Dear Author » Mira

REVIEW: Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder

Jia — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:00:29 +0000

Dear Ms. Snyder,

I feel like I’ve been neglecting the fantasy genre. This is a terrible thing in my opinion because I love the genre. So I thought to rectify the decided lack of non-YA fantasy in recent reading. I thought your latest novel, the first in a new series, would be a good way to jump back in. It wasn’t a doorstopper and from what I recall of your previous books, your writing is light enough to suit my preoccupied brain during the holidays.

Avry is a healer. Once she considered this a badge of pride. But ever since a deadly plague hit the populace and healers blamed as being the cause, it’s become something she must hide or face execution.

Unfortunately, Avry suffers that particular flaw that afflicts many heroines in fantasy novels: she cares too much for her own good. Here, this manifests as the inability to turn away from a sick child, even though using her abilities means revealing her true nature to people who 1) are hostile to healers in general and 2) receive a sizeable reward for turning in healers. Avry’s been able to elude capture until now but her luck has finally run out.

Or so she thinks. Avry is rescued from certain death but it comes with a price. In exchange for being set free, she must agree to heal a prince who’s contracted the plague and is currently in magical stasis to keep the symptoms at bay. The problem? While healers can cure the plague, they don’t survive the process and die. (In this world, healing works by the healer taking on the damage/illness of the afflicted person and letting their super-immune system do its thing. The problem with the plague is that their immune system doesn’t work fast enough to counter the effects.)

I honestly believed a light fantasy would be right up my alley. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe light fantasies aren’t for me and I’m doomed to keep reading perpetual downers like George R.R. Martin. But this book just didn’t work for me on any level.

First of all, I knew right away that a romantic subplot would develop between Avry and Kerrick, the man who frees her in order to heal his best friend, the prince. I could see that a mile away, but my beef has nothing to do with the predictability. No, my issue has to do with the fact that he treats her like shit for most of the book and since I knew they would eventually fall in love, I spent most of the novel actively repulsed by this endgame.

I understand their relationship is initially meant to be a coercive one. Avry is given an ultimatum and when she didn’t immediately agree, Kerrick spends chapters trying to convince her to change her mind. Desperate people can do horrible things. I understand this. But I cannot root for a romance in which the hero does things like expose the heroine to the elements so that hypothermia will make her capitulate, starve her, tie her to a tree like an animal, and most spectacularly hit her in the face. I don’t care what the circumstances are. I don’t care that the supporting cast chastises him for the abuse. You’ve lost me. Especially when the hero justifies his actions with, “I’m sorry. I was mad.” I can’t get behind this romance at all.

There’s also the minor detail of Avry making an assumption about Kerrick that I’m not certain would or should have been made. In fact, I felt that the only reason this assumption existed was to give the plot artificial tension. Why would she not tell him? Even if she made the erroneous assumption, I feel like she should have tossed this little fact in his face at least once. It was unbelievable that it never came up in conversation at all. This also only compounded my disgust with the romance because if Avry honestly thought Kerrick knew this specific detail, why in the world would she fall in love with him? I’d be pretty pissed that this guy was asking me to die for someone I owed nothing to and who did bad things to my family. It’s not romantic at all and makes me seriously question Avry’s taste in men.

And as so often happens, because I was growing increasingly annoyed by the storyline, I began to notice other flaws. For example, the worldbuilding was shoddy at best. Now I can certainly enjoy fantasy novels in which the worldbuilding is left deliberately vague. But I didn’t get the impression that was the case here. Now I realize that one of the reasons some authors choose to set their novels in the generic faux-medieval European milieu is because that’s the basis for many a fantasy novel. Fantasy readers well-versed in the genre are familiar with it and thus the writer can just spend less time on creating the world and move onto the story. But there’s relying on pre-existing knowledge and then there’s just being plain lazy.

We have healers. We have several other types of mages. Some of which are elemental (bonus points for including traditional Asian elements though) and some of which are not. Other than healers, I had no idea about the power structure or hierarchy of the mages? Do they form gangs? Do they have guilds? Are mages only born to nobility?

Then we have the Death Lilies and Peace Lilies. It took me a couple chapters before I realized the lilies were actually giant man-eating plants and not human peacekeepers with funny names. I hate infodumps but I really don’t think I should have reached such a ridiculous conclusion. On the other hand, maybe I’ve been reading fantasy too long and just assumed that there was no way a Death Lily could actually refer to a lily that causes death. It’s far too obvious. My bad.

