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Book Reviews - Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction - By an Adult for Adults

Devon Interlude Vintage Romance by Kay Thorpe

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Kay Thorpe’s Harlequin Romances have bossy men and ladies who stand up for themselves most of the time. Devon Interlude is one of the earliest novels she wrote for Harlequin, published in 1968, and it is a pleasant, easy to read story which, yes, does have her usual bossy guy and non-doormat girl.

After her play folds actress Gail goes to her brother’s home, an inn he is trying to make a go of, in rural Devon. Her brother and his wife had helped her to get started as an actress and Gail is aware she owes them big time and feels guilty because she let the odd letter substitute for visits. In fact her brother has been very ill but didn’t want to worry Gail so she does not know.

In typical Harlequin fashion the first person Gail meets on her way home is her bother’s best friend Mark, who makes no bones about his contempt for her. He accuses her of coming only to get more money from brother Steve, tries to shame her for being uncaring and distant and offers a check, presumably so she won’t bother Steve and wife Carol. Gail is furious with Mark but is honest enough to admit she has been at fault not coming to visit or even to do much to keep in touch with Steve and Carol.

Steve and Carol’s inn is not doing well. They are “foreigners”, outsiders to the closed neighborhood and the locals don’t patronize the inn nor are they able to get tourist traffic. Gail takes responsibility to find them much increased custom when she makes a deal with a tour bus operator in a nearby town. He will bring people to see a local attraction, then stop at the inn for dinner or drinks. This works great and Steve and Carol are pleased and happy their financial situation might improve.

Gail works evenings at the inn and meets a couple younger men who suggest she get involved with the local drama club which they claim is significantly better than the average amateur group. She is a little reluctant but agrees to step in when the lady playing the lead in the play they are rehearsing has to quit. She is impressed with the script and quality of the acting but nearly quits when she realizes that Mark is directing the play.

Mark apologizes for offering her the check and Gail agrees to start fresh with him. They go to the beach and spend time together and Gail realizes she is nearly over the infatuation she had with Paul, an actor she worked with several years. She’s not quite ready to fall for Mark though.

Right about this time Sandra, a neighbor makes it clear she’s targeting Mark and Paul shows up to try and convince Gail to go with him and an acting company to tour Australia. Gail realizes she’s quite happy away from the theater but doesn’t want to stick around and see Sandra and Mark get married. The next thing that happens is that the man who plays the lead opposite Gail in the play gets ill and Mark steps in. Gail delivers a passionate and truthful love avowal in the opening night performance and Mark and she both admit their love and agree to marry.

The conflicts in Devon Interlude are understated. Gail isn’t terribly emotional nor does she brood about Mark or Paul or Sandra. She is slow to realize she is falling in love with Mark – she’s a little afraid since she has just realized she never really loved Paul and doesn’t want to make another mistake. As she’s facing up to her heart she sees Sandra and thinks she cannot compete. Sandra isn’t obviously nasty, unlike some Other Women in later romances, but she is clear that Mark is hers and that Gail is no competition. Neither girl seems to realize that Mark is going to decide Mark’s future!

The family relationships between Steve, Carol and Gail are well done with a light touch that shows how much each values the others without having Gail wallow in guilt. Mark too has some family issues (don’t we all?) and Gail is surprised to see the animosity between Mark and his father.

Overall Devon Interlude is a happy story without a lot of the usual nastiness we see in some Harlequins. Mark is a reasonable person who willingly admits he was too fast to judge Gail and Gail is willing to admit she neglected her family and that Mark, although he was rude and made vile comments, is willing to find a way to get along with Gail since her brother is his very good friend.

Kay Thorpe is a good writer and this is a good story with people who feel like they could be real.

3 Stars

I got my copy from Thriftbooks and other used book sites and eBay likely will have copies as does Amazon.

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Betrayal in Bali – Intense Romance by Sally Wentworth

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Betrayal in Bali is one of my two or three favorite romance novels and every time I read it I am in awe of the author’s skill with strong emotions. Here Sally Wentworth converts betrayal to love and makes us believe it.

Characters and Plot Synopsis

Gael Markham’s brother in law skids on ice driving her home and hits an oncoming car, killing the two people in the other car. Gael takes the blame for the accident to protect her brother in law from losing his job.

