Review: A Treasure Worth Seeking

I've been on a bit of a Sandra Brown tear lately and, as I'm wont to do with an author who got their start writing category romances, I asked for recommendations.  Steve Ammidown from Romance Fiction Has a History recommended A Treasure Worth Seeking, which was originally published in 1982 as Candlight Ecstasy #59 (Brown's first editor was THE Vivian Stephens!) under her first pen name, Rachel Ryan. If anything, Steve undersold this one. Not only is it a ride featuring all the bananapants you could possibly hope for in a 1982 category romance, it's a really interesting book in a "history of the genre" sort of way.

Spoilers Ahoy! Look, you've had since 1982....

Erin O'Shea is in San Francisco because she has finally found her long lost brother. Erin and her brother were adopted, separately, as children, Ken being a toddler, Erin only an infant. The man who greets her at the door is strikingly handsome and sure he doesn't resemble her all that much, but she's just so excited to finally meet Ken! That is until "Ken" lays the mother of all smoldering kisses on her.

Ken is, of course, not Ken. He's Lance Barrett, Treasury Agent. Millions of dollars were embezzled from the bank where Ken works (his father-in-law is the bank president, talk about awkward!) and Ken, naturally, has vanished. The Treasury Department has set up camp in his home and the conveniently vacant home across the street hoping Ken will be in contact with his wife. Frankly Erin's story stinks to high heaven. A gorgeous, young thing with a preposterous story.  Lance, in true 1982 Romance Hero Fashion, behaves accordingly from the punishing kiss, to patting her down, to telling her she can't leave until they verify her "story."

Erin's story is verified in short order, but she's not about to leave her sweet, frankly naïve, sister-in-law to the sharks, especially since her parents are simply vile. She's about as happy to spend more time in Lance's company as he is hers, and we're soon off to the races with a - not an Enemy to Lovers trope necessarily, more like a Instant Dislike Yet I Still Want to Climb You Like a Jungle Gym trope.

Let's get this out of the way up front - 1982. When you're reading a romance of this age you just need to be prepared for some problematic crap.  Lance has swings of wild jealousy, mostly related to Erin being sort of engaged (it's complicated).  She slaps him. He manhandles her. He doesn't rape her but in the heat of a physical argument she can't help but start swooning 🙄.  Yes, it's problematic. Is it the most egregious example of this kind of nonsense I've read in other romances with a much younger pedigree? Not even close. 

Original Cover

Where it's really interesting, besides the completely bananapants set-up, is with the risks Brown takes with the story.  There's a few scenes told from Lance's point of view, which was BEYOND rare for romances published during this period. It just wasn't done.  It's just a couple of scenes, but baby steps y'all.  Also, per the author's note, this is the first book where Brown slipped in a sort of suspense thread. It isn't a suspense thread in the traditional sense, we never really find out why Ken did what he did and the resolution to that aspect of the story, while a little surprising (in a good way!), isn't much of a brain teaser. 

Finally, abortion is actually mentioned. In case you didn't think the plot set-up was bananapants enough, Erin is, naturally, a virgin widow and after riding Lance like a stallion she ends up pregnant. Of course abortion is dismissed as quickly as it's brought up.  Erin is Catholic and immediately dismisses it as something she just "couldn't do" but there's also not any judgement towards "sluts" who may choose otherwise. Heck, just abortion being mentioned on page was kind of jaw-dropping, not gonna lie.

Would I recommend this book like I would recommend a book with a more current publication date? No - at least not without a list of caveats. That said, if you're interested in the trajectory of Brown's career or just the overall history of the romance genre, this was a really interesting book. Better still? It had enough of the bananapants to be a quick, entertaining read.

Grade = B