Amelia Book

DP can be like crack. It's bad for you, you swear never again, and then you always relapse and repeat the cycle.

This one, unfortunately, was not as much of a guilty pleasure. For one thing there was very much a this happened, then that happened, then... quality to the storytelling. No depth and it just didn't flow. I didn't feel immersed in the least. Plus, all the jumping back an forth between Amelia and her brother's story was jarring.

In many ways this was the typical DP hero, reluctantly attracted to the heroine yet inexplicably hating her for one irrational reason or the other. He was also one of the biggest, cruelest asses and that's saying a lot considering DP's track record. Even so, this lacked that certain DP crackiness that only she can get away with writing over and over and over again. Perhaps historical romance is simply not her forte.

I think the reason I grudgingly enjoy her contemporaries is the campy OTT mess that her stories often are. The outrageously put upon virginal heroine who is a secret member of Mensa and champion biscuit maker combined with the cranky hero with a massive amount of chest hair and graduate degree in jumping to conclusions. All set against the background of a town of 2000 which has it's own movie theater, mall, fine art gallery, and community college which can offer any degree from Ancient Greek to Forensics. Oh, and we mustn't forget the 500 secret federal agents working anything from serial killing to international drug trafficking cases in that busy little town. It's too funny.

This had some elements of her contemporary novels, but they just didn't translate. I believe she tried to be serious and the trials of the heroine provided some serious angst potential, but there was too much showing and not telling.