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jmc_bksHere's my entry for AngieW's December reading challenge, which was to read a book published prior to 2006.
Title: Mirrors and Mistakes
Author: Kathleen Gilles Seidel
Publication date: 1984 by Harlequin American Romance
Why did I select this book? A commenter on another blog I read mentioned it. I don’t remember who posted or which blog in particular, or even the context. But I wrote the title down and then added to my wishlist at PBS. Et voila!
Did I like the cover? Not particularly. It is very much in line with 80s covers. Big hair, poofy shirt. But the art department clearly made an effort to match the cover to the book, even if they didn’t succeed entirely. The h/h did play tourist in DC...except the hero has red hair, not brown. Eh. I’ve seen worse covers and better ones. If I had a scanner close at hand, I’d post a copy here. Haven’t been able to find a photo online.
Did I enjoy the book? Well, I liked parts of the book. And I appreciated Seidel’s prose. But the hero and heroine were a bit, well, whiny. These two characters would be prime candidates for Oprah or whatever the hot talk show is right now. It’s all my parents’ fault that I’m cold; I wasn’t wanted and I’m emotionally scarred for life. Wah! I wanted them to get over themselves. But Seidel’s writing kept me turning the pages, and gradually I got to thinking that it would be interesting to see these two damaged people learn to love each other. But about half way through was a wallbanger moment: neither of them wants children, both of them know that their relationship has no future (he’s getting ready for a 2 year stint in India); they are both almost phobic about birthcontrol; but still they have unprotected sex in what is almost a forced sex scene (it comes thisclose).
You know what happens next, right? Baby on the way, so they have a marriage of convenience. He heads off to India, while she stays in Boston. Two years later he returns with a secret – he has a teenaged girlfriend. But how to divorce the wife that everyone loves – his family, friends, colleagues – and not have everyone hate the girlfriend?
I could’ve gotten past the unprotected sex and marriage of convenience, but I lost any and all respect I had for Patrick as a hero when the girlfriend is introduced. He’s married. And his family and friends and colleagues have no idea that it is a marriage of convenience. They have welcomed Suzanne and baby Sarah into their lives. Always remote, they know her better than Patrick now. Yet he is naïve enough to imagine that they’ll just accept a teenaged replacement? If Seidel hadn’t made such a point of how very intelligent and smart and practical Patrick was, the naivety might have worked, but it was utterly inconsistent with the character built up to that point.
Plus, I didn’t believe that they fell in love. [Hint: having them on two continents for two years, follwoed by a month or so of celibate togetherness doesn't create the impression of a passionate love.] Early on, they are attracted to each other and companionable, but (in their own analysis) admit that they couldn’t fall in love – not wouldn’t, but couldn’t – because what they see in each other is themselves. And neither of them likes themselves enough to be able to love the same characteristics in another person. Suzanne seems to change, based on the birth of their daughter and inclusion in Patrick’s family. But Patrick doesn’t, as far as I could see.
New to me author? Willing to read again? Yes, a new to me author. I've seen Seidel's name on message boards as an author to look for, but the only title I had encounter prior to this one was a WF book. Meh. Not interested. But I'm inclined to check out the rest of her backlist, to see if she has other non-WF books, either categories like this one or single titles.
Keep or pass on? It's not going to be added to my "favorites" shelf. I'll probably post it back to PBS.
Anything else I want to share? The story reminds me superficially of Lavyrle Spencer’s Separate Beds. I’m not a fan of marriages of convenience in modern settings, but that one worked better for me. I think Mirrors and Mistakes is a book that belongs in a longer format. The humanization of both Suzanne and Patrick takes place mostly offstage. Seidel spends so much time establishing them as cold, remote (vaguely reptilian in my mind) that she needs more pages to show their relaxation.
They could never forget they were mirrors . . . and mistakes
They were very proper Bostonians who worked hard, dressed conservatively, and ate and drank in moderation. Suzanne Lawrence, secretary to the vice-president of Southard-Colt, and Patrick Britten, the firm’s most brilliant consultant, hid behind loneliness. Identical in taste, temperament and habit, they drew together in the belief that they would always remain friends. For having known nothing more, they expected nothing more.
