After a second DNF by Wilde, I think he's simply not an author for me. Like Johanna Lindsey, Wilde's one of the classic authors of the old ripper romances and I've held them to a high standard because of that. They've both fallen short.Wilde's somewhat of a better author than Lindsey. He can describe a scene better, even though it veers more towards a bland checklist of what's in the picture than a real evocation of it. His characters are a bit deeper and less annoying, but not by much. Whereas Lindsey has her heroes and heroines flail around like schizophrenics, Wilde keeps his characters on an even keel, not really varying the tone of his scenes (except the sex, where the prose sails into the purple stratosphere). Their inner thoughts might be explored more (thanks to his use of the 1st person POV), but despite all the pages upon pages to produce a growing character, the heroines have remained remarkable static and monochrome. Angie Howard started out strong, but she didn't grow at all - even though she went through significant emotional turmoil in those first 200 pages.I did like the #1 hero Hugh - a broody bastard with a chip on his shoulder - but it simply wasn't enough to keep me hooked to stay with it over the long haul. I lost patience with the lack of plot, the lack of character development, and the damn run-on sentences. When Wilde wants to convey action, he forgets about that thing called "the period" and just throws in a bunch of "and"s and commas. You could pass out if you read them aloud. It'd be one thing if the sentences were interesting and ornate, but it's more along the lines of "and then he grabbed me and I felt faint and he kissed me, his lips hard against mine, and I felt the blood rush to my head and then..." Arrgh. Shoot me. D:Wilde also writes to a template: multiple heroes, no real plot, a meandering linear path of the heroine, name-dropping, and a fill-in-the-blanks form for hair and costume that gets trotted out whenever someone shows up in a scene. The repetition was noticeable in Dare To Love and drove me nuts. I was hoping that it was an early book and therefore kind of rough in the writing department.Nope. It's still here. And just as obnoxious.
Well. My review might be a little (read, very) partial owing to the fact that I absolutely love Jennifer Wilde (Tom E. Huff, actually) but Angel In Scarlet was such a disappointing book in terms of the plot that it made me a little cold. The narrative was not bad but the heroine was quite similar as that of Once More, Miranda or They Call Her Dana. Also, it was annoying how Angie thought she wasn't beautiful AT ALL. Next came the heroes. One thing I never liked about Wilde's books is multiple heroes with the heroine ending up with the man I hated the most. Keeping true to the tradition, here too Angie ends up with the biggest clout and the most idiot of them all. Not quite the ending you want to see after going through around 300 pages. The writing and the description was usual Wilde which was wonderful! So all in all, this was a good read but not a satisfying one. I also would like to know, why, oh why, does the author have such an obsession with volatile, artistic men?
What do You think about Angel In Scarlet (1986)?
There's not many Historical Romance books from the 70's-80's where the main character really stands out & grabs & draws me right away into their story, most times it takes some warming up for me. But our "heroine Angie Howard (Angel) sure did for me. She had me laughing out loud from beginning to the end. Her story is told in the 1st person so you really get to know not only Angie herself but her thoughts & views on things and how she looks at life, which makes it all the more entertaining. Angie is a "backwoods village girl" who's fiesty,humorous,and a down right blunt spoken girl. She wants more out of life than to end up married & staying in her village, she has dreams of being someone someday,of seeing what the world has to offer. We watch this fiesty girl grow up and go threw the changes in her life and the realationships with 3 very different men. Hugh Bradford:"the bastard" Lord Meredith's son rightfully the real heir but disowned by his own father, Angie's first love, he took her innocence and left her broken hearted,but with a fierce will to carry on. Clinton Meredith: nephew to Lord Meredith who inherits his title,a rake,womanizer,gambler,a scandal to the family, obsessed with Angie and will do anything to have her. James Lambert: he took her from the backroom of the theater as a seamtress and made her into the famous actress of London..would he be able to also heal the hurt in her heart?Throughout the story we meet actual personages and the historical "tid-bits" were well done. A brawdy,romp-page turning tale! Lots of excitement,great characters,beautiful love scenes (as well as funny ones) A non stop read that never lagged and when I thought I had it figured out a new twist was added. A very surprising ending,not one I expected but was pleased it ended that way. I would also highly recommend this authors other book which I enjoyed just as much.
—Sandi *~The Pirate Wench~*
