Kay Thorpe

A whole bunch of WTFery here. I've recently been enjoying some Kay Thorpe. This one was a total trainwreck. I expected the heroine to run away from the cruel hero at least 4 times. My jaw dropped continually when she didn't leave him. I mean he just gutted her feelings over and over. And the next day she'd be right back for more. And then the whole cheating with his brother thing. They didn't have sex sure but they did a bunch of kissing and planning to get married after she had her marriage annulled. That's cheating. The hero rapes the heroine on finding out all this stuff and here again I think surely this is where she leaves him but no. As per HP guidelines he immediately "makes love" with her again to prove "it's not always like that" and of course she loves it. More misunderstandings and cheating with the brother ensue. At the end the hero is all about I was attracted to you the first night I met you and that is why I let myself be blackmailed into marrying you. But if an author wants me to believe that then at that first meeting we should have seen at least some smoldering looks or indulgent conversations but there is absolutely NOTHING in that first scene to make me buy that he had fallen for her at first sight. Maybe they deserve each other.

It was a fun read though.… (more)

I want my 2 hours back. I'm going to put some spoilers in here so if you think this books sounds wonderful don't read on, but I'm not going to use the spoiler button since I don't think anyone really wants to read this stinker.

I can't believe I got to the end of the book and the hero never told the heroine that he loved her. He didn't even really insinuate it. He made no effort to compromise with her about how they were going to live after they married, just stole her child and took him half way around the world and left her a note saying if you ever want to see him again, you'll come to us and live your life sailing around the world on my boat.

The heroine had no back bone. She slept with him at the drop of a hat. She hadn't seen him in 5 years, hasn't told him about his son and he happens into her place of employment and follows her home, meets their son and takes her to bed. Tells her they're getting married, doesn't even tell her that he expects her to leave her life in England, kidnaps her child when she disagrees, then kidnaps her onto his boat. He tells her that he's taking her to some random island to convince her to stay with him. He never says that he missed her over the 5 years or even thought about her, doesn't offer any compromise and she just agrees because she loves him so much she knows they are destined to be together. Let me reiterate. At no time do any words of love pass his lips. Lame, lame, lame.… (more)

I bought a bunch of old Harlequins for the covers to do an art project but I thought what the hey? I'll read a few of them before I take the covers off. So this one has a theme I like of a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness where the hero and heroine have to walk out. This story is very much a product of its times. The man was 33, very domineering and know it all. The girl was a childish 20. She kept acting like a cry baby and a bitchy quitter then kept getting pissed and telling the hero off for treating her like a child. Many of these older books you don't see any clear progression of 2 people falling in love. They just suddenly decide, between one sentence and the next, that they are. This relationship is not written as an equal partnership. This guy spent the entire book making the heroine do what he told her to do. He even spanked her once briefly. There were some vague bits that I think might have been attributable to the fact that in the 70s everyone would have understood the inferences. Things like what would constitute sexual teasing by the heroine which would drive the hero to attack her with punishing kisses. Maybe I didn't get it because to me, what she said was nothing at all. Maybe it's just poor writing. I think I've read other books written in during the early 70s that were better.

So to resolve this issue, I will read some more of these oldies I bought for art and let you know.… (more)