Comments on: REVIEW: Accidental Mistress by Susan Napier

By: Susan

Susan — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:02:26 +0000

I was just rereading Lynne Graham this week. Awesome Asshole to spirited poor heroine factor.
Shades of Twilight: Linda Howard — excellent Sexy asshole to repressed doormat. Beyond belief! But very good reread for me.

By: REVIEW: Price of Passion by Susan Napier | Dear Author: Romance Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and Commentary

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:01:02 +0000

[...] Jane said in a recent review that she measures HP books “by the asshole to doormat heroine ratio. The grade for the book is inversely proportional to the ratio.” In Price of Passion, Kate was not a doormat and Drake was not an asshole. In fact, much of the pleasure in reading the book emerged from having my expectations subtly altered much in the same way Kate’s are. It is clever the way I was encouraged to think as Kate does that Drake is the typical careless seducer; it worked to engage me in the story and to challenge my own perceptions of this particular category line. Because I am still learning to appreciate these books where the hero is so much bigger and often louder than life, I especially appreciated the little subversions here and there. How, for example the “other woman” trope is reconsidered here, and how, again, I had to learn that lesson along with Kate. Then there is the prose, which is certainly dramatic, but sometimes surprisingly elegant, too. Someone had lit a bonfire at the far end of the beach and through the big picture windows she could see the fiery sparks leaping up into the sky, reaching out for the cool sprawl of stars that were just beginning to prick through as dusk teetered on the edge of night. [...]

By: tyr

tyr — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:41:32 +0000

The Lonely Season is great! Go for Sweet As My Revenge and The High Valley too.

No Reprieve and Reckless Conduct are a bit sad though.

By: Stacy ~

Stacy ~ — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:21:01 +0000

I admit to liking Napier’s and Sara Craven’s HP’s quite a bit, for the very reasons you mentioned. They’re like the proverbial bag of potato chips. What can I say, I don’t need fine chocolate everytime.

By: Rosario

Rosario — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:23:31 +0000

Susan Napier’s the only HP author I really follow. She has some excellent backlist titles. I loved Another Time most of all, I think. Other good ones: Secret Admirer, The Mistress Deception (these two will probably surprise you), Counterfeit Secretary and Reckless Contact.

By: Elly Soar

Elly Soar — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 17:41:54 +0000

lol – the vocabulary was one of the things that hooked me on HPs – I swear reading HP must’ve raised my SAT score a few hundred points, and it’s still helping today with the freerice site! Susan Napier is the best – I second The Lonely Season rec too – if you can resist that book maybe HPs aren’t right for you.

By: Kirsten

Kirsten — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:40:51 +0000

In The Lonely Season? No, she was of polynesian blend

By: Gennita Low

Gennita Low — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:04:43 +0000

Nothing like Napiers. I have to hunt for this one too. Was the heroine freckled? ;-)

By: Maddie

Maddie — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 02:27:09 +0000

Sorry I ment to say Emma Darcy is the author of The Secret Within, that’s what happens when you try to do two things at once post something and watch Christine at the same time.

By: clara bow

clara bow — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 01:32:37 +0000

I love the film GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 so I’ll probably like this story, too.

By: Maddie

Maddie — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 01:07:52 +0000

Hey Jane check out her book The Secrets Within, it’s not really a romance book but it was for me a good read, and get your tissue box ready!!!

Hey I would love for you to do a review on this book.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:48:45 +0000

Now that’s what I like to see – an HP reviewer who GETS them. Reviewers who try to judge them like any other book just come up short.

“Perversely, this only makes me want it more. God knows why, because I can’t stand melodrama in single titles. Now, if you added cheap emotional manipulation, I’d be in HP heaven.”

I hear ya!

By: RStewie

RStewie — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:02:01 +0000

OOh! Big Words! I love an author that isn’t afraid of her readership’s intellect! I might have to give this a shot…I wish this would post, though, so I can leave work!

By: Kirsten

Kirsten — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:59:11 +0000

You guys are hilarious. Susan Napier is my crack, too, supplanting the late Charlotte Lamb and Ann Mather.

Check out The Lonely Season, which features a mute…MUTE…(or formerly mute) heroin!

By: Charlene Teglia

Charlene Teglia — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:06:24 +0000

Oh, this sounds fun! HP, love the melodrama.

By: Jane

Jane — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 20:50:26 +0000

Ann – this will be perfect for you because it is all about the cheap emotional manipulation. Isn’t that why we read them?

JMC – I totally understand what you are saying because really, cheap emotional manipulation and melodrama is apparently very hard to do well.

By: jmc

jmc — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 20:43:50 +0000

Love that, the asshole:doormat ratio. :)

Recently read India Grey’s debut HP, which was full of flimsy plotting and category cliches, so much so that at least 30 pages are dog-earred. And yet I still enjoyed it. It fit the format very well, which sounds like faint praise but really isn’t IMO.

Objectively, the behavior and melodrama of HPs are not what I like, or maybe just not what I think I like. If you gave me a survey to fill out, secret babies, sheikhs, over-testosteroned bazillionaires, and wilting virgin mistresses would be at the top of my list of pet peeves. And yet I still read at least one HP each month. It’s my crack, I guess.

By: Ann Bruce

Ann Bruce — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 20:38:47 +0000

Yikes! How did I miss this release? Susan Napier is like crack to me, so I’ll be picking up a copy despite the C+.

Is it full of melodrama? Absolutely.

Perversely, this only makes me want it more. God knows why, because I can’t stand melodrama in single titles. Now, if you added cheap emotional manipulation, I’d be in HP heaven.