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2.0
2.5 stars
This is Diana Palmer's best book I have read so far. Which doesn't mean it's a good book. It is just that all the others were so bad.
I wonder what's different about this book. Maybe it's because it was written in 2005, and the other books by this author that I read were published in the 90s. This could be it. Because this book doesn't feel so terribly out of date and is definitely less annoying.
This mainly applies to characters. I remember the main characters from other Palmer books, and they were not only extremely clichéd but also very irritating. But fortunately, Phoebe is not as naive and incapable as the other heroines of these novels. You can even say that she is doing well on her own and at times even shows a little self-confidence. Jeremiah is also not that much of a macho and alpha man as in other novels. They are almost likeable. At least they don't irritate.
Another thing that I definitely like about this book is that a lot of space is devoted to the suspense thread. And that's not the worst suspense thread. I really like when my books are not only about romance but also about crime. And shifting the focus from a not-so-great romance to something more interesting for this book did good.
Especially since the romance is already very much in the style of typical Palmer books and is pretty dated. The approach to a relationship is very old-fashioned. But it's most visible in sex scenes. I guess the virginity fetish bothers me more and more. And then there's the fetishization of fertility and motherhood that made me feel uncomfortable. Though great progress has been made since the characters at least considered using contraception.
Besides, this book is full of clichés. The other couple fall in love after one meeting, in typical Palmer style. I don't think Phoebe and Jeremiah know each other very well either. The whole conflict in both couples is based on their guesswork and total lack of communication. Interestingly, it is solved not as a result of the characters' conversation, but when they come to the conclusion that they probably were wrong. Even the suspense thread is not free from truisms. The main villain gives not even one speech in which they describe actions and motives, but as many as two! And finally, they admit that they did wrong and apologizes for their faults! It was hilarious!
As is the language and style of this book. I guess I haven't had contact with such a typical example of purple prose for a long time. The sex scenes and the characters' romantic feelings are really amusing. All the emotionality of all the characters is as if taken straight out of a gothic romance. Phoebe and Jeremiah get depressed because they can't be together! Everything is overly dramatic.
There is one more thing that really puzzles me. And no, these are not the amazing skills and knowledge of Phoebe, who although an anthropologist and museum curator, can easily act as a modern pathologist. What really puzzles me is why she decides to prune roses in a blizzard. The weather is so bad that the helicopter cannot take off and the construction site has stopped, meanwhile Phoebe decides to prune the roses. I'm not a gardener, but even I know that if the snow has fallen, it's too late to save the roses. What’s more, roses are pruned in spring, not at the end of November.
After the failures that this author's subsequent books turned out to be, I was wondering whether to remove all her books from my tbr pile. But now, maybe I will give some of her more recent novels a chance. This one wasn’t that bad.
This is Diana Palmer's best book I have read so far. Which doesn't mean it's a good book. It is just that all the others were so bad.
I wonder what's different about this book. Maybe it's because it was written in 2005, and the other books by this author that I read were published in the 90s. This could be it. Because this book doesn't feel so terribly out of date and is definitely less annoying.
This mainly applies to characters. I remember the main characters from other Palmer books, and they were not only extremely clichéd but also very irritating. But fortunately, Phoebe is not as naive and incapable as the other heroines of these novels. You can even say that she is doing well on her own and at times even shows a little self-confidence. Jeremiah is also not that much of a macho and alpha man as in other novels. They are almost likeable. At least they don't irritate.
Another thing that I definitely like about this book is that a lot of space is devoted to the suspense thread. And that's not the worst suspense thread. I really like when my books are not only about romance but also about crime. And shifting the focus from a not-so-great romance to something more interesting for this book did good.
Especially since the romance is already very much in the style of typical Palmer books and is pretty dated. The approach to a relationship is very old-fashioned. But it's most visible in sex scenes. I guess the virginity fetish bothers me more and more. And then there's the fetishization of fertility and motherhood that made me feel uncomfortable. Though great progress has been made since the characters at least considered using contraception.
Besides, this book is full of clichés. The other couple fall in love after one meeting, in typical Palmer style. I don't think Phoebe and Jeremiah know each other very well either. The whole conflict in both couples is based on their guesswork and total lack of communication. Interestingly, it is solved not as a result of the characters' conversation, but when they come to the conclusion that they probably were wrong. Even the suspense thread is not free from truisms. The main villain gives not even one speech in which they describe actions and motives, but as many as two! And finally, they admit that they did wrong and apologizes for their faults! It was hilarious!
As is the language and style of this book. I guess I haven't had contact with such a typical example of purple prose for a long time. The sex scenes and the characters' romantic feelings are really amusing. All the emotionality of all the characters is as if taken straight out of a gothic romance. Phoebe and Jeremiah get depressed because they can't be together! Everything is overly dramatic.
There is one more thing that really puzzles me. And no, these are not the amazing skills and knowledge of Phoebe, who although an anthropologist and museum curator, can easily act as a modern pathologist. What really puzzles me is why she decides to prune roses in a blizzard. The weather is so bad that the helicopter cannot take off and the construction site has stopped, meanwhile Phoebe decides to prune the roses. I'm not a gardener, but even I know that if the snow has fallen, it's too late to save the roses. What’s more, roses are pruned in spring, not at the end of November.
After the failures that this author's subsequent books turned out to be, I was wondering whether to remove all her books from my tbr pile. But now, maybe I will give some of her more recent novels a chance. This one wasn’t that bad.
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