On top of this, there were some attempts at political intrigue but due to my distaste with the romance, I actually spent several chapters rooting for the bad guy despite knowing he was the bad guy. Not a good sign in a fantasy novel. Thankfully, we resorted to the age-old cliche of “The villain experiments on children and that’s how you know he’s evil” so I was able to regain my bearings.

Overall, this obviously wasn’t a good choice for jumping back into the fantasy genre. Disappointment doesn’t even begin to cover it. The romance was distasteful and the shoddy worldbuilding was just more icing on the fail. D

My regards,
Jia

REVIEW: Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn

Jayne — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 20:15:06 +0000

Dear Ms. Raybourn,

After my less than happy experience with your stand alone Gothic book, I was very pleased to see that there would be another Lady Julia Grey – or should we rename it now – book. And what an evocative title it has – “Dark Road to Darjeeling.” It conjures up all kinds of exotic ways to die while the scent of tea perfumes the air. And by the time the book finished, I was beginning to wonder if anyone would survive.

Eight months of honeymooning are quite beyond most of us these days but not for Lady Julia Brisbane and her husband Nicholas. Unfortunately family duty calls in the persons of Portia, Lady Bettiscombe and Plum of the tremendous waistcoats who catch up with the not-quite-so-newlyweds in Egypt with the news that they must all travel to India.

Word has reached Portia from Jane Cavendish that she is expecting and is also now a widow. Portia thinks she’s read correctly between the lines and that Something Untoward Has Happened to Freddie Cavendish which Julia and Brisbane must help to uncover. Soon these two are up to their armpits in suspects, all of whom might have done the deed because, as Julia has discovered during her past attempts at “helping” her husband in his detecting activities, with the proper motivation … anyone can kill.

I laughed at the obvious tip of the hat to the enterprising Englishwomen of the 19th century.

Portia blanched a little at the odour, but stiffened her resolve. “Julia, we are Englishwomen. We are not cowed by a little authentic local flavour.”

Luckily Julia isn’t sickened by her subsequent dunking in Rangeet though her lovely sounding hat will never be the same. The descriptions of the valley in which Jane has come to live after her separation from Portia and subsequent marriage sound heavenly even if it is soon obvious that the place is packed with potential murderers. And I love the name of the estate, the Peacocks, though I’d pass on actually having the resident bird or his rare white peahen.

Since there are big, honking spoilers for the outcome of “Silent in the Sanctuary,” I will say that I hope readers have either read that book or don’t care to know the identity of the killer. Books one and three are still shrouded in mystery, should they remain unread by followers of the series which, may I say, is a feat I’m still very much in awe of.

The mysteries of this book are unraveled slowly as we meet the varied characters living in the valley and learn who they are and how their lives all intertwine. The bombshell revelations of the family ties were dropped precisely but it’s the last one which rocked me the most. It does much, however, to show Julia a great deal about how little she knows and how much she needs to look beyond facades.

The unveiling of the killer is done with slow, dawning horror – not only who it is and why it was done but also who metes out justice – if that is what it could be called. Julia learns first hand that “there was not any best that *was* possible.” You seem to delight in writing about murderers who are the last ones I would suspect and yet who make total sense as the clues are added together. It also makes me feel for Brisbane who has doubtless seen it occur for years as he has had to deal with the dark side of human nature far longer than Julia.

I do want to say that I am delighted that marriage hasn’t turned Julia and Brisbane into simpering love birds. Their spirit of competitive investigating is still very much alive and kicking though I hope that Julia will take to heart the wisdom Portia bashes over her head. These two may love each other deeply but their marital road in this book is not an easy one. Yet, their actions and feelings are in keeping with their personalities of the previous three books so brava for that.

From the way this book ends, I will hope that there are several more mysteries in store for Nicholas and Julia – and one other. As Julia has shown, she does have a talent for certain aspects of sleuthing and with Nicholas ruthlessly instructing her – and that should be fun to read about – she looks like she’ll be a great help once they are returned to England. I’m looking forward to what the March family will get themselves involved with next, and how Julia and Brisbane will get them back out of it – again. B+

~Jayne

REVIEW: The Bikini Car Wash by Pamela Morsi

Jayne — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:00:09 +0000

Dear Ms. Morsi,

I, for one, am glad that your husband sat you down in front of a typewriter all those years ago and urged you – in so many words – to write that novel that you wanted to. My reading would be the poorer if he hadn’t. “The Bikini Car Wash” is a book which is not quite the straight romances you used to write but has more romance than the usual fiction book.

