Garrett was badly injured and on the run from a vicious drug cartel, was delirious for a few days after the elderly missionary found him, then mindful of the need for silence until he could be rescued by the military. So he didn’t actually do any of the steamy things which are going to show up in the film nor was his savior a hot young thang whom he was unable to resist yet able to boink in many and varied ways despite his awful injuries and undoubted pain. He’s totally aware that this bit is added to the film to increase the romantic appeal to some movie goers and the sex appeal to others.
This is a Blaze Harlequin and as such, it’s expected that the sex scenes will be hot. That’s the whole point. Ivy’s not a virgin heroine. She’s known for having some torrid affairs with her male costars. The idea behind staying with Garrett for three days to “practice” what went on between himself and Helena in order to improve the authenticity of her portrayal on film is a cute reason to allow some hawt sex to take place. I like that it’s actually Garrett who feels the deepest emotional response and who’s already in love with Ivy while she initially is just physically attracted to him.
It’s understandable that with four older sisters and his own sense of honor, Garrett would feel duty bound to keep his word to a dying Devon James to watch out for Devon’s sister. Yet at times, he comes off as a stalker – following her career is one thing and perfectly all right if slightly obsessive. Even suggesting her for the role in the movie and using his pull with his brother-in-law the director is okay. But using his government connections to check out her private life is wrong and made me squirm. Even he admits that if Ivy finds out how much he’s focused on her during the past few years, she’ll think he’s a crazy whacko.
The scenes dealing with the movie shoot are fun to read. You show it’s far from glamorous under the hot lights filming take 17 of a love scene beside an actor with grabbing hands. The wardrobe woman is a bitch though the makeup artist is kind to Ivy and concerned about her. The male star, Eric, is a piece of work though probably not too far from a real Hollywood box office star, used to throwing his weight around onset and being followed by and adored by female fans and his costars. I was sort of glad that he didn’t take over the book and was quickly moved away from the main action when he wasn’t needed.
Ivy has already been through a lot in her life. She’s lost her parents and seen the injuries that ended up killing her Marine brother. With those in mind, she has a lot of motivation to get her part right. I liked watching her get into her role and try to do it justice, even if it does end up not being the true account of Garrett’s adventures in Colombia. She’s a professional and acts like it. She wants to think she got the role due to her talents and not through Garrett and I like how she confronts Finn to be sure of this. I also like that she’s not afraid to tell Eric off despite the fact that he’s a star and she’s not.
With a Blaze book, you as an author don’t have a tremendous amount of time or space to expand the relationship between the characters. You’ve got to set the plot, explain the characters then get on with their attraction to each other. In many Blaze books I’ve read, this is done quite well. Here, I did feel the physical attraction between Ivy and Garrett. And since Garrett has been keeping tabs on Ivy, as well as using her for his source of inspiration during his grueling recovery from his horrendous injuries, I can believe his feelings for her.
Yet I felt I needed to see more from her side beyond just surface attraction and concern for what he went through that formed the basis for the movie script. In addition, the conflicts between them, that Garrett walked away from a supposed intense, though short, relationship with Helena and could do the same with her and that she had a history of thinking she was in love with costars during filming, only for these relationships to fall apart once the film was finished, could have been good ones if they’d been explored more. True the epilogue shows that they’ve had a year to become closer and figure out if their relationship could make it for the long haul but I wanted more in the actual story.
The lack of time to explore as much about a couple’s relationship as I’d like to see is a problem I’ve had with Blaze books before so perhaps it’s just an inherent mismatch between that line and myself. Maybe I should just stop expecting to see all the stages of a couple falling in love when “Blaze” is on the cover? B-
~Jayne
This book can be purchased in mass market from Amazon, Harlequin, or Powells or ebook format.
Send to Kindle
Sep 18, 2008 @ 10:20:37
With the exception of the Kathleen O’Reilly series, Sex Straight up, etc., I’ve kind of given up on the Blaze line. I don’t mind hot sex at all, but it seems to have become the be-all and end-all for this line. If they aren’t doing it, they’re thinking about it. No wonder there is little to no character development. I have nothing against Ms. Foley, but I think I’ll give this a pass.
Sep 18, 2008 @ 10:29:49
Blaze are my favorites. To me, they’re not just about the “sex”, but about a plot and characters I can really like. Yeah, sometimes goofy, sometimes not, sometimes suspenseful, sometimes just a story about two people going through life. The characters, IMO, are well drawn.
I read Karen Foley’s first Blaze last year — Flyboy — and loved it. She nailed 100% the Navy fighter pilot persona — as I have worked with them in support roles for years. I was impressed!
I have this latest one, and it sits close to the top of my TBR pile.
Sep 18, 2008 @ 12:10:25
Not trying to be funny, but the cover caught my eye because at that size it looks like two women on the cover.
Sep 18, 2008 @ 16:41:17
The word count for Blaze line is shorter now. My first blaze was 75k and the one I have coming out in January is somewhere around 58k off the top of my head. This is a fairly new change. To me the difference forces more focus on characterization and the development of a HEA earlier in the story. Hopefully that will be a plus for readers.
And Karen is one of my favorites. I love her stories and man does she snag some hot covers. I am still fanning myself over FLYBOY — I saw a huge blown up version at RWA and YUM!
Lisa
Sep 18, 2008 @ 18:35:33
LOL Seressia. It does, doesn’t it? Though I think it would have been all over the blogosphere if Blaze was putting out a f/f book. ;)
Sep 20, 2008 @ 07:13:25
Thanks, everyone, for the nice words and a huge thank-you to Jayne for such a thorough review! I had a lot of fun writing this book. Bev, I understand what you mean about the sex; it does seem to be a huge component in the Blaze line and I’m not a huge advocate of sex for its own sake. It definitely has to make sense within the context of the story. Might I suggest you read FLYBOY? This book has several subplots, a mystery, and (IMO) a hero who will make your toes curl. If you send your address to me at karenefoley@comcast.net, I’d love to send you a signed copy. Thanks, everyone!
Sep 20, 2008 @ 09:28:39
I’m going to have to search out the “Flyboy” cover. Sounds like it’s hawt news. ;)
Sep 21, 2008 @ 15:54:54
Karen Foley is a class act! Instead of being put off by my comments about the Blaze line, she offers a copy of her earlier book. I sincerely hope all of her books are successful.