The main problem for me was that I was expecting it to be similar to a Katherine Allred book. Sigh. It so wasn’t.

The book had the potential to be wonderful, but unfortunately, it kind of read like somebody’s English homework. The story didn’t engage me whatsoever, the characters left me cold, and to top it all off, it was a little bit amateurish. I found out later that it was the author’s first book. Sadly, you could tell.

The heroine was an ex plus-size catalogue model called Tara, and the hero was supposedly, a tortured soul called Brent. I say supposedly, because as it happens even though his wife and child had been killed in an accident, I had no sympathy for him whatsoever. His character wasn’t developed well enough for me to care about him.

The basis of this story seemed to be one tragedy after another, and I couldn’t help but feel that the author was desperately trying to draw some deep feeling from me as the reader, thus the hackneyed plots.

The obvious attempt to manipulate and elicit my sympathy and empathy failed miserably. For me personally, the writing seemed to lack genuine feeling, and I felt that the author herself didn’t connect with her own characters well enough to persuade the reader to want to fight their corner.

The conflict that should have had me bawling into my cornflakes merely left me wondering why the hell the hero just didn’t get a grip.

Oh and something else, from the moment they first met, the author seemed desperate to emphasize the passion and ‘lust’ that raged between the lead characters. In every scene where the characters were together, it seemed that the hero’s lust was referenced every second paragraph. The problem? I just didn’t buy it.

As readers, we were supposed to believe that every time the hero looked at the heroine, all he could think about was laying her down and doing her six ways to Sunday, but it just didn’t ring true, I didn’t come away feeling that this was the great love of his life, I just felt that he needed to get laid badly.

I also found that some of the dialogue was overly long. For instance When the hero tells the heroine about the tragedy that was his life, it was done so in a paragraph that lasted more than half a page without pause. Where was the suspense, where was the heartbreak? MIA that’s where.

The good points? I don’t profess to be in the diplomatic corps, so I’m sure you wont be surprised to hear me say that there weren’t any as far as I was concerned. I was prepared to LOVE this book, but unfortunately, it just didn’t live up to my expectations.

Whilst in Covent Garden, I picked up three of JD Robb’s ‘In Death’ books, a Laura Kinsale offering, and Christine Feehan’s Dark Gold.

We drove back home late on Saturday evening because we were due to attend a christening on Sunday morning.

The Christening on Sunday was lovely, the baby looked too cute for words, and was really good even when the water was poured over his head. He was an absolute darling!

After the Christening, Paul and went to our gym for a swim. After that we went to the park because it was too nice a day to stay in.

I took my new books along. I chose to read Christine Feehan’s Dark Gold first, and by page 40, I was wondering if the book was going to improve any time soon. By page 96, I was bored shitless, so I gave it up as a bad job, and decided to read Laura Kinsale’s Hidden Heart later. A much better idea as it turned out

I liked the story mainly because the hero and heroine were likeable, and also I think I’m a sucker for tortured heroes. Gryphon had more issues than Hello magazine, and I absolutely loved it.

The only negative thing for me, is that I learned way more about blockades and sea-faring than I ever wanted to know. Kinsale has a way of detailing every minute thing, and I’m afraid I’m one of those readers who just doesn’t need that much detail in her romance stories. On the whole though, it was a very enjoyable read.

I hope you all had a good weekend too.