Poking a tender spot

[jmc_bks]

I just read AAR's review of SEP's Natural Born Charmer. I was planning on reading this one via the library, rather than buying it in hardback, but now I'm thinking I may skip it entirely.

The excerpt at the back of the mmp version of Match Me If You Can had a pretty light-hearted tone, which I appreciated. It sounds, based on Sandy Coleman's review, as if that tone is NOT representative of the rest of the book, and a lot of the focus of the book is on heavier stuff, like parental abandonment and neglect (benign and otherwise), drug abuse, etc. SEP is a very good writer, and I'm sure that she'll handle these issues well. Here's the thing, though: sometimes I select romance novels that will make me think and sometimes I select novels that are mind candy. But I prefer that they not escalate my blood pressure into the danger zone. Novels that spout psychobabble and gloss over the damage caused by parental screw ups do tend to do just that. I'm feeling quite ambivalent about this book now.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

We're going to put up our reviews on Thursday of this book. I hope it provides some answers for you. On the one hand, it does tend to gloss over those deep emotional issues. On the other hand, there really isn't any psycobabble. :)

Jane

[(Anonymous)]

Hmm, that AAR review worries me too. I like SEP's lighter books (if any of them can really be called that). Sandy's comment that even though she didn't particularly like the two main characters, she still found herself invested in the characters is something I've felt about her previous books too. Breathing Room especially was like that. Well-written, but the heroine I wanted to hit.

Well, I have it on hold at the library too. I'll see what the Janes have to say. :)

-jennie