Utter dreck

[baronessekat]

Dear all mighty. The book I just finished should not have been printed let alone sold to the mass market.

Jayne Ann Krentz "Raven's Prey". Now I admit that I like Romance. I like Jayne most times (though I much prefer her pseudonym Amanda Quick) But this book was beyond horrible

Not quite Nappy Buttocks but close.

The plot had potential. But there was no chemistry between the lead characters other than constant tention and bickering. They don't trust each other. They are always fighting each other and I see no evidence of this "charged passionate tension" between them.

He's a bully, an asshole and major dick head. She's a shrew, a primadonna and a bitch.

He won't listen to her, she is constantly making bitting snap judgements.

He thinks that after one night of get your rocks off that she belongs to him. He forces her to come to his home so she can be with him. She hates him.

Another night of not thinking above the gonads and suddenly she's in love with him.

Uh huh. Riiiiiiiiight.

I can deal with the sudden realizations of love and atraction, but this was ridiculous. There was no real evidence of any attraction up until they are in bed together and even then it seemed forced.

The climax that is supposed to bring the two leads together in the "I can't live without him/her" moment was almost an afterthought.

I should look to see when this one was written. I hope to high heaven that it's one of her VERY early books as I know she can write better. I'm certainly glad I didn't spend money on that book, but took it from mom's collection.

I"ll give it to dicea so that she can share the pain. What are best friends for?

Comments

[sabriel-0405.livejournal.com]

Ekat, what's the copyright on that book? Actually, I just looked it up, sort of. It's a reprint of a Silhouette Intimate Moment #21, when she wrote as Stephanie James. That puts the original copyright at roughly (actually exactly) 1983. 23 years ago. The whole romance genre has changed dramatically since then. That was written during a period of time where men betrayed no emotion and women weren't necessarily bright.

I always, always look at copyright dates for authors that I know have been in the business for a while. Most of the authors of Harlequin/Silhouette do not own the copyrights to their work so have no control over the reprints. Sandra Brown's early Loveswepts, which were not great to begin with, are being reprinted in hardcover. Talk about feeling ripped off.

While it's great to read an author's backlist, some things were meant to go out of print!

[baronessekat.livejournal.com]

I feel better now. Thank you.

I saw that it said "Writing as Stephanie James" and all I could think was "she should have left it under the other name and not claimed this one"

I hate to say that Mom was right about this book. Though when I took it from her I do recall having to talk her out of writing the author and complaining about the way men and women were portrayed.

Personally I normally don't have much if any issue with the dark brooding, barely verbal male and the somewhat narrow-sighted and oblivious female characters.

The thing about this book that got me was the lack of any real progression and natural flow for the "relationship". A offhanded "she realized she was in love with him from the moment she saw him walk into the cantina" was pretty much the extent of seeing her develop anything remotely romantic towards him even up to the final chapter and they are on their honeymoon.

There was some insight into him and how he had been wondering what the woman in the photograph he held was like and how he had spent the week looking for her and fantasizing about her. That at least made the reader understand how and why he reacted most of the ways he did.

I will say that the author has gotten better as she has progressed with her writing. I"m not ready to give up on her yet under her main writing name.

[sabriel-0405.livejournal.com]

I was a fan of hers back when she did write as Stephanie James. I am lukewarm about her now, mostly because for me, she's too predictable - but that's deliberate on her part rather than because of a lack of talent. My two favorites were two of her early single titles: Gift of Fire and Gift of Gold. Paranormals, both. Also Trust Me. All three of which are on my keeper shelves. Also Harlequin Temptation 146, The Family Way, which I never tire of rereading. They are all her own name, rather than her pseudonyms. I have the latest Amanda Quick to review in Audio. I loved the early ones, but have gotten bored.