AUTHOR: Bronwyn Green
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 10k)
GENRE: Historical erotic romance
COST: £1.69
Moira Boulton is charmed by the American soldier David Webber at the USO dance hall, but the passion they share might not be enough to survive his getting shipped off to
I read this author in an anthology recently and absolutely adored her story so much, I went in search of her backlist to see what else looked interesting. Color me surprised when I realized I’d already bought this short story back in May. That just gives you an idea of how insane my TBR list is. So I pulled out this short WWII erotic romance, hoping for more of the magic I found in the first work I’d read by this author. Unfortunately, I didn’t find it.
There’s certainly nothing wrong with the story. It delivers what it promises – two characters with a so-called fated connection, they have a moment, they get separated by the war, then happy ever after. It just doesn’t do it very memorably. David is charming enough, but there’s not much depth as to why he’s so convinced Moira is the woman he’ll marry, other than he knows. Moira doesn’t even get the benefit of that. All she does is play the role of the independent woman who then waits for her soldier to come home. Much of the story is devoted to the two of them having sex, actually, and though it does the job, nothing really makes it stand out from a lot of the other erotic romances out there.
In spite of my rather meh feelings about this short story, I’m still excited about reading other work by this author. There’s enough ability there to prove she knows how to serve a story’s purpose.
| Readability | 8/10 – Clean and unassuming, with mild headhopping |
| Hero | 6/10 – Charming, but there’s just not enough there to get any depths |
| Heroine | 5/10 – Sweet, but suffers from the length as much as the hero does |
| Entertainment value | 5/10 – An erotic morsel, though not much to make it unique |
| World building | 7/10 – A flavor of WWII Wales, satisfying for what it is |
| TOTAL: | 31/50 |
1 comment:
Thank you for your honest, well-written review.
I've made no secret of the fact that I'm a Bronwyn Green fan. I love her work and my fingers twitch on the keyboard impatiently while I wait to download my (paid for-get a clue epirates that might be eavesdropping on this. By the way, this parenthetical thingy is no way suggesting that this blog owner did that. She has class. I'm just pissed at epirates today and found a soapbox.) copy.
ANYWAY Bronwyn's work leaves me with a very definite mental image. It's one of a woman surrounded by mist, yearning for self-discovery, magic, love, and knowing her partner is just inside the mist and reaching for her too.
It feels like magic and Bron's ability to invoke emotion never fails to give me goosebumps. There aren't many writers out there who do that for me.
I wanted to add a tag to your review. I fully agree that Bronwyn Green is a pleasure to read and should be an automatic buy for the avid romance reader. What you might not know is this short story was based on a true story!
No kidding. This is a touching romance taking its plot points from truth. Love at first sight sits at the heart of traditional romance and always has. 10k isn't enough to tell it to its fullest, but authors sometimes don't have these choices. And though the numbers dictated the length of this one, her voice still shone through with the same powerful magic it always does...
Of that independantly minded woman and the man who wasn't too proud to know when his heart had been captured. Of a country and a couple torn apart by war and finding beauty in its midst. Of the critical romantic joining whose offspring created the talent found in the soul-binding imaginings of the gifted Bronwyn Green.
It has been my privaledge to know her and my honor to call her my friend.
Please know that I am in no way disregarding a review because every opinion is valid and the time committed to reading and evaluating is priceless. My purpose is to illuminate the story behind the story and agree that this author is definitely one to keep an eye on.
:)
Thank you Book Utopia for seeing that in her too.
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