Review: The Rana Look

The Sandra Brown tear continues, this time with a book recommended by friend of the blog, and TBR Challenge participant, Eurohackie. The Rana Look is another of Brown's category romances, published as Loveswept #136 in 1986. Even with a preposterous plot I was surprised how well this one held up, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's still a forty-year-old category romance. While in some ways this was a step forward, there were still plenty of steps taken backwards.

Rana Ramsey is a successful model who chucked aside the glitz and glamor of the lifestyle thanks to a stage mother from hell. When the straw breaks the camel's back, she heads south to Galveston, Texas where she's renting an apartment from an elderly landlady and supporting herself as a textile artist. However thanks to her unique look, to stay truly hidden and away from the prying eyes of the public, she takes to disguising herself with frumpy, oversized clothes, tinted glasses, no make-up, and she's started eating like a normal person, so she's put on about twenty pounds. Life is going well for Rana until her landlady's nephew arrives to upset the apple cart. 

Trent Gamblin (no, I am not making that up...) is an NFL quarterback who has a few weeks until spring training and his injured shoulder just isn't healing properly.  The problem is his lifestyle. Trent is Mr. Good Time, partying and playing it up in Houston, women falling at his feet, the world being his oyster. Now on the wrong side of thirty, he knows his playing days are numbered and he wants to go out on his own terms. Which means getting out of Houston, away from temptation, and nursing that shoulder. His aunt has a vacant apartment in Galveston, that seems like a solid plan - until he meets Rana who he knows as "Miss Ramsey" and then "Ana."

Rana hits the ground running in the prickly department. Frankly she starts out as bit of a over-sensitive bitch, and then you realize why she's like that. She takes one look at Trent and just KNOWS the type of guy he is. The ego on this guy is amazing. He's used to women falling all over themselves and here's dowdy spinster Miss Ramsey who looks like she stepped in something smelly every time she's around him. So, naturally, because he's a jerk and bored he thinks he'll get his jollies by seducing the spinster - that is until Rana calls him out on ALL his bullshit and seriously just read this book if only for that scene (Chapter 3, you're welcome).

Original Cover

After this dressing down our couple settles into a friendship, even though Trent freely admits he has no clue how to be friends with a woman. To that end, our guy is still far from perfect, he throws out the requisite "prude" and "frigid" insults when Rana doesn't fall right into bed with him, but at least he has the good sense to apologize (a couple of times actually) over the course of this book realizing what a jerk he's been. Also there's a fantastic scene at the end where one of his teammates dresses him down for using Rana to prop up his own male ego. The word "fragile" is actually thrown back in Trent's face which was so very delicious.

Of course these two have more in common then they first realize because Rana is hiding her true identity. She's never had any genuine affection in her life, no one being capable of seeing past her looks to get to know the real person. Trent's worth is wrapped up entirely in his ability to throw a football, what happens when he's put out to pasture before he even hits 40?  

Brown says some interesting things about youth and beauty culture in this book that feel downright progressive for 1986, but that doesn't mean there's still not plenty of grossness.  Rana's 5'9" and at the height of her career she was 110 lbs. Then when she starts eating more than just lettuce and water, she puts on 20 lbs. Folks, maybe it's because I'm 5'9" that I spent this entire book wondering how Rana was able to stand upright and be conscious.  At my skinniest I weighed in at about 125 lbs, had the figure of a No. 2 pencil, and was passing out from iron deficiency anemia. I mean, no two bodies are the same and modeling is, well, modeling but c'mon. Also, I'm not gonna lie, I felt some kind of way when a waitress at a Mexican restaurant Trent and Rana go to is described as "fat." 

Trent truly does seem to fall for Rana in her dowdy Ana disguise, but naturally when the truth comes out he gets all up in his man fee-fees, which just leads credence to the idea that it's all about stroking his ego and having a woman at his side who may just possibly outshine him gets him all butt-hurt. 

So, yes, this is very interesting but it was still 1986. However to liven up some of that grossness we are regaled with some fantastic fashion descriptions, right down to Trent wearing cut-off jean shorts and midriff baring T-shirts while working out 😂.

As much as I loved the completely over-the-top bananapants of A Treasure Worth Seeking, I feel like this one works slightly better because while the supermodel living as a spinster trope is equally as absurd, there's not a piling on of the bananapants.  Sometimes less is indeed more.

Final Grade = B