Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Gentle Rogue

Review for Gentle Rogue, by Johanna Lindsey:

Booo. Gentle Rogue was a big, fat stinker of a book, a story that could have been excellent if told by a better writer. The two heroes, Georgina Anderson and James Malory, travel from England to the Americas on the same boat. James, captain of the ship, is the only one who has seen through Georgie’s disguise, as she’s hired herself out as captain’s boy. From day 1 he is determined to seduce her. They fall for each other on board, but on land their already caustic relationship encounters more serious problems, especially when their respective families enter the picture.

This is the third Malory novel I’ve read, and only 1 of the 3 was good (hint: not this one). But Lindsey loves the family to death, and shows off their “playful” teasing and fighting whenever possible. James is the real reprobate of the family, a womanizer to a disgusting extent. He’s a viscount, ship’s captain, one-time pirate, and total asshole who meets any obstacle with brute strength, because he can.

Georgie is an oft-described coolheaded young lady, but never shows it in this story. Lindsey seems to think that any woman who constantly argues, spites others, and has a temper must be strong/interesting/some positive characteristic. Georgie is just obnoxious.

The CONSTANT fighting in this book gave me a headache. Georgie and James argue, their siblings fight amongst themselves, and of course, when the 2 families meet, they hate each other and the insults fly. Conversations veered frequently off-topic into pages of “good-natured ribbing,” but even aside from this annoyance, the teasing was generally pretty malicious, and hardly fun.

Bah. I’m glad to be done with this novel. C-.

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