For some reason, though, I cannot seem to finish her trilogies.
I read Goddess of the Hunt and Surrender of a Siren. I own A Lady of Persuasion, have for almost a year, and have yet to read it. I read One Dance with a Duke earlier this summer, started and then abandoned Twice Tempted by a Rogue in July, and then read Three Nights with a Scoundrel while fighting my Four Fatal Diseases.
This is odd. Even I can admit it. I like the author, and I always like the first book in the trilogy. Then the problem arises! I have a theory that the first book gives too much information about the rest of the people in the trilogy.
For example, in the first set, I loved Lucy and Jeremy, and I liked Sophie enough that I was totally intrigued for her book, the second in the series. A character I did not care for (I don't mean this in a negative way, I simply mean that I was totally neutral about him and had no feelings one way or another) was Toby. Toby's, of course, was the third book.
So I didn't care about Toby, so I didn't care to read his book. I'm not even remotely suggesting it is a bad book or that it is inferior to those that came before it. I'm just saying that my feelings about the character diminished by need to read his book.
Same goes for the newest trilogy. The first book was great, but I was so much more interested in the relationship between Lily and Julian that I didn't care that Rhys' book came before theirs. He was sort of boring to me, and I was not in any way compelled to read his story. So I didn't.
Normally I would be a huge fan of Tessa Dare's release strategy-- three books, three months in a row. What's wrong with that? Absolutely nothing. Except that perhaps in these instances they are detrimental to the characters and my interest in them. There's no time for them to sit and stew in my brain (or in those two instances, for me to forget about how much I don't care for those characters). I look to Kresley Cole's newest book, released this past Tuesday, and I think about a previous post I had written regarding just how many more of these IAD books she could come up with. She was running out of characters. But there was enough time between installments for me to forget that the main, familiar character in this book (Carrow the Incarcerated) secretly annoys me (a lot) and distanced me enough to want to know her story.
I'm just saying.
So I read Three Nights with a Scoundrel, and it took me far, far longer than it really should have.
Despite my feeling that Julian and Lily were going to have the best romance of the three, they actually were fairly annoying after a bit. It really took too long for them to tear each other's clothes off, and in the end I'm still not sure I understood Julian's motivations. And I'm not sure I really cared. In the end the most compelling part of the book was the resolution of Leo's death (the instigating event from book one) and the revelation of his homosexual liaison with a British spy. I'm not sure how historically correct everyone's actions and reactions were with the circumstance, but it was certainly a cool and unusual thing to read about in historical romance. At least, from the perspective that the homosexual was not the raging villain of the piece.
I also re-re-re-read Honor's Splendour, which is among my favorite Julie Garwood novels. I have to confess that the more I read in romance, the more I expand my palate, the less I have interest in returning to the Garwoods on my keeper shelf. This is not to say that I would be clearing them off the shelf, but rather that they are no longer holding my interest and imagination the way they once did.
Julie Garwood's novels are very important in the Span of Romance Novel History, bridging the gap between Old Skool and New Skool Romance. Her heroes are understanding and emotionally available (whether they want to be or not), but they still do have some hair-grabbing tendencies. They don't jump to wholly illogical conclusions (or if they do, they are quickly disabused of their notions), and they fight against the external threats to their relationships with aplomb. Garwood heroines are occasionally silly and ridiculous, but always likable and resourceful when it comes to making friends, taming their heroes, and defending themselves (see: Jaime and the sword in The Bride) when necessary.
I like Honor's Splendour because Madelyne and Duncan embody all of the best of these characteristics: Duncan takes her hostage as an act of revenge against her brother, but he very quickly (immediately?) recognizes that she is more than a mere hostage. Madelyne is incredibly clumsy and slightly scatterbrained, but when it comes to taking charge of the situation, she does so masterfully. Especially when her life is spinning out of control. Sure, she cries a couple of times. But it's not because she's annoying and waiting for someone to come save her.
Up Next: It Sucked and Then I Cried review. Also, maybe I'll finish the new Kresley Cole this weekend! I might be sent back to my sickbed, anyway.
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