Brockway Connie, and Christina Dodd - Once Upon a Pillow
Wed, Mar. 10th, 2004 11:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterI could immediately tell the Regency period story was Connie Brockway's.
The other three are kind of meh, and I am sad, but my dislike of Christina Dodd continues to be justified. Mostly I just got this because I was at the airport, realized I only had half of The King of Elfland's Daughter and Crusie category to finish, and that would be maybe four hundred pages total. Definitely not enough for my flight. And this one looked like a surer bet than getting JoAnn Ross or etc.
The book's four short stories framed around the famous Masterson bed, and it begins with Brockway's story set in the medieval period. It's ok, but it doesn't quite hit my buttons, and it suffers from, well, being a short story. I don't know. I've never quite found a good romance short that really worked for me, I think because the characterization and the tension and the love really needs some sort of length to get established for me. Also, there's the problem with medieval dialogue... while I like reading about the period, the whole knights and Saracen prisons thing can get kind of old. But! The knight is a Nice Guy despite Saracen prison, which is more than can be said about most heroes, and I like Nice Guys. They are sorely lacking in most romances. So while it wasn't a stunning short, it was happy and warm and kind of funny. However, points off for the mention of "male nipples."
The next one, set during the Elizabethan period, not so good. It had one of those heroines I really dislike, and while I didn't quite dislike Helwin the way I dislike most of her type (maybe because of length again), I was really not incredibly enthusiastic reading about how she wins over Rion Masterson's household and cooks for them and cleans and makes life wonderful and a domestic paradise! *rolls eyes* I generally do not like wide-eyed innocent heroines who create warmth and happiness wherever they go out of their sheer existence.
The last one finishes up the framing story (a tour guide regaling stories about the bed) with the tour guide's love story, which is frankly, pretty dumb. I feel like I am not really spoiling anything when it turns out her love interest is *gasp* a Masterson (who woulda thunk). Plus, a really weird sideplot on stolen antiques from the Masterson Manor. And the guy falls in love with her and proposes marriage after a night of sex or something. Of course, he highly regrets that he has deflowered possibly the only twenty-three year old virgin in England (here I roll my eyes again -- is virginity that big of a deal these days?) and is a gentleman and offers to marry her. Excuse me? This is supposed to be the present day, yes? I mean, I'm sure people do this, but... uhh... yeah. Plus, the sex scene is really bad. And then they get married! What? I know Crusie characters get married after a week or so in general, but you know, I at least have had two hundred some pages of time to spend with them, as opposed to under a hundred. And then they have sex without protection and it's a giggly funny thing because when a Masterson sleeps with his twu wuv in that bed they inevitably conceieve a son nine months later.
Sorry. But it's supposed to be a contemporary! I read contemporaries so I don't have to deal with this stuff!
Highlight of the book was, as previously mentioned, Brockway's short set in the Regency. I think a lot of this was because we were walking in on a couple with significant backstory (as opposed to the tour guide's "significant backstory" of one night of sex), and hey, angst! I love angst. And it had the hero completely, head over heels in love with the heroine but afraid to let her know (otherwise known as the Rhett Butler syndrome), which is also my kink. Plus, chaining to the bed. Um. Okay, too revealing of my kinks ;). But the characters talked, and there was actual tension! Most romance shorts that I read tend not to have tension because it takes so long to develop and resolve. It worked here because the beginning of the story sounded a lot like an excerpt from a longer novel or something, which I appreciated. Unfortunately, it's all a Big Misunderstanding, and a particularly stupid one to boot, so the resolution left me with a rather sour taste in my mouth. Too bad it wasn't a real excerpt with loads of angst ala All Through the Night.
I have also read about ninety pages of Connie Brockway's new book My Seduction, and am dying to read it now. The hero looks like a genuinely nice and noble guy, plus, there's a completely guh exceprt at the end of this book in which he pledges obedience to the heroine. I like it when heroes are actually protective or something to the heroine instead of hauling her off her feet, or god forbid, spanking her, and otherwise manhandling her. That is not a hero to me.
