Book Review: The Snow-Kissed Bride

Posted on | November 23, 2009 | No Comments

The Snow-Kissed Bride
Linda Goodnight
http://lindagoodnight.tripod.com

-

Note: Surprise! Have our Surprise Monday Romance Review Extravaganza Review #1.
These are all short reviews previously posted on GoodReads.com, re-written and expanded a little for our first Random Review Extravaganza.

I started reading this contemporary romance novel about the love of a rescue-dog trainer and a ranger to expand my education on romance novels, a genre which I’ve been determined to unravel. It was possibly the very worst place to start, unless one likes groans with her lols.

Gosh, what drivel.

Let me give you an example, which I think beautifully and succinctly captures the main problem:

John showed her the other kids and then photos of his entire family, telling funny stories from childhood. Melody found herself laughing along with him.

John North was a pretty fun guy.

He was a pretty fun guy.

Somehow I still managed to loathe him. Perhaps this is just me. The hero in the very first romance I ever read, The Wicked Ways of a Duke by Laura Lee Guhrke, was ridiculous, but this guy is so red-white-and-blue that, it must be admitted, it makes me want to barf. To each her own, though, so if you like your men ex-military with rippling muscles and conservative values, it’s not my place to judge.

However, it IS my place to judge plain bad writing. Ms Goodnight may well have had her Romance Writing 101 course. There is the past trauma, the trust issue and the irresistable pull the couple feel towards each other, there are the heroine’s unlikely eyes and strange beauty and the hero’s rippling muscles. The first kiss, the first (however abortive) sexing and the perilous situation all occur on cue. What the author lacks is a grasp of descriptive language and the art of suggesting rather than telling. John and Melody laugh together, but we don’t get to get in on the joke.

To further compare Goodnight and Guhrke, who I’m beginning to think of as the best of all the romance authors I’ve read (which admittedly is not saying much), both authors over-use the word “masculine”, but where Laura Lee Guhrke overused “golden masculine beauty” and “luscious”, Linda Goodnight overuses “sexy”. That should tell you something. Also, her heroine has silvery eyes with gold flecks, which the hero notices from across the room. Because you can so see a person’s eye colour from across the room, and her eyes could never be something as ordinary as “grey”.

This was one of the worst books I’ve ever read. I know popular fiction isn’t supposed to be high art, but this is just ridiculous.

Rating 3.00 out of 5
Category: 0 Stars, Reviews, Reviews - Books

Comments

Leave a Reply





  • Past Posts

  • Posts by Category

  • Subscribe

    RSS Get subscribers Dreamwidth Livejournal Twitter

  • RSS Kivitasku Photography

  • RSS Kivitasku's Dreamwidth

  • RSS Our Merchandise

  • Sponsored Links

  • [Google]

  • Blog Listing Sites

    A Most Curious Blog - Blogged
    Blog Directory
    BlogCatalog
    Bloggernity
    BlogFlux