Angelo’s Captive Virgin by India Grey. I know that some well known authors like Grey’s voice but the doormat to asshole ratio is very high in this book, leaving me dissatisfied. Anna, or Lady Roseanna Delafield, is forced to sell her family estate. The family has fallen on hard times and while her only good memories of childhood are associated with her home, she can’t afford to keep it. Neither does she want the home to go to Angelo Emiliani and she hooks up with an environmental group who will help to stop the sale.
Angelo is a poor boy who clawed his way to the top as a real estate developer. He has no love for rich spoiled aristocrats nor does he have time for an eco-warrior yet Anna has a curious vulnerability which appeals to him. Anna’s devotion to the eco group is superficial and there is a sort of dream like quality about the book that robs it of the emotional punch that I like when reading these HPs. Anna’s vulnerability is also fairly irritating. She is very passive, as if assertiveness is unladylike. Angelo isn’t entirely an asshole, most unfeeling but capable of cruelty. C-
This book can be purchased in mass market from Amazon or Powells or ebook format.
Courting Disaster by Kathleen O’Reilly. This was a departure from O’Reilly’s normal NY settings. The heroine is a rich and famous country western singer who is also a virgin. The hero is a daredevil Formula 1 racer. The two meet when a mutual friend/family member’s racing stables are in serious financial trouble because the pedigree of one of their racers is under suspicion. I was intrigued by the plot line of the stables that the two were trying to save and was disappointed that this wasn’t resolved.
While I liked this story, I felt that it was too compressed, that if it had been a longer book, I would have been able to appreciate the characters more. Demetri had father issues and Elizabeth Innis had mother issues, both of which seemed unresolved at the end of the story. It wasn’t that I felt the father/mother characters had to come to some conclusion in order for the book to satisfying but I did feel like I was left hanging in that regard.
I accepted the virginity thing. I don’t know if it was the best explanation, but it was sufficient that I bought it for the sake of the story. I liked the tension – Formula 1 racer hooks up with squeaky clean singer but where was the drawback for squeaky clean singer in hooking up with the Formula 1 racer? Again, this was something I felt would have benefited from more development. B-
This book can be purchased in mass market from Amazon or Powells or ebook format.
I think it is that dreamlike quality that I love about Grey’s work. Her next release has that same feel to it — very fairy-taleish. I agree that Anna is passive, but I did felt that she grew emotionally over the course of the story (although that growing up is still beset by the same girl-in-her-castle quality.) And the whole over-the-top reveal at the end just rips my guts out. So I’m thinking that she appeals to my Missy side in a very strong way, whereas an author like Helen Brooks appeals to a different (more mature) reader-side of me.
Is it bad that I went in to a fit of squeals when I saw a new Kathleen O’Reilly. Purchased. Now I have broken my ban on spending! Bah. *g*
I tried to read the India Grey and gave up after a few chapters.
The O’Reilly book is part of a series so perhaps the issues are resolved in the last book.
I ordered them both just before I read this post. I liked O’Reilly’s recent novels and I thought I would try a second one by Grey. Oh well, I’ll just have to wait and see, especially with the one by Grey.
[...] Dear Author (It’s the second review) Tags: adult fiction, B, contemporary romance, Courting Disaster, Kathleen O'Reilly, review Category: B reviews, book reviews | Comment (RSS) | Trackback [...]