The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Silhouette Special Edition #2011, Book 2 in series, 2009, out of print, available digitally
Why Was It In Wendy's TBR: It's a Christmas Harlequin - that's really about it. To elaborate, Eagle is a solid writer and I like Special Editions. My print copy indicates I likely bought this used while visiting my family in Michigan (the Meijer price tag on the front cover is kind of a dead giveaway).
The Review: Oh reader expectations. We all have them but when it comes to category romance readers, they're amplified. I have a very different set of expectations with category romance than I do single titles. I expect the stories to adhere to line specifications and given the shorter word counts I expect a hyper-aware focus on the romance. Special Editions usually land around 220 pages - that's not a lot - and it's a problem for this story that Eagle chose to write. Honestly? This read like a women's fiction novel that she trimmed down to fit Special Edition guidelines and for that reason it missed the romance mark for me.
Zach Beaudry is a broken down rodeo cowboy (more parts ache than not) making his way to Texas. Where he currently is is driving a neglected pick-up truck through a South Dakota snowstorm. Naturally the pick-up truck quits on him and he finds himself walking to the nearest shelter - which turns out to be Ann Drexler's front porch. He's near delirium by this point and spies her from the front window decorating for Christmas. Naturally he thinks she's an angel. Lucky for him she opens the front door, recognizes him, and hauls his near frozen butt inside.
Ann recognizes Zach because she had a one-night stand with him when she was a shy, plumper 19-year-old college student. She met him at a party through her older sister Sally, who used to supply bulls to the rodeo circuit. Anyway Ann looks different now - she's lost weight, less make-up and her hair is styled drastically different. Still, she'd be lying if she didn't say it pricks her pride that Zach doesn't recognize her or even recall their one-night together.
Zach's truck needs repairs requiring parts, so he agrees to help out at the Drexler horse rescue ranch in exchange parts and labor. Beside Ann and Sally, there's a "like family" older ranch hand and a teenager student of Ann's (she's a teacher) who lands on the wrong side of the law and his sentence is community service at the ranch. Zach is pure itchy feet cowboy and Ann is guarded, reticent and is fully expecting him to take off the moment he can. That's basically it for conflict folks.
Back to expectations, there's a lot of homespun banter and a lot of secondary characters (three of them) vying for page time. When I first started this book I checked the back cover to make sure Ann was the heroine because Sally (who has MS) spends JUST as much time on the page in Zach's orbit. There's also an annoying neighbor who shows up halfway through to (I think?) juice up the conflict but it's a plot thread that doesn't really go anywhere. There's other books after this one in the series, maybe he shows up in later books to cause trouble? Who knows.
What we've got is basically a story about found family with a romance relegated to secondary plot line. This is fine for women's fiction. It's great in fact! I've loved books like this. But this is a Silhouette Special Edition. It's category romance. Hence, I don't think it's fine. The romance should be front and center, dominating the bulk of the story. Instead it feels like an afterthought.
Normally I would ding a book with this sort of execution mightily but, and here's the thing, Eagle can write. She's a wiz at setting, atmosphere and characters. It fails on nearly every level of 217 page category romance, but all that other stuff I just mentioned? Really good. Very solid. It just shouldn't have been published or marketed as a category romance. Says Wendy.
Final Grade = C-
3 comments:
I always feel like Special Edition and my greatly missed SuperRomance had such a hard needle to thread - bigger story, still strong romance focus. When it's right, it's very satisfying. Sorry it didn't make the cut here.
For the challenge I read a Mary Balogh Christmas anthology, CHRISTMAS MIRACLES. Three stories. The first two were cute, if a bit "samey." I don't mind children in my romance novels, but these kids actually had a lot of the same very specific tics which was very noticeable reading them back to back.
The third one - no, just no. It had angels (which I also don't necessarily mind in fiction if it is subtle and/or interesting) that were just about the creepiest things this side of a "Twilight Zone" episode. The story was about an estranged married couple and the angels trap them in a snow storm (they do give them food and shelter,so slightly less creepy than it could have been) and just keep repeating "all shall be well, all shall be well" in the manner of possessed robots. They know all sorts of personal information about the couple without being told, but are very evasive about their own personal information even though there are anvil sized hints they are angels. Maybe this 80s kid has an overdeveloped sense of stranger danger, but I did not like it, no sirree. Snow storm or not, I would be out of there like a shot.
I kept waiting for the twist reveal they were having a shared hallucination in a snow bank. It was all very unsubtle and weird and off-putting.
Since the two first stories were cute, I'd give it a B overall.
I've often wondered about Kathleen Eagle's books. I could have sworn I had a couple in my TBR but can't find them. Glad you like her skill. I'll watch for one to pull me in.
Jill: I think this story might have worked better as a Super - although I still think the execution would have needed some work even with the added 50-60 pages. Sigh, and I LOVED Supers OMG. It broke my heart when Harlequin killed the line.
The angel story does sound creepy! Shudder...
Dorine: Eagle writes really interesting characters and she does angst well. This wasn't a bad story, it just really didn't fit my expectations for category romance.
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