Ravings of the Semi-Lucid

Title: Fabulous Beast
Author: Stephanie James aka Jayne Ann Krentz
Genre: Contemporary romance
Grade: B
Reason for Reading: Rosario liked it, and the plot appealed to me.

Synopsis: When Tabitha Graham rescues Dev Coulter from an alley on a Caribbian island after he's been attacked, she finds herself drawn to the gentle, unassuming man she thinks him to be. Unfortunately, once she learns Dev's secret, she finds her slowly blossomming love being tested.

My Thoughts: This was cute. It's pretty obvious that Krentz's writing style has evolved between 1984 (when this book was published) and now. For one thing, in Sweet Starfire I didn't notice the way Krentz constantly used adverbs, and it was pretty jarring here. And her character development has certainly improved by leaps and bounds.

I liked both our leads well enough for what they were, heroes in a 1980's category romance novel. Tabby's a bit too much of an earth mother type for my taste, and she had a few moments of being a complete dingbat. I mean, seriously. I thought she should have picked up on the fact that Dev was hardly who he was pretending to be a lot sooner than she did.

Dev was... well, he was a romance hero. There were moments when I thought I understood him, but mostly I couldn't get over my annoyance with him for constantly thinking of Tabby as his tabby cat. The metaphors flew around thick and fast in his head, and I just couldn't picture any human being, even from the 80's, saying some of the crap that came out of his mouth.

That being said, for what it was, a cute story about two people learning to trust each other and figuring out who they really were, this was pleasant. B for this one.

Title: Sweet Starfire
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
Genre: futuristic romance
Grade: B+
Reason for Reading: I wanted to try a Jayne Anmn Krentz book. And I like science fiction. I was hoping the two would be tastes that taste great together.

Synopsis: On the planet Lovelady (which is a lovely, whimsical name), there are two distinct groups of people. Harmonics live a serene lifestyle of contemplation and are unruffled by emotions. Wolves are basically everybody else.

Cidra Rain Forest isn't a full harmonic. She wants to be, but she can't commune telepathically. But she believes there may be an artifact on the neighboring planet of Renaissance which will allow her to experience that telepathic communion. In order to facilitate her quest, she signs up as the assistant to Teague Severance, an independent mailman who is very driven and determined, and who also has something of a shady past. Severance, of course, isn't sure he wants Cidra coming along mucking up the works, but of course he's terribly attracted to her, and soon they find themselves on a rather high-stakes adventure full of danger and passion.

My Thoughts: This was a pleasant read. Nothing that's going to leave me a massive puddle of fangirl squeeing, but definitely nice enough. I can see why Krentz is a comfort author for many romance readers. This would have been a great book to curl up with while drinking hot cocoa and eating soup.

The plot starts out fairly slowly, but picks up at about the halfway point, and there are a couple of tense moments. I remember as a kid that I tended to hate adventure books where the plot involved pitting people (7usually kids) against the elements. But this is a plot that works well in a romance, and both Cidra and Severance relied heavily on each other.

As for the romance? Again, it was pleasant. I got the sense that Cidra and Severance were good together. What I especially liked was that Severance was possessive and protective without turning into a caveman. And Cidra managed to come across as a very quiet, strong woman without turning into a doormat. Both characters also grew a lot because of each other, and I really liked the end and how they each needed to test whether the intense circumstances they'd been in were enough to prove their love.

Also, I have to say, I was expecting a lot more cheese from the sci-fi elements here. I imagine more hard-core SF readers probably might find Krentz's world-building a bit flimsy, but it all worked for me. I liked the whimsical touches she included as well as the violent ones. I mean, really. Severance has a pet rug named Fred. If that's not terribly cute, I don't know what is.

Negatives? You know, there weren't very many. I didn't really feel all that connected to the characters, and there were some places that dragged a bit. The book was very easy to put down, although once I was reading, I got into it. But that's very much a personal thing.

I have one of Krentz's earlier books, Fabulous Beast about half-finished. It's just not one of the books I've added to my commuting CD so I haven't had a chance to finish it while I've been at home.