Romance
- MASQUE OF THE SWAN, by Rebecca Ashe.
- Genre: Romance
- Availability: IP, in stores now
- Rating:
- Review: One word: WEIRD. Masque begins with the typical Cinderella set-up; pretty, poor young maiden left out of all the beaux fun, sniff, sniff. But instead of a pumpkin coach, Ashe serves up an semi-divine creature (yes, really). The girl may be a ditz, but the reader is interested in him, at least, until that little revelation. Someone call the Weekly World News, please--this is a story made for them. Worst of all, Ashe commits the heresy of incorrectly incorporating Classical mythology into her story. To someone who just sweated out a semester translating the Iliad from its original Greek, there can be no more horrible crime.
- Availability: IP, in stores now
- "MASQUERADE," short story by Madeline Baker.
- Genre: Romance
- Publication info: from THE TOPAZ MAN PRESENTS: SECRETS OF THE HEART, NAL books.
- Special Notes: *DG
- Availability: OP, try UB.
- Rating:
- Review: "Masquerade" reminded me greatly of Baker's novel, Embrace the Night--so much so, in fact, that I'm quite tempted to merely reproduce of the novel here.
But "Masquerade" has its own points of good and bad. The ending is satisfying but not too predictable in its details; the modern-day setting is used to make the Phantom link even more clear. Once again, the plot is minimal; the characters fall below the standard of Embrace. Jason is a whinier version of Gabriel--my sympathy for him did not run very high--and Leanne, while thankfully a big brighter than the usual vampire heroine, is nonetheless conventiently obsessed with men of the night in an annoyingly sweet and pure way. "Masquerade" is a likeable read--particularly so if you were looking for Embrace the Night, II--but not a particularly memorable one.
- Publication info: from THE TOPAZ MAN PRESENTS: SECRETS OF THE HEART, NAL books.
- SHADOW LOVER, by Lori Handeland
- Genre: Romance
- Availability: Unknown. Published: March 1995, from Leisure Lovespell, 276 5th Ave, New York, NY 10011, (212) 725-8811
- Special Notes: The main character is named Michael Gabriel and may be a small nod at our Michael. The character and physical description do not match MC, however.
- Rating:
- Review: Shadow Lover tries too hard to be original and ends up being predictable. We have a revenge story, involving a young woman and a man whom everyone believes to have killed her brother. This man is a near-hermit, since he was badly disfigured in the accident that carried off the dead brother. Our girl Rachel has "plans" for this man's destruction. We never learn exactly what those plans are, because once Rachel gets near the man, it's hormone city. You can guess 75% of the storyline from there and you'll guess the other 25% within pages of that point. Heated Phantom beach reading, nothing more.
- Availability: Unknown. Published: March 1995, from Leisure Lovespell, 276 5th Ave, New York, NY 10011, (212) 725-8811
- "PHANTOM OF CHICAGO," a short story by Lorie Herter
- Genre: Romance
- Publication info: from SHADOWS, '93
- Special Notes: Michael Crawford credited as the inspiration for "Eric" here
- Availability: OP, try UB.
- Rating:
- Review: If you remember the 1980s fondly, "Phantom of Chicago" is the story for you. The plot is as thin as can be in this story which inverts the usual Phantom message to make physical attraction once again primary in the development of love between two people. The heiress Crystal, who acts like a vixen but is a pure virgin at heart, has ignored a man from her past for too long. Tired of being Mr. Nice Guy, he who dubs himself "Eric" dons Phantom attire, and sweeps her away to an underground apartment to win her love. (Which equals ravishing her, of course.) The plot grows far more inconceivable with each passing paragraph after that point; the highlight of the story is in the original idea, of the man playing the Phantom to seduce the woman of his dreams.
- Publication info: from SHADOWS, '93
- MOONLIGHT MASQUERADE, by Michelle Kasey.
- Genre: Romance
- Publication info: Signet Regency romance.
- Availability: OP, try UB for it.
- Rating:
- Review: Moonlight Masquerade is only slightly more steamy than your average Disney cartoon romance, but Mickey Mouse still has the upper hand in plot content. Our fair young heroine, after a carriage accident, is forced to recuperate at the home of a reclusive and mysterious lord. It's a predictable tale, with inconsistent characterization and wild plot jumps. (I found myself laughing out loud at the device used to finish off the great "problem" in the story.) For a two-hour read, Moonlight Masquerade is a pleasant journey, but don't expect to remember the story more than a day after you've read it.
- Publication info: Signet Regency romance.
- NEVER CALL IT LOVING, by Gail Link.
