Book reviews and analyses from a compulsive reader. Sci-fi, fantasy, romance, non-fiction and more
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Shattered Dreams
Summary: A nice regency romance available as a $.99 e-book.
Shattered Dreams, by Laura Landon, tells two love stories set vaguely in Regency-era England, with a little action near the end for spice. The first love story is of a perfect man (handsome, charming, titled, rich, well-adjusted, etc.) and a flawed woman (beautiful, vivacious, and titled, but also dealing a disability and accompanying emotional issues). The second is of two former lovers who were separated by a misunderstanding.
The book is worth reading if you regency romances, but it's not so great that I'll accost random strangers on my way to work and force them to read the book. I'm not that sort of person, after all. I think where it fails for me is that there are four main characters, but only one of them has any real complexity. The others are fun to read, but shallow, which ends up making the book a bit fun-but-shallow also.
My Favorite Romances with Differently Abled Leads
Reading this book did get me thinking about my what romance books I enjoyed that have a lead dealing with a disability of some sort. Here's my top 5:
Miles in Love
by Lois McMaster Bujold. It's my favorite series in general. You should really start earlier in the series, but this is the core romance part of it. It's a far future science fiction with a a brittle-boned, hyperactive, little person genius protagonist. Imagine all possible good things you can say about a book and you can assume they apply here. Yay!
Candle in the Window
by Christina Dodd. Medieval romance with a blind heroine. Actually, the hero is blind, too, now that I think about it. Well-deserved RITA award winner.
Seeing Eye by Patricia Briggs in the Strange Brew Anthology. Short story paranormal romance/adventure between a blind witch and scarred werewolf. Set in Seattle, it features secondary characters from her Alpha and Omega series
Nothing to Commend Her by Jo Barrett. Hero is severely disfigured from burns, set in Regency England. Warning, it's a bit corny, so don't come here expecting an award winner. But I really like the characters and find myself rereading on occasion to recapture the happy feeling it gives me.
by Lois McMaster Bujold. It's my favorite series in general. You should really start earlier in the series, but this is the core romance part of it. It's a far future science fiction with a a brittle-boned, hyperactive, little person genius protagonist. Imagine all possible good things you can say about a book and you can assume they apply here. Yay!
by Jennifer Ashley. OMG, autism spectrum disorders never sounded so sexy as in this regency.
by Christina Dodd. Medieval romance with a blind heroine. Actually, the hero is blind, too, now that I think about it. Well-deserved RITA award winner.
Anthology. Short story paranormal romance/adventure between a blind witch and scarred werewolf. Set in Seattle, it features secondary characters from her Alpha and Omega series
by Jo Barrett. Hero is severely disfigured from burns, set in Regency England. Warning, it's a bit corny, so don't come here expecting an award winner. But I really like the characters and find myself rereading on occasion to recapture the happy feeling it gives me.
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