Andrea, Andi, Walkowicz knew she was taking a risk by leaving her good job in Chicago but when her mother unexpectedly died, someone had to come home to help her father with Angela. Or so Andi thought. But Walt Walkowicz and Andi’s mentally impaired sister seem to be doing just fine delivering Meals on Wheels. Now Andi’s been pounding the pavement for months looking for any work in this small community of Plainview but with little luck.

Her latest rejection comes from Guthrie Foods, owned by the wealthy Guthrie family for four generations. Pete Guthrie runs it now. Pete the same person whom Andi still has some simmering resentments about left over from high school – and no, she’s not proud of that but that’s life. With few other options, Andi decides to turn her father’s closed car wash into another business. She would have thought the other downtown merchants would be delighted to see a shuttered business come back to life so she doesn’t take it well when Pete’s retired father, who’s now on the town council, stymies her efforts to turn the place into a drive through coffee shop.

Well, since she can’t get permission to change the business and her father can’t find a buyer for the property, Andi’s only other option is to reopen it. But she needs a gimmick and finds it from an unlikely source: two other out of work young women who also desperately need money. Together they decide to wash, buff and wax cars the old fashioned way… but in bikinis. Soon the town is in an uproar over the new business and Andi finds an unlikely friend in her corner. Could she have been wrong about Pete all those years ago?

Though I wouldn’t call this women’s fiction, it’s definitely more than about a romance between Pete and Andi. Both of them have to find out who the other person really is rather than merely relying on their old memories of each other as the town golden boy or the athletic math geek. Andi also needs to, as you say, “figure out her own life.” I like that after some initial reserve, they quickly form a friendship after a night of passion. But I’m also glad that they step on the brakes after that initial night rather than just jumping into true lurve.

And they’re actually a much closer fit than a lot of people might think. Both love running a business, both have had people assuming things about them rather than discovering who the real Andi and Pete truly are, and both have issues to deal with from their parents’ marriages. But they also laugh together and never run out of things to talk about with each other. They support each other but not blindly. They’re there for each other in the other’s moments of need. And the sex is great too. I like that Pete falls in love with the woman behind the bikini while Andi soon comes to see past Pete’s status in this small town.

Both Pete and Andi develop over the course of the book and this centers a lot on the other people in their lives. Pete has clashed with his domineering father for years over how Pete runs the store. He’s learned how to ignore his father’s bullying but when Hank Guthrie goes after Andi’s business, Pete finally hands Hank some public set downs. Andi thought she knew her parent’s marriage but discovers some things which shock her and rock her world. She has to reexamine what she knew and accept what truly was and is. I like that neither Pete nor Andi are perfect and both have their moments of jealousy, pay back and resentment. But they emerge stronger and seem ready to take their relationship to the next level.

At first I wasn’t sure why Jelly, who seems to serve as the ‘wise old grandmother/neighbor who says whatever is on her mind’ role, is written as mentally retarded. It wasn’t until I read some of your blog that I realized how RL she and Walt probably are. She’s not presented as “poor Jelly” or “brave Jelly” or “see how well Jelly copes with life” – thank you. Instead you show her matter of factly and without anyone stepping onto a soapbox about her. I found it hard to believe that Walt and his dead wife were so saintly over the years about all they had to be saintly over. But after reading your tribute to your father, it seems like Walt is probably based on RL too.

There’s more to this story than just a gimmick about women wearing bikinis – as the town of Plainview discovers. Though I do mourn the fact that you no longer write the historical romances I first loved from you, I’m no longer afraid of reading your second style of book. Some people I will follow away from traditional romances and you are one of them.

~Jayne

REVIEW: Kindred in Death by J.D. Robb

Janet — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:20:48 +0000

Dear Ms. Robb:

It’s been a while since I purchased one of the In Death books in hardcover (I prefer digital these days), so when I received my ordered paper copy of Kindred in Death in the mail I immediately noticed a couple of changes. Not only has the author photo been removed, but the Nora Roberts name has been removed from the book, as well, replaced only by a general bio for JD Robb as a pseudonym for a New York Times bestselling author. I wondered whether those superficial packaging changes boded any substantive changes between the covers, and indeed, this book seemed much more focused on the police procedural and mystery aspects of the series, rather than the romance and personal relationship issues. That was not necessarily a bad thing, but I wonder if it’s what kept me from feeling totally engaged in Kindred in Death.