A few weeks later Leo Kane meets Gael at the gallery where she works. He works for an international construction company and is home for a 3 month leave. He takes her to lunch, they date, she falls in love. Leo is older, more experienced, doesn’t show much physical attraction to Gael, nor does he tell her he loves her, yet dates her steadily. One weekend they go sailing and Leo asks her to drive home but she refuses, citing the fact she lost her license after an accident. He presses her on the accident and Gael won’t talk about it, “It’s nothing.” (She still has nightmares about the crash.)

Leo goes on holiday for 5 weeks and Gael realizes she needs to get over him. Then he returns to London and proposes. He will be in Bali to supervise a huge hospital construction project and wants her with him. He says, “I said I would give you a ring” when I get back.

The marry three weeks later just before their flight to Indonesia. Leo acts a little odd, abstracted, lost in thought during dinner when they arrive on Bali. When he comes to her bedroom he viciously tells Gael he won’t consummate the marriage, that he hated having to kiss and touch her, married her only because she killed his fiancée with her drunk driving, that she owes him, that he must have a wife for this job and she can jolly well play the part.

This brutal rejection devastates Gael, she tries to assert her innocence, and demands Leo let her leave. Unfortunately he got a joint passport and she has no money and cannot leave without him. The next day she’s rude to local queen bee Norah, claims she will continue to be rude until Leo lets her go. Leo threatens Gael physically and emotionally in private then turns into Mr. Sweet when they go to Norah’s for dinner, calls her darling, holds her. Gael proposes a bargain with him when they get back home. She will act the company wife for 6 months and Leo will treat her with some basic consideration, let her leave afterwards, then get the marriage annulled. They agree.

Leo continues to treat her with contempt in private, affectionately in public and Gael is emotionally devastated, bored, lonely, barely able to function after parties where Leo pretends to care. She can’t bring herself to socialize with the other wives after Leo rejected her so thoroughly and there is nothing to do, nowhere to go. About a month later she discovers there are bikes on Bali; she asks the servants to sell her camera and buy a bike for her, which allows her freedom to leave the tiny yard and house. She sketches the local scenes and slowly heals from the emotional shock.

About 6 weeks after they arrive in Bali Gael discovers a secluded plantation house on its private beach just a mile from their bungalow and is delighted with the place. Dirk Vanderman, an Australian now returned to Bali, surprises her there and agrees to rent her a room in the house she can use for a studio to paint. They get along great for about 3 weeks, work separately all day, take swim breaks and eat picnic lunches together.

Gael slowly recovers her confidence and joy in life and Leo comments she is eating and looks better, Gael tells him that she has gotten over his betrayal, that he no longer has the power to hurt her. He asks her to accompany him to a country club dinner dance. Gael agrees to go, stating it is only to fulfill her bargain. Leo says it doesn’t have to be like that any more, that he hadn’t realized how much he would hurt her, indicates he’s ready to have a more normal relationship, to stop hating each other. Gael loved Leo intensely and now must either hate or love, she cannot be indifferent and she refuses to love.

Dirk sees her at the dance and the next day talks her into going with him to tour some artist enclaves on Bali. Gael sees Nora, who has never forgiven Gael for snubbing her, and tries to leave unseen instead of greeting her. Of course Norah sees them together and tells Leo. Leo confronts Gael and accuses her of having an affair. He forcibly kisses her and tries to make her admit she hopped into bed with Dirk. Gael denies it, tells him to believe what he wants, she doesn’t really care as she vowed never to let a man touch her after Leo lied and cheated.

The next scene is the emotional turning point. Gael decides she cannot keep going to Dirk’s house to paint any more, even though she knows she will hurt even worse if she quits, bikes over, packs up her painting materials at the plantation house and is nearly ready to leave when Dirk comes and suggests they go swimming one last time. Leo comes as she gets her bikini off the balcony, sees her in her underwear and is enraged, dashes up the stairs. Terrified Gael shouts for Dirk and runs out, still in her underwear and Dirk holds her a second. Leo yells at him to take his hands off his wife. They hit each other and Gael tries to break it up but Leo can’t pull his punch and hits her in the face. She falls down the steps unconscious.

