I agree with you that HH is clearly a first book in certain respects, and it doesn’t, IMO, reflect the narrative mastery of, say, For My Lady’s Heart, but emotionally speaking I think it actually surpasses some of her later books — for me, at least.

I couldn’t agree more with this statement, Robin. The Hidden Heart is not as polished a story as some of Kinsale’s later books, but I am fonder of it than many of the ones that probably are technically superior. I found the characters of Tess and Gryphon to be totally engaging and their journey to their HEA to be emotionally wrenching (in the best possible way!) and very satisfying. It is a rare book in which I adore both the hero and the heroine, but The Hidden Heart is one. Gryf is almost a precursor of Sheridan from Seize the Fire with his near mental breakdown and inability to accept love. And I love Tess; she is an original. I am particularly fond of the scene at the end when she has been studying manuals on how to be a perfect English housewife in order to impress Gryf, but then falls apart when a parrot lands on her head and ruins her carefully staged domestic tableau of mother and baby.

The nuances in the character development and the quality and energy of the writing make up for a certain awkwardness in the plotting and the use of the dreaded Double Big Mis plot device. Yes, Tess was perhaps not as traumatized as she should have been by her awful first marriage, but Gryf was certainly traumatized by his past. Even when he was being a jerk, I felt for him. And I loved the way that Kinsale didn’t attempt to shoe-horn this very unique couple into a “Total Acceptance By the Ton” HEA. Far more romantic (IMO) for the two of them to sail around and explore the world together.

Never fear, Robin, I know you and Janet are the same person. Hopefully our readers do too

You weren’t the one I was worried about Janine, lol! Sometimes even I get confused.

Maybe that’s what I mean by innocent. Not that there’s no sexiness to The Hidden Heart, but that a lot of Kinsale’s books (Seize the Fire and The Shadow and the Star especially) deal with loss of innocence and loss of illusions. That element is also present in The Hidden Heart, but it feels to me a bit as if at least in part, Kinsale shied away from it and hadn’t learned yet to go for that emotional jugular vein that she taps so stunningly well in her later books.

I don’t know if Elle is still reading this thread, but I wish she’d come back and talk about HH, which I know is one of her favorite Kinsale books, because I have no doubt she remembers it better than I do. I think you’re right that Kinsale pulls her punches where Tess is concerned, but I think she did a fabulous job of tracing Gryf’s implosion and eventual recovery. The scene in the nursery, where he is totally undone by the presence of his son, where he is so terribly afraid of even touching him, let alone seeing him and Tess together, well, I thought that scene was incredibly wrenching. I agree with you that HH is clearly a first book in certain respects, and it doesn’t, IMO, reflect the narrative mastery of, say, For My Lady’s Heart, but emotionally speaking I think it actually surpasses some of her later books — for me, at least. But, of course, none of that means there’s any similarity between HH and FS. For some reason your discussion of FS just brought HH to mind (and kind of made me want to re-read it, lol).

I love that scene in The Shadow and the Star! I liked The Hidden Heart, but it’s not one of my most favorite Kinsales. Even though it was a very good first novel, I think the fact that it was a first novel shows when I compare it to some of Kinsale’s later works, like Seize the Fire, The Shadow and the Star, Flowers from the Storm, For My Lady’s Heart and The Dream Hunter, to name some of my favorite books in the romance genre. It doesn’t have the same emotional impact on me; I think because I feel that Kinsale glosses over Tess’s first marriage a bit.

Maybe that’s what I mean by innocent. Not that there’s no sexiness to The Hidden Heart, but that a lot of Kinsale’s books (Seize the Fire and The Shadow and the Star especially) deal with loss of innocence and loss of illusions. That element is also present in The Hidden Heart, but it feels to me a bit as if at least in part, Kinsale shied away from it and hadn’t learned yet to go for that emotional jugular vein that she taps so stunningly well in her later books.

To bring this back around to the topic at hand, in Forbidden Shores the characters start out with less illusions than some of Kinsale’s characters begin with. Allen and Clarissa both think they are somewhat cynical and worldly-wise, and then discover that they have some illusions left to lose after all. I liked that element, but I wish it had been brought out even more, especially in the section pertaining to the revelation of Allen’s secret, which seemed somewhat rushed and glossed over to me. I would have liked for Lockwood to really go for the jugular there too, and I think she did in some ways, while holding back in other others, where I wish she hadn’t held back at all. I hope that makes sense.

So besides the beach sex and the shipboard setting, The Hidden Heart and Forbidden Shores do have this other aspect in common. But I wasn’t reminded of The Hidden Heart in reading and thinking about Forbidden Shores, until you mentioned it, and I still don’t think the books have that much in common.

Yes, that’s true, but The Hidden Heart seems like a much more innocent book to me.

Well, I don’t have the comparison, obviously, but I thought HH was such a sexy book, what with Tess’s Tahitian friend imparting all her sexual knowledge and guidance to her, lol — not to mention Tess’s plan to bring Gryf to his knees, so to speak. And I loved it when she passed all that on to Leda in Shadow and the Star. It just seemed to subversive to me, not only in terms of the genre, but in regard to how women learned about sex and their own sexuality more generally.

My cunning plan continues apace! Today, Janine, tomorrow, the world! Mwahahaha!

LOL. The grading part of reviewing is the bane of my existence. I have such a hard time with it, and I never know if I’m being too generous or too stingy with my grades. As a reviewer, I shudder at the thought of readers making up their minds about a book based on the grade alone.