When Eve Dallas gets called to the home of NYPSD Captain Jonah McMasters to oversee the investigation of the horrific rape and murder of his teenaged daughter, Deena, both Eve and the reader know that this case will be especially difficult. Whoever committed this crime did so in the McMasters home while the parents were away and left the body tied and ravaged for them to find upon return. It is clear right away to Eve that the death is intended as both fact and message, with strategic clues left for the police to find and critical pieces of evidence wiped away or corrupted by the killer(s). Captain McMasters, who has recently been promoted to his new position, is at a loss to imagine who might be responsible, and as far as either parent knew, Deena was still too innocent to have a boyfriend and, as the intelligent daughter of a cop, too savvy to simply let a stranger into the home. So it is up to Eve to discover not only the killer(s) but also the motive. And she must do so quickly, impeded by the lack of physical evidence at the scene and haunted by the memories of her own past.

It is difficult to talk about the procedural/mystery aspects of Kindred in Death without giving spoilers, so I will do my best to be thorough in my analysis without crossing into substantial spoiler territory.

I enjoy best the books where Eve is pitted against someone smart and where she truly has to match wits with her perp(s). Kindred in Death is one of those books, facilitated in large part by the fact that Eve does not have an immediate set of good suspects. What I like about these books is the way the reader tags along with Eve, putting the pieces together just as she is, struggling with the same gaps and frustrations and limitations. However, there can be a challenge in this approach, as well, which is that the reader, as a mere observer, may not feel a strong connection to the case and the perpetrator(s). And in this book, that was the case for me.

The murder of Deena McMasters was brutal and brutally described. Multiple times. The repetition, along with Eve’s strong visceral reaction, was likely intended to engage me, along with Eve, to the mystery through the victim’s death. A sixteen year old girl who was full of life and promise. Who was innocent. Who was loved by her parents and had a friendship with Jamie Lingstrom. Who was the daughter of a fellow cop. All of these links, all of the horror of the death. And yet I felt estranged from it all, even as I was reading. Was it because I could not get into the mind of the killer(s)? Was it because I’ve become inured to the many horrific crimes with which Eve has had to deal? Or was it because one of the key criminal players had far too little page presence, despite this person’s importance to understanding (not just solving) the mystery?

I suspect it was all of those things, but I also wonder whether the increased prominence of the procedural aspects of the story contributed to this nagging sense of distance, as well. For me, it’s not that the romance is all-important; rather, the strength of the series is the way the romance is intertwined with the suspense. From Eve’s own personal journey to her relationship issues with Roarke, the personal and professional aspects of her life have been so compelling to me that I’ve relished the mystery/procedural aspects of the books as much as the romance, recognizing that they are essentially enmeshed and that they reinforce one another.

While the procedural aspects of the novel were prominent, I felt that there was far more time devoted to solving the mystery as opposed to really understanding the psychology behind it. Although it’s possible I feel this way because the whole set-up felt a bit forced to me, unpredictable more in artificiality than in novelty. As for the personal aspects of the book, it’s not so much that Eve and Roarke’s relationship felt like background in this novel as much as it felt familiar in ways that kept me from sharing the sense of urgency and emotional engagement in the novel’s movement. Even Charles and Louise’s wedding, which should have been a highlight of Kindred in Death, did not really move me. As soon as Eve spontaneously volunteered to host the pre-wedding preparations at her home, I felt I knew what to expect (i.e. Eve immediately regrets her generosity, Peabody approves of Eve’s moment of weakness, social terror ensues, etc.). And ultimately, I couldn’t help but feel that the whole thing was a replay of Mavis’s baby shower a few books ago, complete with Trina and her dreaded beauty potions. From Mira and her harmoniously coordinated wardrobe and perfectly styled hair to McNab and his neon clothing combinations and sleek blond braid, the series cast all felt a bit bland in their familiarity. And while Summerset and Eve seem to be experiencing a nice evolution in their everyday sniping, it wasn’t enough to make Kindred in Death a winner for me. Instead I found the book a competently written, reasonably well-plotted procedural. C+

~Janet

This book can be purchased at Amazon or in ebook format from Sony or other etailers.