At the hospital Gael is still terrified and refuses to see Leo. Dirk hops through the window to see her and asks her to leave Leo and come to him, that he’s in love with her; Gael replies he’s a wonderful friend, but only a friend and that she can’t leave Leo yet. Leo forces his way to see her, tells her that all his bitterness and anger left when he saw her fall down the stairs, that he wants to try again, to start over as they were in London. Gael says bully for him, but she still lives in her hell and all she wants is to leave.

To us readers it starts looking as though Leo begins to care for Gael. Two weeks earlier he indicated he was no longer fiercely angry with her, that he could begin again, and now, after putting her in the hospital, reiterates this. Gael does not believe him whatsoever. When she leaves hospital Leo takes her out, they spend time together, explore the island, act as a couple. Gael doesn’t trust this and tries to pick fights but Leo works hard to control his temper and reactions, treats her as a wife, forces togetherness. Leo offers Gael the job of to design and select the art display for the new hospital. It’s a dream job that she is reluctant to accept.

They attend an evening coming of age ceremony for their servants’ son. Afterwards Leo says he’s fallen in love with Gael. She’s indignant, accuses him of saying that only because people suspect he beat her up, doesn’t believe him. She can’t resist the job though and is happy doing what she loves.

A few evenings later a close lightening strike startles Gael and Leo comes in her room and tries to make love to her. She responds momentarily then shoves him away, stumbles across the room to get away. He says he’ll leave her alone that night, but that they will make love soon because she wants it too.

The entire island is as tense as Gael and Leo. The rains are late, people are nervous about the political situation and unrest and unemployment. There is a small riot that blows up the propane storage at the hospital construction site that frightens Gael. She’s getting ready to ride her bike over to see what’s going on when their servant Kartini asks her to help to get medical attention for their son, shot in the riot. Gael gets a driver and car from the hospital and goes with Kartini to pick up the boy. During all this the monsoons start and everyone and everything, including the car’s spark plugs, are drenched and muddy. She gets out several times on the short drive to move big sticks, stands in the mud to push the car and finally manages to get to Kartini’s home, pick up the boy, get the car to start up again (remember, 1980 cars weren’t as robust as today’s), and gets halfway back when they almost plow into a big tree that blocks the road. She and Kartini’s husband get out to chop off branches so they can remove the tree. They hear a car and go hide in the jungle.

Leo is driving the car, looking for Gael. He and she meet and he takes Kartini’s family to the hospital then takes Gael home and into the shower and into bed. Gael tells him then that she was not the driver in the accident that killed his fiancée, and he apologizes again. We leave as they begin to make love.

Why Betrayal In Bali Works

Gael is neither pushy nor a pushover. She recognizes how devastated Leo is from losing his fiancée and she even understand why he wants to punish her for it and force her to stay with him so he can keep his job. She might have agreed to stay as recompense had she truly caused Julia’s death but as it was she vehemently denied Leo had any right to lie and cheat and was adamant that she would learn to stop feeling hurt.

Gael is blunt, says what she means and states how she feels. When Leo courts her in London Gael is completely open about her feelings. After being gone 5 weeks Leo tells her he will leave for 3 years in Bali in just a few weeks. Gael doesn’t – can’t – hide how she feels. In Bali she tells Leo he hurt her.

Gael loves Leo. She truly loves him, not just in London or before he betrays her. She loves him despite how he treats her and that’s why she channels all her heart into hating him. She can’t help respond when he tries to kiss her the night he accuses her of sleeping with Dirk or during the storm or in London or at the ending. She must love or hate Leo, nothing between.

Leo is emotionally complex. Does he love Gael at all before she falls down the stairs? I think so. In London he seems torn between keeping emotional and physical distance and caring. He obviously finds her attractive and the fact she’s in love with him adds to her appeal. Yet he doesn’t want to feel anything for her beyond getting her to Bali helping him. When you think about it, it makes sense he would want her to come act the wife since he must be married for his job and she’s readily available. Yet marrying someone for revenge is incredibly stupid. Buddy, you will be married. Stuck with someone you dislike. Stuck in the same house, stuck living together.

He said he didn’t much care how he got Gael to come with him to Bali. If he had explained the situation would she have come? Maybe. Then we’d have had the typical marriage of convenience novel instead of this one full of emotional passion from betrayal.