The other three are kind of meh, and I am sad, but my dislike of Christina Dodd continues to be justified. Mostly I just got this because I was at the airport, realized I only had half of The King of Elfland's Daughter and Crusie category to finish, and that would be maybe four hundred pages total. Definitely not enough for my flight. And this one looked like a surer bet than getting JoAnn Ross or etc.
The book's four short stories framed around the famous Masterson bed, and it begins with Brockway's story set in the medieval period. It's ok, but it doesn't quite hit my buttons, and it suffers from, well, being a short story. I don't know. I've never quite found a good romance short that really worked for me, I think because the characterization and the tension and the love really needs some sort of length to get established for me. Also, there's the problem with medieval dialogue... while I like reading about the period, the whole knights and Saracen prisons thing can get kind of old. But! The knight is a Nice Guy despite Saracen prison, which is more than can be said about most heroes, and I like Nice Guys. They are sorely lacking in most romances. So while it wasn't a stunning short, it was happy and warm and kind of funny. However, points off for the mention of "male nipples."
The next one, set during the Elizabethan period, not so good. It had one of those heroines I really dislike, and while I didn't quite dislike Helwin the way I dislike most of her type (maybe because of length again), I was really not incredibly enthusiastic reading about how she wins over Rion Masterson's household and cooks for them and cleans and makes life wonderful and a domestic paradise! *rolls eyes* I generally do not like wide-eyed innocent heroines who create warmth and happiness wherever they go out of their sheer existence.
The last one finishes up the framing story (a tour guide regaling stories about the bed) with the tour guide's love story, which is frankly, pretty dumb. I feel like I am not really spoiling anything when it turns out her love interest is *gasp* a Masterson (who woulda thunk). Plus, a really weird sideplot on stolen antiques from the Masterson Manor. And the guy falls in love with her and proposes marriage after a night of sex or something. Of course, he highly regrets that he has deflowered possibly the only twenty-three year old virgin in England (here I roll my eyes again -- is virginity that big of a deal these days?) and is a gentleman and offers to marry her. Excuse me? This is supposed to be the present day, yes? I mean, I'm sure people do this, but... uhh... yeah. Plus, the sex scene is really bad. And then they get married! What? I know Crusie characters get married after a week or so in general, but you know, I at least have had two hundred some pages of time to spend with them, as opposed to under a hundred. And then they have sex without protection and it's a giggly funny thing because when a Masterson sleeps with his twu wuv in that bed they inevitably conceieve a son nine months later.
Sorry. But it's supposed to be a contemporary! I read contemporaries so I don't have to deal with this stuff!
Highlight of the book was, as previously mentioned, Brockway's short set in the Regency. I think a lot of this was because we were walking in on a couple with significant backstory (as opposed to the tour guide's "significant backstory" of one night of sex), and hey, angst! I love angst. And it had the hero completely, head over heels in love with the heroine but afraid to let her know (otherwise known as the Rhett Butler syndrome), which is also my kink. Plus, chaining to the bed. Um. Okay, too revealing of my kinks ;). But the characters talked, and there was actual tension! Most romance shorts that I read tend not to have tension because it takes so long to develop and resolve. It worked here because the beginning of the story sounded a lot like an excerpt from a longer novel or something, which I appreciated. Unfortunately, it's all a Big Misunderstanding, and a particularly stupid one to boot, so the resolution left me with a rather sour taste in my mouth. Too bad it wasn't a real excerpt with loads of angst ala All Through the Night.
I have also read about ninety pages of Connie Brockway's new book My Seduction, and am dying to read it now. The hero looks like a genuinely nice and noble guy, plus, there's a completely guh exceprt at the end of this book in which he pledges obedience to the heroine. I like it when heroes are actually protective or something to the heroine instead of hauling her off her feet, or god forbid, spanking her, and otherwise manhandling her. That is not a hero to me.