REVIEW: The Whispering Room by Amanda Stevens

Jia — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:00:13 +0000

Dear Ms. Stevens,

As part of my ongoing effort to expand my reading (and Harlequin) horizons, I decided to give this novel from Mira a try. New to your work, I wasn’t sure what to expect but the idea of an evil gene sounded interesting. And while I thought some things were awfully convenient, I’m glad I made the decision I did.

Evangeline Theroux is a New Orleans homicide detective known as ghoul girl by her co-workers. I’ll leave it up to other readers to decide whether that’s an affectionate nickname. (I don’t consider it one under the circumstances.) The past year hasn’t been easy for her. Her husband, also a cop, died in the line of duty and even though she’s always thought something was fishy about the way he died, it seems like she always runs into a dead end when trying to pursue it. She also has a baby boy who reminds her too much of his father, even while she struggles to raise him by herself and work a job where her co-workers all expect her to snap at any minute.

Evangeline’s latest case involves the high profile death of a lawyer. It’s just what she needs to distract herself from her life but things don’t work out that way. The FBI is involved and one of the first things they do is get her pulled off the case. If that weren’t bad enough, she has reason to suspect that they also know the truth behind her husband’s death. Complicating things even further, Evangeline is contacted by a woman who claims to have information about the case but wants to speak only to her.

The concept of an evil gene is an interesting one. Can evil — the propensity to perpetrate violence upon other people, specifically in this case — be passed on? It was the idea that drew me to this novel in the first place, and I certainly understand Evangeline’s fascinated skepticism. It’s just so outlandish. I’m one of those who believes nurture will win out over nature, if all other things are equal, but at the same time, you can’t help but wonder. Is it possible? And if it is possible, can it triumph over nurture? Evangeline’s reaction was entirely believable to me, and there’s no denying that Lena presented it in an earnest and compelling way.

On the other hand, I figured out the main mystery pretty early on in the book. It was a little hard to miss with all the emphasis on a certain hair color. I thought the clues were nicely set up so that a reader could fit things together but a few were a bit too obvious for my tastes. When so little attention is given to most of the other characters, it’s very noticeable when certain characters’ traits are emphasized over and over again. And because it was so noticeable, my reader senses immediately knew it was that way for a reason. And because it was that way for a reason, logic would then offer the only available conclusion. Other readers might not find this to be the case.

While I thought the subplot involving the truth behind the death of Evangeline’s husband was necessary in terms of wrapping up loose threads and providing closure to the past, I can’t help but think it was a little awkwardly balanced with the evil gene storyline. At times I wasn’t sure which one was more important. I don’t think this is necessarily a flaw to the book but I found it distracting at times.

Along those lines, I’m not sure what the minor subplot involving Evangeline’s parents was supposed to accomplish. To illustrate how black and white Evangeline is? To reflect her relationship with her husband? To show what a mess Evangeline’s personal life is? It could do all these things and more, but it didn’t seem to live up to its potential. It was a throwaway conflict that never really came up again.

For readers wondering if there is a romance, Evangeline does find it here but it’s neither the focus nor the point of the book. It’s just one of many pieces that fit into the theme of letting go of the past and moving on into the future. The murderer never learned that lesson and as a result, repeated the mistakes of the past again and again. True, the murderer didn’t see it that way, that those actions were a mistake, but that doesn’t change the fact they didn’t stop to think that nurture could win out over nature in the end. B-

My regards,
Jia

This book can be purchased in mass market from independent bookstore near you or ebook format from the Sony Store and other etailers.

REVIEW: Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn

Jayne — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:00:08 +0000

Dear Ms. Raybourn,

After reading the second book in the Lady Julia Grey mystery series last year (I’ve since bought but still not read book one) and quickly learning that there was to be a third book, I was eagerly anticipating it. And bless you, you didn’t let me down when I pulled out our copy and dove into it. Murder, death, investigations and sticky situations abound as Lady Julia and Nicholas Brisbane circle each other like wary cats. Will they finally get their HEA? Frankly I did wonder.

