Paperback Reader

The first time I read Lynn Kurland, it was the beautiful This Is All I Ask. A bit later, I read, as all true romance fans must, Stardust Of Yesterday. Then another Kurland. And another.

And before too many years passed (she is not the type of author who inspires mass purchases of ever novel she’s ever written and the requisite locking of oneself in a room until all said novels have been read), I noticed that I was completely and utterly bored with the antics of the time-traveling McKinnon/MacLeod/de Piaget families. If it wasn’t this one traveling forward in time, it was that one traveling back. Sure a few of the characters found the gumption (or maybe they didn’t find the time portals) to remain in their own time/space dimension, but, let’s be honest, eventually Kurland’s stories took on a rather unshiny sameness.

It felt like the same novel with a few of the pieces rearranged.

While I do not feel the need to defend my affection for certain authors, I have that sort of personality that demands justification and explanation when my back is against the wall. For example, in this day and age, it is near-impossible to say, “I like Catherine Coulter.”

Not only do you have to get beyond the politically incorrect aspects of her work, but you also have to, somehow, support cat racing. I mean, who in their right mind believes you can convince cats to do anything a human wants? Only dog people or those with serious, undiagnosed delusions think that cats listen and react.

My only defense – and it’s admittedly as weak as they come – is that she once wrote a novel featuring a heroine named Kassia. Those of you with normal names cannot begin to understand, but after a lifetime of twirling toy license plate displays and cute keychain displays and little plates and little plaques and even stuffed animals, desperately seeking something that said “Kassia” (I would have settled for Kassie or Cassie or Cassia or, and this is how pathetic I was, Cassandra).

We long ago decided that it would be interesting for us here at PBR to pick romance novels off our respective "keeper" shelves and give them a second joint look. Inevitably, one person's keeper was another person's "never heard of it." But, that added to the fun...or so went the theory.

The idea was to engage in a little discussion about romance novels of the past. However, every now and then a title gets bandied about for one of these joint fav reviews that makes the person for whom the novel is not a fav cringe. The Outsider by Penelope Williamson falls into this category. To be fair, it is not alone in the category. Something about a Plain heroine and 500-page oldie read made one of us (HelenKay) engage in a bit of eye-rolling. Then some stalling. Even a period of denial. Now, this is not a reflection on Ms. Williamson or her book. Frankly, the eye-rolling came before the actual reading and amounted to one of those "not my thing" responses. To be fair, the other one of us (Wendy) has come up with an excuse or two to get out reviewing some "not my thing" titles she did not choose.

But, this is a partnership of sorts and we agreed, so...

I’ve always wanted to backpack across Europe, hopping the Euro Rail from country to country, eating the food, and meeting the people. I know that I’m not alone in this dream either as I remember many high school conversations revolving around this subject. It would start out all romantic—the sights, the sounds, the people!—and then slowly dissolve into reality—the hostels, the dirty clothes, the people! It should be noted that the “reality” didn’t come into play until we were older and the realization had set in that there would be no backpacking unless some outside element came into play because we were not going to be able to finance (or work up the “just screw it, let’s put it on the credit card and worry about it later” personality) necessary to get our butts on the plane. Ginny, the main character in Maureen Johnson’s 13 Little Blue Envelopes, is in the same place mentally as my friends and I were in high school, only she has Aunt Peg to finance and spur her along into an adventure that may just shape her lifetime.