Tear jerker. Story that stays with you even after you've finished reading. Makes you wish it didn't end :(Tear jerker. Story that stays with you even after you've finished reading. Makes you wish it didn't end :(...more
What a suck-all read and an overall waste of time. After the first 100 pages it felt like the story was being rehashed endlessly because the author diWhat a suck-all read and an overall waste of time. After the first 100 pages it felt like the story was being rehashed endlessly because the author didn’t know what else to write. I had to virtually skim read my way to the end to get through it.
The story is about Cat, a successful photographer who’s having a hard time making ends meet because she’s financially responsible for way too many moochers in her family. Her clients don’t pay her, she has bills and creditors up the wazoo and her health suffers drastically because she works round the clock but she still keeps taking on new jobs in the hopes that in a few months everything will be better. Initially she comes across as a tough as nails heroine but really she’s just another doormat waiting for the right jerk-off to walk all over her. And in walks the hero, Travis, one of the most annoying characters I’ve read in a while. He came across as some geezer instead of a guy in his 30s. All he talks about is how rich he is and that he can buy his women because he’s not getting burned again after a failed marriage. All his "I have so much money and I can buy anything" crap just grated like nails on the chalk board. His incessant bragging made him look insecure (which I don’t think was the author’s intention) instead of “manly and virile”. Granted this romance was written in the 80s and they were a bit different then compared to now but I really can’t see how anyone could like these two even if you do like the pain in the butt alpha.
Cat’s character was moderately better than Travis’ but she took too much garbage from him and he needed to be kicked to the curb after the first time he called her a whore and a bitch. Better yet when he referred to all women like that you know this guy is flashing the ol’ neon forehead sign “I am a loser”. Their sparring was more like petulant children who needed a good time-out than adults who don’t know how to convey their feelings to one another. Travis was always suspicious of Cat and if you add that to the “you’re nothing but a slutty whore like all the others” over and over well I don’t know why she kept giving him that “one more chance” :-/ She also sounded like a walking skeleton with all her health issues so I found it very hard to believe that she could work as much as she did. A near rape scene with one of her clients by the beach was treated like nothing more than an aggressive flirtation –the guy said he was going to have her whether she wanted it or not and he was forcing her to the ground --had me bug-eyed. She went about her merry way after and continued working with him because of her “contract” (!) and even the hero didn’t bash his head in when he saw it happening --???????
There was way too much photography info filler about colour, light, shadow play blah blah blah that got on my nerves. There’s one of those cutesy 6 year old kids that everyone gushes over but that gets in the way one time to many causing easily avoidable trouble. There’s a sad part almost like Linda Howard’s Cry No More where the heroine is nearly catatonic but in no way is it as well done. The romance itself, though more on the hot side, felt dated almost like an older Judith McNaught contemporary. I didn't think that the h/h were compatible so I couldn't believe in their "love" --how do you love someone who blows like the wind one day treating you like you're lower than dirt and the next day singing your praises?? I also thought the writing was overly flowery and that there was a hyper use of adjectives in general. Lowell went overboard on some of the description and she could've taken out a thesaurus to find some other way to describe the hero's ‘tourmaline eyes’ and ‘tawny hair’ –ack the repetition! She also tried too hard with the feline references for ‘Cat’. At one point you’re wondering if she really is a cat 8-/ What I did like was the beach front setting. She did a good job painting the picture of this white beach house all fresh and sparkling with the sea for a view.
So, unlikeable characters, a story that doesn’t move and over the top writing just makes for one bad book. ...more
If you don't know your British history inside out I can't see how you'd find this book funny. A lot of things will go way over your head or you'll jusIf you don't know your British history inside out I can't see how you'd find this book funny. A lot of things will go way over your head or you'll just not understand at all. What you may know history-wise just isn't all that funny I thought. The "tests" at the end of the sections provide a bit of a chuckle as they seem to poke fun at the way teachers write instructions for tests.
Well this book wasn’t for me and for soooo many reasons. For the record, I really, really, really tried to like it but it was a no go. Now I know it’sWell this book wasn’t for me and for soooo many reasons. For the record, I really, really, really tried to like it but it was a no go. Now I know it’s a bodice ripper from the 70s and there was a certain “style” to those romances that doesn’t really exist in today’s romance novel, but this one I thought was not only poorly written, it had the most unlovable and irredeemable historical romance hero imaginable (ugh, eesh and **shudder shudder**).
It has a very Gothic feel to it –creepy castles/manors/houses on rocky crags, lots of rain and foreboding weather etc etc, but there is an endless amount of beyond irritating narration, we’re talking five pages straight of droning narration, enough to kill even the very patient reader. Reminded me of Lolah Burford’s painful novel Alyx where there was barely a hint of dialog what for all the telling and not showing as the saying seems to go. The h/h don’t even meet until around page 113 which is insane. I’m all for building tension but if you don’t give the reader even a little morsel they’ll get fed up fast –at least I do.
The hero is an ass. He's totally into the "you are my chattle" thing and "you will obey me". You can have a hero like that but the heroine has to be his foil, well no such thing existed here. He actually hurts the heroine physically, he’s not beating her or anything but he flies off the handle for no real reason, apart from the fact that he’s a boor and Class A jerk, he likes to shake her hard or squeeze her arms or waist until it hurts. I don’t know but I can’t like a guy like that. I love the rake and it’s impressive really how an author can make a true s.o.b into a great guy underneath it all but this guy needed a smack-down :-o He even has a “dalliance” with an ex-lover knowing that the heroine is hiding in the room –like, ew! That’s not forgivable even if you are trying to get revenge. The guy is so arrogant and full of himself that it’s a wonder that anyone can stand to be in the same breathing space as him –and that’s man or woman. There were the odd moments when you thought he may be turning over a new leaf but then BAM! He goes nutso! Freakin’ out like a crackhead! The hero reminded me of Anne Stuart’s hero James Killoran from To Love a Dark Lord, no doubt written around the same time period.
As for the heroine, the author tried to have her hold her own but I guess she was a victim of her times and just “forgave” and “understood” –blech! She should’ve shot the bastard when she had the chance if you ask me :-/
There are also way too many sub-stories, (think Patricia Gaffney’s Lily --everything and the kitchen sink). The dead guy that comes back to life right where the heroine lives to boot, the long lost horse that turns up right where she is too, smugglers who deal in human trade, the crazy broad that no one suspects to be the villain, French spies, a clandestine love affair, you name it, it’s in here. All of this “filler” detracts from the h/h and their “relationship”. I was skimming all this stuff towards the end in the same way I was skimming over the excessively annoying parts about the Lessers in JR Ward’s Lover Avenged --enough already, let’s get back to the main story (!). Elysia and Alex rarely spoke because he was always in a mood or downright raggin’ at her and then shazam they’re in love! They hardly spent any real time together how can they be in love????
Now maybe I’m being harsh (but I don’t think so—lol!) maybe if you’ve read a lot of these kinds of romances and you’re used to them you might think they’re really good but I for one prefer my romances post-1990 it seems where the author has dialog, interaction between the h/h before the reader falls asleep, and a believable story –well in an escapist romantic kind of way that is (lol!) For all you insomniacs out there, this one’s for you :D ...more