I feel bad; I received this book from FirstReads over a month ago, and only got to it now because I've been so busy! This was my first foray into older romance novels (it was published in the 80s) and it took me a bit by surprise. I had to remind myself that, even 20 years ago, views of women and men in a relationship were slightly different. Here we had a strong female protagonist - Erin was a business owner who traveled by herself - yet she became so submissive in Lance's presence that it offended me at times. After saving herself for marriage for SO long, it really bothered me that she just jumped into bed with a guy she hardly knew and usually disliked, without any real effort on Lance’s part. And Lance himself. He was too aggressive and condescending for my tastes, but I had to continually remind myself that I'd been raised to think differently. If a man ever grabbed my arm and pulled me around, he'd get a fist to the face. And Lance's "methods" while on the job were sketchy, at best. There's no WAY a modern guy could get away with a sexual assault and an unnecessary patdown without getting some kind of reprimand today.With concerns about the views of men and women aside, "A Treasure Worth Seeking" was a good book. I enjoyed how Ms. Ryan played with her readers. I kept jumping back and forth about whether Ken was guilty or whether he was being framed by his in-laws. I couldn't stand Bart at first, but I grew to respect him by the end of the book. And the romance, though lightning-quick, worked. I liked that Erin’s sickness let us see a different side of Lance. I also liked the word choice during the love scene. In a modern romance novel, it would have been campy and cheesy. In an 80s novel, I WANTED campy and cheesy, and it totally delivered. I liked that Lance and Erin spent time talking and getting to know each other instead of just jumping into bed and getting married because they had chemistry. I liked the monstrous PDA in the airplane. I liked that, in the end, Lance went after Erin instead of the other way around. I liked that, as the novel ended, Lance no longer questioned Erin’s every statement. He trusted her to tell him the truth.In summary, I found Lance too dominant and Erin too blindly innocent, but that might be a sign of the times. If you can look past that, the storyline of “A Treasure Worth Seeking” was a good one.
I'm not sure how to review this book without sounding condescending. It's not my intention to either insult the authors of books like this, or people who enjoy reading them.That being clarified, this books reads like a daydream fantasy. Something you make up when you're staring out of the window on a long train trip, or during your lunch break when you're having a boring day at work. I have conjured thousands of stories like this, and while they are entertaining, in the end you know they don't make sense at all. This book makes absolutely no sense.The story starts with the adopted Erin O'Shea looking for her lost brother. When she arrives in San Franscisco unannounced (of course you wouldn't call before hopping on a multiple hours flight) it turns out her brother is suspect of stealing a huge amount of money from the bank he works. Then the story is one string of events, the second even less plausible than the first.What struck me as odd was the dysfunctional relationship Erin and Lance have. They understand absolutely nothing about each other. One second everything is all sweet words and tender touches and a second later they are in some kind of fight without any inducement. And somewhere in the middle of that on-off thing they draw the conclusion that they love each other. Huh?You cannot love someone unconditionally when you have just met this person. Yes, you can be in love, but that is something else entirely. Love needs a foundation, a basis on which it can be built. And I just can't stand it when characters in books just decide from one moment to the other they "love" someone. Love is more than that, and it deserves to be treated more carefully.This book is like a written form of a television soap series. It is entertaining, and a way to escape reality. Only I prefer to escape into a world were there are vampires or dragons or zombies, not into a world where virgins get swiped of their feet by special agents. I can see why these books are popular. They are easy to read and fast paced, without themes that require deep thought. And I repeat, there is nothing wrong with this book, or any other book of this kind. They are just not for me.
What do You think about A Treasure Worth Seeking (1992)?
Piper wrote: "Mo wrote: "Piper wrote: "Well 3.5 stars ain't too bad for an oldie!! tee hee!! You never know till you give it a go. I think it was Karen or Sharon who said they were thankful that you are weedi..."thanks Piper. We had a fabulous trip. Jet lag not too bad. Awake at 6 but then again, a lot of folks get up that early ... just not on a Saturday morning.
—Mo
Erin...After years of searching for the brother she'd never known, Erin O'Shea had finally found his San Francisco address. She stood on the doorstep, unaware that she was about to walk into a shocking drama of family lies — and to meet an intriguing, infuriating man who would change her life. Lance...He was a G-man for the government's toughest cases — like the big-money scam involving Erin's long-lost brother. But although Lance was immediately attracted to her, he never dreamed that his feelings would drive him to break every rule in the book — and put his career and even Erin's future on the line. .
—Karen Whooley
Borrowed from a film-buff friend of mine, I can find no word to describe this but it: feel-good.I bought this book from an old-books store, which happened to be so cheap that I bought, shamefully, almost all the books whose covers impressed me. This one has SF's signature bridge on it.Totally predictable. I dislike books that are predictable, since they trigger nothing waiting to be digged up, incite nothing but a temporary, transient, extremely fleeting good feeling, which gradually wanes and wanes until there's sth rather dramatic to bring that up again, then it continues to falter. In the end, there's nothing left but an empty good feeling saved for the happy ending of the characters. Maybe I'm a little bit demanding.And despite other reviews regarding love, I think it's possible for a love like of these two to happen in such a short time, it's just that they are to angelic, like two immaculate angels flying out from fairy tales.
—Linh Than