Book two, Silent in the Sanctuary, left Lady Julia planning on how to crash the decorating party at Nicholas’ newly purchased estate on the Yorkshire Moors. He’d asked her sister, Lady Portia, to assist him but specifically ordered Portia not to tell Julia about it. Which didn’t stop Julia from discovering what was afoot. Now she and Portia, along with their youngest brother Valerius who was ordered by their father to accompany the two young widows, are headed, along with two maids, three pets and innumerable trunks and bags, into the hamlet of Lesser Howlet. The two ladies think they’ve reached the back of beyond until they finally make their way to Grimsgrave Manor. It is at that point that they know they’ve finally reached it.

Dank, dark and depressing about cover the adjectives needed to describe Brisbane’s new home. Julia and Portia are appalled. When they discover that the ladies left from the noble family that formerly owned the estate are still there and living on Brisbane’s charity, they are taken slightly aback. But Lady Allenby and her eldest daughter, Ailith, seem pleasant enough, even if they’re fixated on their ancient lineage while the youngest daughter, Hilda, strikes the March sisters as gauche.

It doesn’t take long for the ghosts to be stirred up, the secrets hidden in the house to begin to rise and the wuthering to loom over the windswept moors. Death has been done and unless Brisbane and Julia watch their steps more will follow. But can they uncover the murderer in time or will evil win the day?

As with “Sanctuary,” “Moor” slowly unfolds the story, gently leaving clues for the reader to pick up, turn over, contemplate and fit into the puzzle. Everything isn’t laid out in order and some things will be mentioned early in the book which will play a role much later on. And it isn’t just the actions of the living which influence the story but also of those long dead. The sins of the fathers do come back to haunt the next generation in this story.

I couldn’t help but think of Emily Bronte’s sole work of fiction while reading “Moor.” It’s set in Yorkshire, has a half-gypsy hero, there is madness and death, with angelic/demonic characters. Outsiders, including me, are horrified at what goes on there yet it makes a kind of sick, twisted sense.

Only one of the secondary characters will die by the end of the story yet there are old murders and deaths which Julia and Brisbane will solve or uncover before the madness finally ends. I had half guessed what the ultimate horror would be yet my mind still sought other possibilities to account for what Julia discovers. It’s just too awful. Yet it also brought to mind a degree of the ghastliness that has been front page news for the past year as well as ancient practices carried out in the society studied by the now dead Allenby heir.

One thing that did annoy me slightly is the fact that Brisbane and Julia are hardly together for the first 150 or so pages. And when they are finally together, it’s mainly so that Brisbane can hold Julia at arms length or order her to leave. It was only after Brisbane’s gypsy aunt gave Julia some sound words of advice that I finally settled down wait the relationship out.

It saddened me to see two relationships that didn’t work out in the story. I agree with Julia that it will take great courage for Hilda to strike out on her own yet I applaud her for doing so. She’ll finally get what she really wants and that’s to get away from the Moors and the memory of her family. What happens to poor Portia is just devastating. As Brisbane said, he regarded them as the happiest couple he knew yet not even all Portia’s money and influence can stand against society and what Jane feels she wants more than love.

It delights me that you can manage this series so as not to give away what happens in either of the first two. And though I think it helps to have read them so as to gain a greater appreciation for the characters, it is not necessary. New readers can start with this book and work their way back just fine.

Is this the end of the journey for Julia and Brisbane? If yes, I feel it’s a great trilogy that ties up most, though not all, of the plot threads and character arcs. If no, then I’ll look forward to watching these two in action again as well as revisiting the eccentric March family. And I hope that Brisbane does replace that lovely lavender and lace corset on the front cover. B+

~Jayne

This book can be purchased in trade paperback from Amazon or ebook format from the Sony Store and other etailers.

The Sony Store is selling The Lady Julia Grey Bundle which are all three books for $13.96. Given that Silent on the Moor is a trade paperback, that’s essentially getting three books for the price of one.

REVIEW: Gallant Match by Jennifer Blake

Jayne — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 10:00:57 +0000

Dear Ms. Blake,

Last year I enjoyed another in your “Masters at Arms” series so when the arc arrived for “Gallant Match,” I made sure to make room for it on my reading schedule. Once again we’re back in second quarter 19th century New Orleans (May 1846 to be precise) but this time with an added bonus trip to Vera Cruz, Mexico.