- Genre: Romance
- Publication info: October, 1993, Leisure Books
- Special Notes: *MC
- Availability: OP, UB should have a copy.
- Rating:
- Review: Never Call It Loving is more Beauty and the Beast than Phantom, but it's still a fun read. The poor noble English orphan Marisa is given by the King to his Scot supporter, Cameron, as a wife. Cam's an intelligent, resourceful man who's withdrawn almost totally from society since an incident in which his face was badly scarred and his eye put out. (He otherwise resembles British musical actor Michael Ball in physique, we're told from the dedication.) Cam, with the proud heart of Michael Crawford's Erik, rejects Marisa's dutiful wedding-night invitation and the heart of our story begins-how to get these two lovebirds together? Link throws some other plot elements into the mix, for variety, but the story still revolves on how to get the couple together, first in body (many a joke is ready for the spin Link puts on thatencounter), then in heart. Warning: Link's book is heavy on steam-as Marisa even reads a "manual" at one point, not much is lost in the way of physical education.
- Publication info: October, 1993, Leisure Books
- WOLF'S EMBRACE, by Gail Link.
- Genre: Romance
- Publication info: original print 1989, subsequent reprints
- Special Notes: *MC
- Availability: OP, UB should have a copy.
- Rating:
- Review: Wolf's Embrace has some good points. The writing is vital, the characters, while not perfectly well-rounded, usually have the sparkle of realism to them. But the plot is iffy: an English girl is kidnapped by an Irish lord seeking revenge on her father for the supposed ravishment of his cousin. Of course, something happens between the lord and his prisoner (something with a grim shot of reality to it), something which ends up in misty-eyed love declarations. At the same time, Link pushes her limit by suggesting a secondary romance between the girl's father (the Michael Crawford character) and the supposedly dishonored cousin. I found the father character woefully neglected in comparison with the so-so main characters, and I was extremely upset with the way rape is treated in the novel. Warning: this is not a romance of the "roses and serenades" model of Moonlight Masquerade-there is a lot of skin to be seen within these pages, not such a bad thing for anybody needing a fantasy of Michael Crawford. ;)
- Publication info: original print 1989, subsequent reprints
- THE MASK, by Donna Lee Poff.
- Genre: Romance
- Availability: IP
- Rating:
- Review: THE MASK is a fluffy medieval romance in which a masked hero loves a peasant girl--at first from afar, but then intimately, of course. Trouble is, our hero is the local lord, which creates some class problems, and a nutcase bent on revenge attempts to strike at him through his choice of girlfriend. Fun, but the lord lacks the dash of our Erik (and his musical skills).
- Availability: IP
- "BLACK BEAST OF BELLETERRE," a short story by Mary Jo Putney.
- Genre: Romance
- Publication info: from A VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS, Signet, 1992.
- Availability: OP, UB should have a copy around Christmas-time.
- Rating:
- Review: "Black Beast" borrows obviously on the Phantom myth, but remains mostly Beauty and the Beast, as the title suggests, in spirit. There's obvious artistry in the word choices of Putney and the shifting perspectives she employs to tell her story. (Her initial attempt at the Erik figure is very compelling, indeed.) Lust is downplayed, but not forgotten, between the two leads-Putney weaves a bittersweet love story instead of a flesh fantasy. Unfortunately, there simply isn't enough bite to the story to leave a deep impression on the reader; it's very pleasant, but it simply doesn't capture the reader on a lasting level.
- Publication info: from A VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS, Signet, 1992.
- TAPESTRY, by Karen Ramney
- Genre: Romance
- Availability: OP, I think. It's a Zebra Lovegram Historical Romance. ISBN is 0-8217-4902-1.
- Rating:
- Review: Tapestry unrolls with an unusual starting point: the "Christine," Laura, is quite certain from the start that she loves her masked man, regardless of his looks. It is she who is the stalking figure, entering the Phantom-figure's household with the purpose of finally getting in contact with him, to tell him how she feels. The story really ends half-way through, when the plot runs aground in happily-ever-after land, but Ramney tries to keep it going with another half-book about love lost and restored. That soap opera tactic, and the attempts at history in this historical romance, was not appealing.
- Availability: OP, I think. It's a Zebra Lovegram Historical Romance. ISBN is 0-8217-4902-1.
- NIGHT OF THE PHANTOM, by Anne Stuart.
- Genre: Romance
- Publication info: a Harlequin American Romance, number 398
- Availability: OP, UB may have a copy, but it's a rare find.