I’m surprised to see a book with this subject matter though. What made you two pick it up?

For me, it was the combination of “something different”, which I’m always looking for (and Forbidden Shores seemed to fit the bill both in the setting and the unusual love triangle) with an author that I knew could write (since I’d read and enjoyed Dedication). I give a lot of points for unusual and different, but I’ve found the hard way that it doesn’t overcome, or even much mitigate, bad writing.

Jennie, that last post of yours did it. I changed my grade from a C+ to a B-. I was torn between those two grades to begin with, so it wasn’t a big change for me, but it may persuade more readers to read the book.

My cunning plan continues apace! Today, Janine, tomorrow, the world! Mwahahaha!

Great review! If it weren’t so close to erotica I might give it a shot, but I’m erotica’d out. And, the things you mention about the characters and their changes not being quite so convincing makes me inclined to skip it as well. I’m surprised to see a book with this subject matter though. What made you two pick it up?

I can’t speak for Jennie, but personally I’ve been interested in this author’s books since I read this interview with her on TRR many moons ago. I read her first book, Dedication, when it came out, and enjoyed it, and I recently enjoyed her second book, The Rules of Gentility, even more. So when I heard that she was coming out with an erotic romance under the Jane Lockwood name, I wanted to read that as well. I wish I had enjoyed Forbidden Shores as much as I had her other two books, since I think it is the most risk-taking of them all (and they are all unusual, risk-taking books). But though I still liked a lot of things about it, it was also the least romantic to me of the three.

I do recommend her previous books to you, Jan. Dedication is a Signet traditional regency and although it is very sexy for that subgenre, it is not erotica. The Rules of Gentility doesn’t contain any sex scenes at all, though it has a sexy sort of sensibility to it. I reviewed The Rules of Gentility here and gave it a B. Jayne also reviewed it, here, and gave it an A-. It is probably my favorite of Mullany’s books. Mrs. Giggles has a great review of Dedication on her blog. It will be interesting to see what Mrs. Giggles will have to say about Forbidden Shores if she reviews it.

Robin, I am really interested in your opinion of Forbidden Shores when you do get a chance to read it. It’s far from perfect, as you can see from the discussion above, but I will take a flawed interesting romance over a technically well done but ultimately dull and lifeless romance, any day.

Jennie, that last post of yours did it. I changed my grade from a C+ to a B-. I was torn between those two grades to begin with, so it wasn’t a big change for me, but it may persuade more readers to read the book. You are so right that a flawed but risk-taking and interesting romance is often better than those books that play it safe. I do hope some of our readers give this one a try, because I think it is worth reading, and that’s another reason why I raised my grade.

What a great, great conversational review!

Thanks Robin! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Jennie and I had a lot of fun discussing the book; maybe we’ll do this again sometime.

I am so excited to read this book now

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it, Robin. You have to post them!

The one book I don’t remember being mentioned but that I was thinking of when I read this review is Kinsale’s Hidden Heart, which also features some shipboard and sand lovin’, as well as an exotic locale.

Yes, that’s true, but The Hidden Heart seems like a much more innocent book to me.

For some reason, I thought of The Slightest Provocation when reading your review, Janine, even though the plots of the stories have nothing in common as far as I can see. I picked up this book this afternoon and I noticed that the cover blurb was by Pam Rosenthal as well. It is nice to see authors approaching the genre with more originality and flair, even if they do not always hit a home run.

Lockwood also thanks Rosenthal in the acknowledgments page of Forbidden Shores, and I believe they blog together, too. All of that may be part of what put me in mind of The Slightest Provocation when I read Forbidden Shores, but as I said above, I think the books have some things in common.

I love both Stuart and Nardi’s coats. Also Bastian’s coat from Anne Stuart’s Black Ice. And the coat that Eric gives Sookie Stackhouse in Dead To the World.

I loved them all too (Except for Sookie’s — I never made it that far in the Sookie series.) Maybe that’s what makes a great hero — his coat! (-;

I am so excited to read this book now, especially with the Kinsale/Ivory comparisons (yes I know it’s mostly the setting, but that’s okay). And yes, I read by skipping all through the book while simultaneously reading from start to finish. If there is too much suspense, I’ll read so fast I’ll miss stuff if I don’t skip around and allow myself to read slowly (I wonder if this is why I’m not drawn to mysteries). Also, here’s one more vote for the coat from Ivory’s Untie My Heart. I fell in love with Stuart Aysgarth when he strode into the bank swathed in that Russian coat — as did Emma Hotchkiss, I think. And I agree with Janine that while Nardi was a fabulous character, I never fell in love with him as I did his brother in Dance. And Sheridan in Kinsale’s Seize the Fire –what a heartbreaking hero he was. The one book I don’t remember being mentioned but that I was thinking of when I read this review is Kinsale’s Hidden Heart, which also features some shipboard and sand lovin’, as well as an exotic locale. Yup, definitely looking forward to Forbidden Shores.

So you get toys, and food (the latter of which doesn’t usually appeal to me, since more often than not it’s something sticky like whipped cream or honey, and I get distracted by thinking about what a mess it’ll be to clean up

I’m the same way. All I keep thinking is what an incredible mess they are making and what a pain it would be to clean it up. And please, whipped cream soaking into the mattress? That’s gonna stink if you don’t get it all out~spoiled milk smell. LOL See? I just can’t get past that.