Sonia Bonneval catches only a glimpse of the tall man who’s arrived to speak with her father but somehow she knows he’s trouble. He looks to be one of those uncouth Americans from the frontier – a Kaintuck. So she decides to stress the style of the women of New Orleans to wear face paint since she thinks it would disgust the boorish clod she imagines him to be. She’s got to get him to turn down the job her father is offering. That way she can avoid the planned marriage and flee to her grandmother in Mobile.

Kerr Wallace wouldn’t care if Sonia did back flips down the Passage de la Bourse in her shimmy. Through her he’s finally got a line on the man he’s been hunting for four years: the man responsible for the death of Kerr’s younger brother. Rouillard might have evaded justice this long but Kerr intends to see him dead. The idea that he’s delivering this young woman into the hands of a coward gives him slight pause but Kerr figures she’ll be a rich widow soon enough. What neither counts on is how some gun running and a declaration of war will interrupt their plans.

Readers looking for American set historicals generally have to hunt a long time. And what they usually find are Westerns. Now I love a good Western but if an author can deliver something else, I’m happier than a clam at high tide. With the “Masters at Arms” series, you deliver. We’ve got maitre d’armes heroes and – in the two books I’ve read – heroines who aren’t shy, shrinking violets.

Sonia remembers Rouillard from her childhood and nothing she remembers is good. Thus I’m more willing to watch her try and escape the fate her father has planned for her than if she were just in a snit over nothing. Why would her father be willing to hand her over? As Sonia’s Tante Lilly reminds her, men make the decisions and women have to try and work within them to the best of their ability. Maybe one day life for women will be different but arranged marriages, made for family and business purposes, are still the norm in Creole society.

Kerr has been hunting Rouillard ever since the end of the disastrous Mier Expedition. Delivering Rouillard’s bride to him in Vera Cruz will provide the chance Kerr’s been waiting for. None of Sonia’s slippery tricks will be allowed to work, even if Kerr finds himself admiring her spirit and inventiveness. I like that Kerr doesn’t stoop to taking out his revenge on Sonia. I’ve had enough of “heroes” using innocent women that way.

The first half of the book delivers your characters to their departure for Mexico. And up to then as far as the plot is concerned, it’s a fairly standard historical. It’s when the steam packet journey down the Mississippi River and across the Gulf of Mexico begins that things really pick up. Though your descriptions, I could see the flora and fauna that slip by as the Lime Rock cruises down to the Gulf. The different passengers on board delineate the strata of society and our characters’ place in it. The horror of the attack by the Mexican gunboat shows that human nature, in the face of a sinking ship, hasn’t changed much.

The two day journey through the jungle Sonia and Kerr undertake after swimming ashore makes me thankful for modern insect repellent and that scorpions aren’t common in my part of the world. Though I would like a glimpse of a disdainful jaguar as he saunters through his domain. I’ve heard that Mexican hospitality is among the best in the world as Sonia and Kerr discover, even if Kerr has to dodge the admiring widow Dona Francesca. And if I could make the journey down to Vera Cruz in something more comfortable than a diligence, your descriptions of the beauty of the countryside make me want to try it.

Though I expected Sonia and Kerr to do the dirty before arriving at Rouillard’s home, at least you provide a raison d’Ãªtre that fits with the story rather than the standard “I want one night of hot lurve to last me a lifetime!” that most heroines wail as their excuse while they rip off their corset covers.

Rouillard is the villain you’ve made him out to be through the entire book. No revelations here though he is deliciously evil and cowardly. One character did surprise me. I think you did a great job of concealing his true intentions. One thing did disappoint me and that is for a book about a master swordsman, there’s very little actual sword play. I guess Kerr couldn’t challenge the jaguar to a duel, especially as Kerr had lost his sword cane when the ship went down, but the fencing loving wench in me is always panting for “more, more, more!”

I see there’s at least one more book in this series, though I’ll have to wait until next February for it. [Pout] In the meantime, thanks for continuing to write close to home and offering alternatives to the standard fare. B-

~Jayne

This book can be purchased in mass market from Amazon or ebook format from the Sony Store and other etailers.

Harlequin Is Accepting YA Submission

Jane — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:36:48 +0000

I saw a YA sale to MIRA the other day at Publisher’s Marketplace. I emailed Harlequin and was told that Harlequin appears to be entering the YA market and are “seeking YA submissions, notably in the areas of paranormal, fantasy/sci-fi, relationship/romance and social issues.” Currently, the YA program is only taking agented submissions. Related posts: [...] Related posts: