HNS Reviews - May 2010
SEDUCED BY A ROGUE
by Amanda Scott (9780446541343)
In fourteenth-century Scotland, clan tensions are brewing. When Robert Maxwell meets with a local baron to coax his loyalty to Clan Maxwell, he finds no success—but he does find an instant attraction to the baron's beautiful heiress, Mairi. When further negotiations prove fruitless, Robert kidnaps Mairi to force her father's hand. But the brash move does not go as planned; not only does Mairi's father still refuse to submit, but Mairi is no ordinary pawn, and the chemistry between her and Rob proves stronger than either of them imagined. But can it survive a clan war?
The plot and dialogue are standard for the genre, and descriptions of historical place and time are meticulous. The heroine is spunky yet delicate; the hero has a heart of gold; and after an unhurried start the abduction picks up the pace, leading to a clever and unconventional ending. Though the title suggests unbridled passion, there's not much of either seduction or roguishness here; readers looking for something dangerous and racy may be disappointed, but fans of a more subdued and genteel kind of romance will be pleased.
LOUISA MAY ALCOTT: THE WOMAN BEHIND LITTLE WOMEN
by Harriet Reisen (9780805082999)
In this absorbing biography, Harriet Reisen examines the intriguing life of Louisa May Alcott. Written in an engaging narrative that keeps the pages turning, the book covers not only Alcott but also her parents, siblings, and family friends (including Emerson and Thoreau) to provide a multi-faceted view of a woman in the context of her place and time—from her birth into genteel poverty to a free-spirited but long-suffering mother and an eccentric Transcendentalist father; through an uncomfortable and often downright bizarre childhood; to her life as a single woman and her hard-won success as a writer of pulp fiction, poetry, romance, and finally her great masterpiece, Little Women and its sequels. Incorporating journal and diary entries, letters, and poems, and including analyses of Alcott's published and unpublished work, Reisen creates an insightful and enlightening look at a writer who influenced so many, and how very much her art imitated her life. Highly recommended.
THE EDGE OF RUIN
Irene Fleming (9780312575205)
In the early days of film production, competition between movie companies often resembled gang warfare; with every new start-up ruthlessly harassed by Thomas Edison's hired enforcers, the silent movie industry was dangerous business. In 1909 another entrepreneur joins the fray: Adam Weiss sells everything he owns and drags his bemused new wife Emily along to start up a production company. At first thinking her husband has lost his marbles, Emily quickly discovers she loves the movie business, and together they assemble a crew to begin their first film. The group evades Edison's detectives a few times and are feeling rather smug—but then one of those detectives is murdered on set, and Adam is arrested for the crime. Now Emily has some very big problems: she must find the killer and exonerate her husband; she must evade the dead man's vengeful cronies; and most of all, she must keep those cameras rolling.
Filled with period details that don't smother the prose, and with few historical quibbles (one being the use of "Red Menace" before WWI), THE EDGE OF RUIN is a short novel that's as zippy and clever as its heroine, racing along with sharp writing and plenty of humor. Emily is a smart, likeable character, capable and creative; Adam is not so sympathetic, but the story belongs to Emily. An ensemble of colorful supporting characters and an energetic pace make for a satisfying mystery read. Recommended—except maybe to fans of Thomas Edison.
NO WILL BUT HIS
by Sarah A. Hoyt (9780425232514)
Of all Henry VIII's wives, perhaps none is so equally dismissed and pitied as Katherine Howard, the child bride executed for her indiscretion. In her new novel Sarah Hoyt revisits the notion that, rather than a vacuous nymphet or lovesick teenager, Katherine was an uneducated but world-wise girl who did what she had to in order to survive. Fate plays a large role in the novel—it plucks Katherine from her siblings and deposits her in the Duchess of Norfolk's dormitory of damsels gone wild; it teaches her harsh lessons about the difference between love and lust; and it raises her from obscurity to the bedroom of the king, who in his own way is as love-starved and unlucky as Katherine. Finally, the first man fate brought into her life is destined to enter it again, this time with disastrous results.
Before her marriage Katherine is a passive character, naïve, gullible, and often clueless; but when Henry proposes to her she becomes a woman of the world, jaded, cynical, determined to outsmart fate and control her own destiny. The transformation is a bit jarring, but her fondness for Henry is convincing and quite sweet. The historical detail is well done throughout, and the timeline feels thoroughly researched but for a few mythic elements added for romantic effect. Hoyt's Katherine is neither tramp nor ingénue but a former country bumpkin doing what she must to get by in a man's world. Whether that argument succeeds is up to the reader, but NO WILL BUT HIS stands as a romantic tragedy of an ill fated girl who rose to the greatest height and fell just as dramatically.
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