Heroes Are My Weakness

I wanted to like it. And while I don\’t think Jane Eyre is the happiest of stories, I still have always enjoyed that classic tale. The premise of a reclusive writer and a down-on-her-luck actress meeting up in a Maine winter, I thought I could totally get into. And yet, I so couldn\’t. The \”hero\” comes off as a thug from the heroine\’s childhood who had a history of terrifying her and treating her badly. And as they meet up again (#1. that doesn\’t really change), and (#2.) it\’s questionable whether he\’s a horror writer basing his novels on his experiences, or whether he\’s a psycho-killer. That\’s bad. But what makes it worse is that the heroine is still attracted and drawn to this train wreck. As a reader, I look for stories that don\’t encourage engaging in destructive (and potentially fatal) relationships. It\’s possible an author could take this story\’s basic premise and make it work, but this is not that tale.

First let me say that SEP is one of my favorite authors: I have all her books in hard copy as well as on Kindle so they can travel with me. I didn\’t read this one right away as I was holding on to it for just the right time when I needed to escape. She is my go-to author when I need a boost and I have reread the Stars and Ain\’t She Sweet, Breathing Room, Hot Shot, etc. over and over. But lately SEP\’s books have been less compelling (not bad, just not great) and this one is quite simply unreadable. I can\’t believe I am saying this about my heroine\’s work! But seriously, the H/h are dull, no snappy and intelligent dialogue, there is no humor, no joy and nothing to make it worth the time it took to read it. People have different feelings about puppets in general (a bit like the feelings about clowns) and I am generally neutral, but in this book I found the whole puppet thing downright creepy. In fact, I was ready to quit before the hero ever came on the scene, that is how distasteful they were. Only loyalty to this heretofore great author kept me going. The list of problems with this book could go on but I will stop as others have done so and I agree with their take. If you are a first-time SEP reader, I strongly recommend you NOT start with this one. In fact, stay away from this one, as it is sure to turn you off SEP\’s other books and that would be a crime. If you are already a SEP fan, prepare for a big disappointment.

I need to ‘fess up here: I’m not a fan of puppets or ventriloquists. As far as I’m concerned ventriloquists and mimes are about as entertaining as listening to elevator music. What does any of this have to do with a Romance book you ask? Well, the heroine in this story is a ventriloquist/puppeteer, and it’s treated like she’s got this super-awesome talent. She just seemed dorky and annoying to me. Annie Hewitt has hit a dead-end. At 33 she has to accept that her acting career is never going to get off the ground, she’s deeply in debt and physically ill. She arrives on tiny Peregrine Island (off the coast of Maine) in the middle of winter during a snowstorm. She’s hoping to find something of value in the cottage that her late mother used live in. What she finds is no heat or electricity. Things go downhill from there. Theo Harp was Annie’s stepbrother for about 5 minutes twenty years ago, and he’s nothing but a bad memory to Annie. Unfortunately, he’s now her neighbor on the island. Funny thing is, Theo is all grown up and not as creepy has he used to be…or is he? I’m not reading a lot in the Romance genre these days, but since I really enjoyed Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ “Chicago Stars” series I figured I’d give this book a shot. Well, it’s not in the same league as those books, but it’s entertaining (if slightly odd). Annie’s character loves classic Gothic Romance books and this story is something of homage to “Rebecca” or “Jane Eyre”, and I thought that was pretty clever. There’s a surprising darkness to this story, with all the main characters having tragic pasts and the setting is gloomy and mostly depressing. I never warmed up to Annie. The author goes on and on about how gawky she looks, and while I have nothing against a plain heroine, Annie just sounded goofy. Add to that the fact that she carries her puppets EVERYWHERE SHE GOES (!!) and in her head they “talk” to her…well, it just sounded like a character that Fred Armisen would play in “Portlandia”! I can just picture him with a Raggedy Anne wig on his head bouncing around talking to puppets. How am I supposed to believe that Theo, Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome, is attracted to Annie? Good grief! But all is not lost. Despite the dorky heroine and the unconvincing romance, the writing is good. There’s a little suspense/mystery that kept me interested and I was eager to find out what Theo’s backstory was. If nothing else you have to give the author credit for coloring outside the lines with this one! Occasional swearing/strong language and moderate sexual content (nothing particularly explicit)

I really enjoyed this creepy and intense story. I a little surprised I like it as much as I do, as I\’m not so into atmospheric horror. The setting, characters, and backstory are totally over the top in terms of melodrama and is something really different than most contemporary romances. Another difference I particularly like, the heroine is constantly saving herself, far to many romances talk about how a strong a heroine is, nice to have it shown. An excellent read for a dark and stormy night. One more thing, some reviewers have wrote about the fairly straightforward townspeople, that they are missing the laughs you often get from those characters. I really like that the town folks are not caricatures of wacky neighbors. I don\’t usually enjoy the lusty octogenarians and shoplifting septuagenarians you often find populating the small towns of romance novels, I\’m glad she wrote them more subdued.

This novel caught me by surprise, given the mixed reviews, but I enjoyed both characters and their chemistry and sense of humour. Some parts of the plot concerning their pasts could have been better worked, but the intrigues and atmosphere of the characters in the present are very enjoyable.

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