Leo says he searched his conscience when he realized how much he hurt Gael. That tells me he’s normally a decent man, and now he has to feel guilty. Does guilt turn into love? Not usually. Guilt might make him treat her better, to try and make something of their marriage, but he has to have some will to love her or some emotional connection to stay the course.

Dirk Vanderman is more than a possible Other Man, he’s a true character in his own right. He is kind to Gael and fun, they get along great without any emotional or physical demands yet he expects Gael to do her best. Gael swims better and further to meet Dirk’s challenge.

Norah is a typical obnoxious Queen Bee. Norah doesn’t like that Gael technically outranks her in the closed European company community because Gael is married to the boss and Norah is not. Norah loves to cut Gael down and make spiteful remarks. Gael simply dislikes Norah. She doesn’t like her snobbishness, her condescending attitudes to the natives, she doesn’t like being patronized or treated as a dope. We’ve probably all known Norah types and they aren’t much fun.

Sally Wentworth makes Bali as a setting come alive. This is not a travelogue Harlequin Presents. Wentworth describes the flowers and the beach and the heat and the tiny homes in small villages and the children without making the place as important as the characters. She keeps Bali as the setting, important to the story since we must understand how constrained Gael feels when trapped in her home and yard. There was a lot of political unrest in Indonesia around 1980 when she published Betrayal in Bali, and Wentworth explains enough to make the riot believable.

Emotional connections are strong. Even without knowing Leo’s feelings we see Gael’s heart and Wentworth masterfully shows how one person connects to another and forms an emotional bond between her characters and us readers. I’m not sure how she does it. I’ve read several books by her that have this bond and I can’t quite see why some books connect so strongly with me and some do not. The common denominator seems to be that I can empathize with Gael in Betrayal in Bali and Genista in Rightful Possession, but not so much with Lyn in The Judas Kiss or Casey in Ultimatum. Those ladies seem more vindictive or controlling, not people I can relate to.

I’m in awe how Sally Wentworth creates characters and stories that convert events that should have and did cause immense emotional devastation into growth and emotional healing and finally into love. She converts betrayal into love in Betrayal in Bali and rape into love with Rightful Possession, and both are believable. Which is incredible when you consider the agony the heroines must feel.

Rating

5 Stars. Betrayal in Bali is one of the best Harlequin Presents novels I have read, believable, emotionally fulfilling, delightful characters, enjoyable.

I read Betrayal in Bali back when it was published – I used to borrow some Harlequin romances from our library. There were six that stuck in my mind for years, although I remembered only snippets. It’s funny that I recalled that Leo blames Gael for the car crash because she took the blame although innocent because I had forgotten the entire rest of the novel, even that it was set in Bali. Sally Wentworth wrote three of those six books I remember 40 years later. Which I think says a lot for the depth of her characterization.

I got my copy from Thriftbooks and you can find used paperback copies on Amazon and many other used book sites or eBay.

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Polar Vortex – Suspense in the Bitter Cold by Matthew Mather

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After the first few pages of Polar Vortex I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep reading.  A passenger plane has crashed somewhere in the Arctic and the National Transportation Safety Board has nothing to go on.  No transponder signals, no broadcasts, no mayday, no locator transmissions.  “So a Boeing 777 with three hundred seventy-eight souls disappears over the North Pole and all we have is that?”  “That” is a journal handwritten by a passenger, Mitch Matthews.  I dreaded reading how Mitch and the rest ended up dead, lost in a sea of ice.

I did keep reading and got caught up with Mitch, his 5 year old daughter Lily, and the other passengers.  They survive the crash, but are in the Arctic with summer clothes, minimal food and water, no heat or power.  The cover shows Mitch and Lily looking at a blaze of color and light.  Did the passengers disappear into some fantasy or science fiction rip in space?  Did they all starve and freeze?  Somehow Mitch’s journal survives, did Mitch or Lily or anyone else make it?

Author Mather has created a compelling story of love, hardship, endurance, all while we readers believe most end up dead.  Somehow the story and the people reach in and grabbed me, kept me reading despite dreading the end.  The characters tell the story in how they act and how they work together to survive, how Mitch works to keep Lily and young boy Jang alive, how they eventually end the story.