- Rating:
- Review: The cover of this book suggests all you need to know-the man on the cover has a perfect face, his shirt is open, as he faces a brooding sky. This Fabio wannabe is supposed to be our Erik figure? Sad, but true. The story itself reminded me of Herter's "Phantom of Chicago"-we have the 1980s vision of the strong young woman whose life isn't going anywhere finding herself most pleasantly captured. In this instance, the story is absolutely laughable-our heroine's daddy has been skimping on building supplies, leaving accidents in the wake of his building projects. The most serious accident was blamed, incorrectly, on the architect, a recluse who lives in a hick town in the South. Alas for the father, but the architect has dug up proof of the building fraud and intends to use them, unless he has a word with the father first. But Daddy's too chicken to go down to the recluse's lair, so his daughter storms down instead. What she finds is a maze of a house, a ghost story of sorts, and a sexy deformed man lurking in the shadows. She still wants to leave the place, but the recluse threatens to blow the whistle on her father unless she stays "to amuse him" with her spunky nature. You can imagine what happens next. The writing isn't rotten, and the story is actually a very funny read--both for obvious contrivances (the Phantom heads to an exotic tropical island at one point, for God's sake!), and for humor. (His reaction to her response to his video-camera voyeurism is a definite LOL.) I'd still like to know what the heck the title means, but I suppose that's irrelevant. ;)
- Publication info: a Harlequin American Romance, number 398
- NIGHT MAGIC, by Charlotte Vale Allen.
- Genre: Romance, possibly General Fiction
- Availability: OP, UB probably has a paperback copy. Check in General Fiction area of the store, as well as Romance. Try Charlotte Vale Allen's Website and Books Now for reprinted copies.
- Rating:
- Review: By far the best of the bunch in the romance field, Night Magic has a strong appeal for both romance readers and readers of more general fiction. The story takes place in the 1980s; obsessed POTO fans will find humorous time reflections of the original tale throughout the book. In Night Magic youthful Marisa hooks up with local architect and recluse Erik in a meeting of mind, soul, and body. Vale Allen lays out out an image of heaven: the two characters are desperately in love, desperately happy, desperately rich, and desperately adored by their friends. What's wrong with that picture? Well, it leaves us somewhat short on plot. Vale Allen tries to shore this up with a secondary plot concerning the love affair between the "best friend" figures of both Marisa and Erik; she abandons that eventually, for a thread on whether or not our loving couple should have children or not. If you never paid attention in Sex Ed, you're going to learn a lot about human reproduction here, between the steam scenes and the clinical exposition of Marisa's pregnancy-prevention troubles. And when this story has also reached an impasse for poor Vale Allen, CVA resorts to a pursuit storyline that, while interesting, doesn't flesh well with the rest of the book. As for her characters, our Christine here is annoying in her break-down (really, what woman would break down if she had this guy?), but otherwise an interesting figure; our Erik is a breath-taking Phantom, give or take a certain wishy-washy sentimentality on his part. Night Magic, overall, is a smart, witty read that's both enjoyable and memorable.
- Availability: OP, UB probably has a paperback copy. Check in General Fiction area of the store, as well as Romance. Try Charlotte Vale Allen's Website and Books Now for reprinted copies.
- SHADOW PRINCE, by Terri Lynn Wilhelm
- Genre: Romance
- Availability: Unknown. It's from Harper Paperbacks, HarperCollins Pub., 10 E. 53rd St., New York, NY 10022. ISBN: 0-06-108227-9
- Rating:
- Review: I was sincerely impressed with Shadow Prince. You think romance books are just to provide a fluffy afternoon's reading, right? A bit of skin, a dash of sentiment, and you've got one, right? Well, Wilhelm takes the genre and adds a heavy does of responsibility. The plot isn't very original (it reminded me much of a more realistic version of the Harlequin Phantom); Dr. Ariel Denham is trapped by an unseen businessman into working for his foundation to help the disfigured. In the night, she meets a shadowy stranger, and you can guess what happens from there. What I liked about the book was the additional levels Wilhelm adds to the story : the Phantom character is not the only deformed character in the book (nor is his deformity all but ignored), cosmetic surgery is not handled as a cure-all, the psychological damage of society's reactions to the deformed is faced squarely, and there's even a thought about drunk driving in the book to boot. You'll be getting your romance-novel dose with Shadow Prince, but you'll also be getting some subtle messages about responsibility and compassion as well.
- Availability: Unknown. It's from Harper Paperbacks, HarperCollins Pub., 10 E. 53rd St., New York, NY 10022. ISBN: 0-06-108227-9
- ONLY A WHISPER, by Gayle Wilson
- Genre: Romance
- Availability: Unknown--it's a 1996 Harlequin Romance.
- Rating: NA
- Review: NA
- Availability: Unknown--it's a 1996 Harlequin Romance.
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