But they never anticipated the powerful instinct that would well up in Patrick. It would teach them about love – and despair – and would bind them together forever.
Title: Mirrors and Mistakes
Author: Kathleen Gilles Seidel
Publication date: 1984 by Harlequin American Romance
Why did I select this book? A commenter on another blog I read mentioned it. I don’t remember who posted or which blog in particular, or even the context. But I wrote the title down and then added to my wishlist at PBS. Et voila!
Did I like the cover? Not particularly. It is very much in line with 80s covers. Big hair, poofy shirt. But the art department clearly made an effort to match the cover to the book, even if they didn’t succeed entirely. The h/h did play tourist in DC...except the hero has red hair, not brown. Eh. I’ve seen worse covers and better ones. If I had a scanner close at hand, I’d post a copy here. Haven’t been able to find a photo online.
Did I enjoy the book? Well, I liked parts of the book. And I appreciated Seidel’s prose. But the hero and heroine were a bit, well, whiny. These two characters would be prime candidates for Oprah or whatever the hot talk show is right now. It’s all my parents’ fault that I’m cold; I wasn’t wanted and I’m emotionally scarred for life. Wah! I wanted them to get over themselves. But Seidel’s writing kept me turning the pages, and gradually I got to thinking that it would be interesting to see these two damaged people learn to love each other. But about half way through was a wallbanger moment: neither of them wants children, both of them know that their relationship has no future (he’s getting ready for a 2 year stint in India); they are both almost phobic about birthcontrol; but still they have unprotected sex in what is almost a forced sex scene (it comes thisclose).
You know what happens next, right? Baby on the way, so they have a marriage of convenience. He heads off to India, while she stays in Boston. Two years later he returns with a secret – he has a teenaged girlfriend. But how to divorce the wife that everyone loves – his family, friends, colleagues – and not have everyone hate the girlfriend?
I could’ve gotten past the unprotected sex and marriage of convenience, but I lost any and all respect I had for Patrick as a hero when the girlfriend is introduced. He’s married. And his family and friends and colleagues have no idea that it is a marriage of convenience. They have welcomed Suzanne and baby Sarah into their lives. Always remote, they know her better than Patrick now. Yet he is naïve enough to imagine that they’ll just accept a teenaged replacement? If Seidel hadn’t made such a point of how very intelligent and smart and practical Patrick was, the naivety might have worked, but it was utterly inconsistent with the character built up to that point.
Plus, I didn’t believe that they fell in love. [Hint: having them on two continents for two years, follwoed by a month or so of celibate togetherness doesn't create the impression of a passionate love.] Early on, they are attracted to each other and companionable, but (in their own analysis) admit that they couldn’t fall in love – not wouldn’t, but couldn’t – because what they see in each other is themselves. And neither of them likes themselves enough to be able to love the same characteristics in another person. Suzanne seems to change, based on the birth of their daughter and inclusion in Patrick’s family. But Patrick doesn’t, as far as I could see.
New to me author? Willing to read again? Yes, a new to me author. I've seen Seidel's name on message boards as an author to look for, but the only title I had encounter prior to this one was a WF book. Meh. Not interested. But I'm inclined to check out the rest of her backlist, to see if she has other non-WF books, either categories like this one or single titles.
Keep or pass on? It's not going to be added to my "favorites" shelf. I'll probably post it back to PBS.
Anything else I want to share? The story reminds me superficially of Lavyrle Spencer’s Separate Beds. I’m not a fan of marriages of convenience in modern settings, but that one worked better for me. I think Mirrors and Mistakes is a book that belongs in a longer format. The humanization of both Suzanne and Patrick takes place mostly offstage. Seidel spends so much time establishing them as cold, remote (vaguely reptilian in my mind) that she needs more pages to show their relaxation.