There is a villain and there is a reason.  I guessed right on the reason and had no idea about the villain.  Mather made him credible to his victims and to us readers all the way through his novel.  Excellent job of developing a compelling, addictive story.

Pacing Problem

The writing is good, with a few pacing problems and some confusing motivations.  About 35% of the way through the book drags for a bit, as not much is happening and the passengers have not yet coalesced.  This slow spot doesn’t last long, and ends when we hit the next problem, the confusing section.

Less-Believable Plot Points

Some erstwhile rescuers reach the plane, give out warm survival suits, even child size ones to the two kids, and some food.  No one is quite sure about these newcomers as they claim to be Finnish marines, but the passengers know they aren’t anywhere near Finland and the others don’t seem to be speaking Finnish.  It doesn’t add up but everyone is exhausted, cold and hungry and isn’t about to look a gift rescue in the teeth.  At least not until the rescuers start shooting.  All the surviving passengers jump into one of the rescue Zodiac boats and leave.  That is the hinge point of the story and I didn’t buy it.

Granted no one is thinking clearly, even so, it’s hard to see why people starving in the middle of the Arctic would leave rescuers to hop in a tiny boat to seek their own way home.  The rescuers indeed seem untrustworthy and make everyone uneasy, but if they were simply going to kill everyone, then why not do it immediately, not feed and clothe them first.  In any case the passengers do agree on a path and proceed.

The other unbelievable point is that Mitch was able to use a pen to record his journal right to the end, in blinding snow and wind, in 50 below weather.

Summary

It is because the people are so compelling in their never-ending drive to survive the crash, to get home, to save the children that Polar Vortex will stay in my head for a long time.

4-5 Stars

The Course of True Love – A Most Enjoyable Betty Neels Romance Novel

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Anyone who writes 134 novels over 30 years is going to author many enjoyable books with a few clunkers, and most Betty Neels’ romances are good to very good, a few are mediocre and she wrote a number that stand out as highly enjoyable, peopled with interesting characters who feel real, a heartfelt love story, warmth and her excellent sense of setting and mood.  The Course of True Love is one of those standouts, a novel I will purchase and read again.

Claribel is a physical therapist and Marc van Borsele is an orthopedic surgeon based in The Netherlands who travels frequently to England and is good friends with the senior consultant at Claribel’s hospital.  They meet when she is shoved in a puddle and he offers her a ride.  So far we have the classic Neels’ backstory:  rich Dutch doctor, young(ish) English nurse/therapist, an accidental meeting where he helps her and a growing attraction.

The unusual part of The Course of True Love is that Marc realizes early on that he is falling for Claribel and sets out to court her in a more-or-less straightforward fashion.  Claribel doesn’t like him very much – or so she tells herself – but increasingly enjoys his company.  Somehow she doesn’t realize he takes her out for walks, for dinner and dancing, for trips to the countryside, to his home for lunch, drives her home to her parents for a weekend, because he likes her.  She thinks he views her in a sisterly fashion, as somewhere to drop in for coffee.  Indeed he is casual and a bit pushy, dropping in without an invitation.

Marc comes over from Holland solely to take her out for the weekend, bangs on her door, asks for breakfast then takes her out.  Since he doesn’t tell her that he came over just to see her, she somehow doesn’t realize that he isn’t doing anything but spending time with her.

Marc does nothing to clear her confusion.  He tells her early on that he’s intending to get married and implies he knows whom he wishes to marry.  The story proceeds more or less as we’d expect from there.  We get to know both Marc and Claribel; often romance novel men are hazy characters, foils for the love interest.  Neels does a good job with both of the main characters and I enjoyed Marc more than most of her rich Dutch doctors.

Neels handles settings particularly well.  I’m not at all familiar with English villages or London or the Dutch cities Claribel visits, but I felt like I could walk down the street and recognize the slightly untidy garden and gray urban hospitals.  Neels describes clothes with gusto, she obviously enjoyed wearing pretty things herself and understands how we all have to balance durability with fashion and comfort and we readers easily put ourselves in Claribel’s shoes.

This is one of my favorite Betty Neels romances.  The characters and their attraction and growing love make this one of the most enjoyable romances I’ve read.

Three Betty Neels Romances That Disappoint – The Fifth Day of Christmas, Saturday’s Child, Heaven Around the Corner

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I enjoy most Betty Neels’ romance novels; she builds in warmth and happiness and of course all the stories have happy endings.  Here are three that disappointed me, all with implausible romances and nasty men.

The Fifth Day of Christmas

Neels wrote The Fifth Day of Christmas in 1971, making it one of her earliest novels, and it shows.  The plot is implausible (as are most but we can slide right over that when the stories are good) but the part that disturbed me is when heroine Julia makes a nasty comment about hero Ivo’s supposed semi-fiance Marcia.  He grabs Julia and shakes her until her teeth rattle – and then Julia thinks she is at fault but doesn’t want to apologize!  Even back 50 years ago this was wrong.

2 Stars

Saturday’s Child

Neels usually provides us with likable characters.  The man may fight against loving the lady, but he is always polite and usually kind.  Not so with Saturday’s Child.  Here our hero, Professor Dominic van Wijkelen, doesn’t trust women and doesn’t want to believe Abigail can truly love him and doesn’t want to love her either.  The problem is that Dominic is mean, even cruel.

While Abigail is in Holland, Dominic hires her to nurse a friend, then another friend, then to work in the hospital, but never actually pays her.  When she finally says something to him, only after making her own way back to England and only after he asks her to come back for yet another round of nursing, Dominic arranges her to get her money.  All well and good, but we expect people to learn from mistakes.  Dominic re-engages Abigail and once again does not pay her.  And once again she doesn’t say anything despite being penniless.

Maybe he could forget once. But twice?  And she could be wary of asking for her wages once.  But twice?  To me this makes Dominic untrustworthy and unkind and even a little abusive.  And it makes Abigail a patsy.

The rest of the plot and story are fine.  The conflict is Dominic’s distrust and unwillingness to believe in Abigail; he overhears something, jumps to conclusions and once more shoves Abigail (still unpaid) out of his life and out of Holland.  She doesn’t have any money and goes to live with a friend of a friend and takes a poorly paying job in a store before Dominic once more shows up and wafts her away with rapturous kisses.

If I had been she I’d have demanded he pay me, then leave and inform him that he needed to get control of his distrust and get over himself, get off his high horse before he bothers to come see me yet again.  Even in 1973 I think most self-reliant ladies would have been a little less trusting.

2 Stars

Heaven Around the Corner

Heaven Around the Corner has two romances, both unsatisfying.  Our primary romance is Louisa Evans, newly qualified nurse, falling in love with the unpleasant Simon Savage.  Simon is well-named.  The second involves Louisa’s patient, Simon’s sister, the alcoholic Claudia Savage and Lars, a banker.

Both romances lack credibility.  Claudia and Lars barely know each other and Lars surely should be wary of hitching his life to an alcoholic wife.  Louisa and Simon also don’t spend much time together and Simon spends most of it being obnoxious and Louisa is self-righteous.  Ugh.

Neels describes Norway with loving detail and as usual for her novels makes one want to visit and enjoy the breathtaking scenery and friendly people.

This is one of the few Betty Neels novels I had a hard time finishing; it is boring with unlikable characters and unsatisfying plot and story.

2 Stars  (It would be 1 star without the excellent setting.)

The Final Touch – A Romance by Betty Neels – Marriage of Convenience

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Betty Neels wrote 134 romance novels, all perfectly clean, most featuring English nurses and rich Dutch doctors.  The Final Touch fits Neels’ classic mold:  Dutch resident doctor Cor entices Charity with sweet nothings when he is in England on a course, convincing her that he loves her so that she follows him to Holland where she takes a hospital  job and eventually realizes Cor is a nasty flirt, and has never been serious about her.  Rich Dutch consulting physician Tyco finds Charity crying in the hall and takes her out to supper.   He eventually proposes a marriage of convenience because his two young daughters need a mother.

I enjoyed The Final Touch because Charity is a fairly strong character, marrying Tyco because she likes him and his daughters, not quite realizing that she is beginning to love him.  Tyco also is more developed than some of Neels’ rich Dutch doctors, feeling vulnerable because he is older than Charity and fears she may still be attached to Cor.

Much as with any romance we readers can’t be too fussy about the plot.  Sometimes the conflicts in Neels’ stories are silly; lying old girl friends (or wanna-be girl friends), or foolish misunderstandings and often he or she jumps to conclusions and makes everyone miserable.

The Final Touch has two conflicts.  Neither Tyco nor Charity realizes they are falling in love and thus step ever so carefully around each other, worrying about the other’s feelings.  Also, Charity’s very beautiful model step sister decides to make a play for Tyco and Charity believes her lies.

Read The Final Touch – indeed, any of Betty Neels’ novels – for pleasure, to see two people fall in love and wade through a few challenges to have a happy life together.

Under Darkness by Jasper Scott – Alien Invasion and Mind Control in Tropical Paradise

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Under Darkness is short, easy reading, fast-paced, and offers fun twists on the ever-popular alien invasion theme.  Our novel stars Bill Steele, new owner of a not-quite profitable hotel in Hawaii, who sees the sun covered, the stars come out and meteors fall in the middle of the day.  Pretty soon the screams start.

Jasper Scott writes a plot that combines all our favorite thriller/horror/science fiction themes:  Under Darkness has aliens with mind control, aliens who kill and eat almost everyone, international intrigue and nuclear attack, plus a giant tsunami.  The characters are decent, with enough heroism offset with normal fear and deception, to make the story feel real.

Scott has written several series (20 books altogether) that are popular and successful.  He promotes Under Darkness as a stand-alone, meaning no sequels, a refreshing change from some of the endless narratives out there in alien invasion series.  He writes well, with a beginning, a middle and an end and the end neatly wraps the story up, leaving a few interpersonal loose strings but no plot heartburn.

3 Stars

The Flaw in All Magic by Ben Dobson, Magebreakers Book 1 Even Mages are Human

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Even mages are human.  And humans make mistakes.  That was the thesis for Tane Carver’s senior dissertation at the mage school (which got him expelled in disgrace) and it is the underpinning for his livelihood.  The flaw in all magic is the mage who casts it.

Lead character Tane Carver is very, very good at analyzing magic and spotting flaws but has no magical ability.  Tane scratches a modest (very modest) living examining spell diagrams for flaws and advising how to correct problems and gaps in wards.

The Flaw in All Magic opens with the dean of divination at the mage school asking Tane to consult on a murder that could not have happened.  One of Tane’s old friends is murdered in a locked lab, secured behind wards that prevent anyone unauthorized to enter.  So how did someone gain access and who is the murderer?

The Flaw in All Magic combines a bit of whodunit with interesting fantasy elements and fun characters.  Tane is a bit much sometimes, way too smart and not always truthful.  Of course, as the hero, he bends the truth to save the day.  Tane is irksome when he gets on his soapbox and author Dobson is good enough writer to keep these soliloquies to a minimum.

Author Dobson did not stint on creating even minor characters with personality.  Indree, Tane’s old girlfriend and now a leading light in the local police, is fairly predictable yet believable, as are the nasty villain and the university leaders.

The best character is Kadka, half orc and half human, an extremely rare type of individual.  She left her orc homeland because they saw her as human, and wandered the human countries for a while, finding they saw her as Orc.  Now she is in Audland Protectorate, the one country left from the breakup of the Mage Empire centuries before that encourages magic and welcomes folks of all species, from goblins and orcs to elves and sprites.  Kadka is in love with magic, seeing the wonder in what the mages do and the beauty in the magical workings.

Kadka has a fairly simple philosophy; if threaten anyone I care about then I will smash your throat in.  That is extremely useful when she teams up with Tane to solve the murder and along the way finds a threat to her adopted country and indeed to everyone.  Kudos to Dobson for writing such a novel blend of innocence, wonder and badassery.

The Flaw in All Magic is an enjoyable read, well written with complex backstory, good pacing and solid characters. The writing is good, with a few clumsy moments, as when Tane explains to Kadka how things work to bring us readers into the backstory.

I’ll most likely look for the sequels.

3+ to 4 Stars

Dial G for Gravity (The Brent Bolster Mysteries Book 1) by Michael Campling

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Dial G for Gravity by Michael Campling, subtitled The Brent Bolster Mysteries Book 1, has great sounding plot and back story, but the writing and characterization don’t live up to the promise.  Let’s go to the good part first.

The plot idea is terrific:  Aliens are here peacefully.  The  Gloabons are die-hard bureaucrats (apparently the national mania) as well as die-hard anal probers.  It’s a little suspect whether they really are peaceful because their technology has pretty well wiped out ours and now we’re pretty dependent on them.  Plus there is yet another alien group with a taste for live humans – for supper.  There is plenty of serious stuff going on in the background.

The execution against this backdrop disappointed me.  The characters are mediocre, with hero Brent, a Galactic Investigator PI, a meld of all the PI tropes you’ve ever read.  The best character is the alien Rawlgeeb, a bureaucrat through and through, but good-hearted once the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed.  He is the first clue that the supposedly benign Gloabons may be anything but; he greatly fears for his life when he makes a mistake abducting Brent for “sampling”, aka Probing.  Apparently Gloabons that make too many mistakes end up dead or exiled to nasty places.

The writing is supposed to be humorous, and had it been the book would have been more enjoyable.  A lot of other readers apparently liked this much more than I as several Amazon reviewers found the book funny and the characters well done.

The book had a great cover and this nifty of a plot background that kept me reading, thinking it would get better.  Unfortunately Dial G for Gravity never lived up to its premise.

2 Stars

Three Betty Neels Romances – The End of the Rainbow, The Bachelor’s Wedding, The Little Dragon

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Betty Neels wrote gentle, clean romances from 1970 to about 2000, many featuring English ladies, often nurses, and Dutch or English rich men, often doctors.  These three novels are good examples of her writing.

The End of the Rainbow

Olympia is a trained nurse who works for her aunt at below-minimum wage in her very profitable London nursing home.  When Olympia was young her nasty aunt convince Olympia to promise that she would work for her aunt forever, unless she married, and Olympia feels bound by this promise.  Olympia encounters Dutch doctor Waldo van der Graaf whose wife is dead, leaving him with a young daughter.

Waldo proposes marriage under the guise of wanting a mother for his daughter.  Elizabeth, a long-time friend of Waldo’s secretly sabotages Olympia, finally convincing his little girl to run away while blaming it on Olympia.  Of course everything ends up happy.

Neels created a sympathetic character in Olympia and built her well.  Often Neels creates female characters who effortlessly adapt to a completely different lifestyle – foreign country, marriage, being rich and living in a home with servants and plenty of money for clothes and flowers – and Olympia actually has to learn how to act in this new environment.  Waldo and the other characters are less well-crafted, acting more as a cipher and respondent.  The End of the Rainbow is one of Neels’ enjoyable stories.

4 Stars

The Bachelor’s Wedding

I liked The Bachelor’s Wedding the best of the three novels reviewed here, in part because our heroine is not a nurse but a an emergency home helper, and neither of the two protagonists is secretly in love with the other.

Araminta lives with her “delicate” (aka lazy and selfish) sister and feckless father who dotes on her sister and views Araminta as unpaid help.  Professor Jason Lister hires Araminta to care for his niece and nephew when his sister must leave the country with no notice for an emergency.  First Araminta cares for them in Jason’s London home, then she goes with the two teens to their country home and stays a couple of weeks.

She doesn’t see much of Jason but finds him intriguing and kind, but intimidating.  When she returns home her sister hasn’t cleaned or done anything except spend all the housekeeping money on herself and her father expects her to user her earnings to pay the bills they both ran up.

(On a side note I’m appalled at the times Araminta mentions having to make other people’s beds.  Why doesn’t everyone make their own?)

Jason hasn’t fallen in love with her, nor she with him, but they like each other and he decides it’s time to marry and get a buffer against all the demanding young ladies he knows.  She likes him well enough and accepts, which causes her father to call her selfish and her sister to not attend her wedding but rather to wish her ill.

Of course everything ends up happy in the end.

4 Stars (Judging only Neels work I’d give this 5 stars)

The Little Dragon

I couldn’t finish this as the entire premise is nauseating.  Constantia worked as a private nurse for many rich people who were nasty and selfish and concluded all rich people were icky.  Dutch doctor Jeroen van der Giessen falls for her and constructs an elaborate charade of being poor and gets her to marry him in order to care for two children.  Constantia is supposedly so gullible and stupid that she believes this and assumes that Jeroen must be living in a rich uncle’s lovely home.

1 Star