Oct 052011
I haven’t re-read any of these, so it’s all based on nothing but fragmented memories, vague recollections, remembered reactions, and a quick look at covers to jog my distressingly rapid ageing memory.
| Title | Series | Type | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| At the Edge of the Sun | RS | 1987 | ||
| 3rd of the Maggie Bennett trilogy. Owned but never read. Was still seething about AS’s decision (see Darkness Before the Dawn for an explanation) and the fact Stupid Randy is in this. Digitally available at Amazon, but to the US only. | ||||
| Barrett’s Hill | GO | 1974 | ||
| American Gothic romance. I believe it’s Anne Stuart’s debut novel. I have never managed to get my mitts on it. Not surprising as the going rate, even for a well-thumbed copy, was around $200. | ||||
| Black Ice | RS | 2005 | ||
| I kept having mis-starts with this one. The heroine seems so similar to AS’s weakest heroines. DA Janine says it’s good, so I’ll have to give it another try. | ||||
| Breathless | HR | 2010 | ||
| Never read. No interest. | ||||
| Cold As Ice | RS | ??? | ||
| In my TBR mountain. I bought AS’s Ice series in one go as soon as I learnt its existence upon my return. Bad idea? I haven’t the foggiest. | ||||
| Darkness Before the Dawn | RS | 1987 | ||
| 2nd of the Maggie Bennett trilogy. I don’t remember much apart from feeling pissed off as soon as I saw what AS did to former rock musician Mack (hero of Escape Out of Darkness, the 1st MB). This features a hero named Randall whom I nicknamed ‘Stupid Randy’ and ‘Fuckall’. I don’t remember what he did to earn these nicknames, though. Not that Mack was any special. Odd. Digitally available at Amazon, but to the US only. | ||||
| The Devil’s Waltz | HR | 2006 | ||
| Never read. No interest. | ||||
| Escape Out of Darkness | RS | 1987 | ||
| 1st of the Maggie Bennett trilogy. Heroine Maggie Bennett is an expert at fighting, shooting and generally being a tough bodyguard. She’s assigned to look after former rock musician Mack whose life is in danger. I don’t remember much about this one, but I think I found it exciting because an action romance with heroine who’s capable of kicking a baddie’s arse on her own was quite rare. It’s probably tame and weak if we compare it with Rom’s current crop of action romances, though. Digitally available at Amazon, but to the US only. | ||||
| Fire and Ice | RS | 2008 | ||
| In my TBR mountain. | ||||
| Hidden Honor | HR | 2004 | ||
| Never bought, not after my break up with AS. Still no interest. | ||||
| The Houseparty | RG | 1985 | ||
| A traditional Regency romance set in an English countryside house party. I was at half way point when I accidentally left it in my hotel room somewhere in Poland after the filming completed. I’m still gutted, esp whenever I see that bleeding doc on TV. “You! You’re still responsible for making me lose The Houseparty, you bastard.” | ||||
| Ice Blue | RS | 2007 | ||
| In my TBR mountain. | ||||
| Ice Storm | RS | 2007 | ||
| In my TBR mountain. | ||||
| Into The Fire | RS | 2003 | ||
| I wasn’t happy with AS’s return to her seemingly favourite type of heroines: tearful, no spine and needy. I think I didn’t like the imbalance between this and the bad-boy type who can easily eat women like her for breakfast. In fact, I think this was a DNF. | ||||
| Lady Fortune | HR | 2000 | ||
I think this was a Medieval romance? I remember liking it because it seemed quite Shakespearean with hero as a court jester (think Brad Pitt with a – often sly, malicious – sense of humour and idealistic innocence) and heroine as a noble widow who’s intrigued with this odd man. I think it features a treasure hunt of some sort. One of my favourite plots. What can I say?  I think I thought it was underrated, actually. |
||||
| Lord of Danger | HR | 1997 | ||
| Another Medieval, I think? Simon as a wizard who lives in a tower. I think heroine is sent to steal something from his room. Of course, he catches her and it’s not long before they get tangled up in a web of intrigue. I’d like to re-read this, actually, as I remember enjoying it a bit after a mis-start (I was put off that he was a wizard – I avoid anything to do with magic – until someone told me otherwise). | ||||
| Moonrise | RS | 1996 | ||
| Heheheh. One of AS’s famed trilogy (Moonrise, Ritual Sins and Nightfall). The only thing they have in common is that they are AS’s darkest romantic suspense. I think this one is the one with a terrorist as hero? My mind’s blanking, but I do remember enjoying it a bit. | ||||
| Nightfall | RS | 1995 | ||
| Ah, I didn’t like this one much. Hero is a convicted murderer of his wife and their two children, and heroine is asked by a relative(?) to help him out for some reason. I’ve never been a fan of Gothic romance and this reeks of being one. Such as heroine wanting to save him while thinking that he’ll kill her any time. | ||||
| Prince of Magic | HR | 1998 | ||
| Ah, yeah. Another Gothic romance. DNF. I think because it had mysticism or magic? Whichever, it’s still boring. I just think magic is the dullest thing to have in a story. One uses magic to explain away the unexplained or some awkward details of world-building or plot. Things one can’t have, one gets through the use of magic. Where is fun in that? Like I say, boriiing. | ||||
| Prince of Swords | HR | 1996 | ||
| Oh, how often I head-desked from trying to remember what Prince of Swords, Shadow Dance, Prince of Magic and Lord of Danger were about. Remembering stories of similar titles isn’t my strongest point. I don’t remember anything than liking it a bit. I don’t even know why I liked it. I think this is the one with heroine as a tarot reader and hero as a thief? She had a rather archaic name, come to think of it. Something like Jessamyn? | ||||
| Reckless | HR | 2010 | ||
| Never bought. No interest. | ||||
| Ritual Sins | RS | 1997 | ||
| I have already shared my opinion on Twitter. What more can I say about this one? | ||||
| A Rose at Midnight | HR | 1993 | ||
| The only thing I can remember well about this one is how hard I laughed at male cover model’s poodle hair. Seriously though, this was one of the most freq recommended AS books. I wasn’t into it as much as the others, purely because a) it’s set after the French Revolution, b) I didn’t understand the reasoning behind heroine blaming hero (I felt she was looking for someone to blame and found it in him), and c) she joined his household as a cook with intention to poison him, but he foiled her plan rather quickly and took her to a hunter’s cottage somewhere in Scotland, I think? I’ll re-read to see if I still feel the same way. | ||||
| Ruthless | HR | 2010 | ||
| Not bought. No interest. | ||||
| Seen and Not Heard | GO | 1988 | ||
| I think this is the one where AS broke away from Gothic-style romantic suspense to straightforward romantic suspense (still with a morally dodgy hero, though) with heroine stuck in a city where a serial killer prowls. I regularly confused Seen and Not Heard with Linda Howard’s Now You See Her and AS’s own book Now You See Him. Similar titles, damn it. | ||||
| Shadow Dance | HR | 1993 | ||
| lol. AS’s retelling of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing with hero dressing up as his brother’s wife to hide from those who believe him the murderer of their father. He falls for heroine who believes him a woman while hero’s brother falls for heroine’s brother, who’s actually a woman dressed as a boy and hiding from her abusive husband. Or something like it. | ||||
| Shadow Lover | RS | |||
| I have a huge soft spot for Josephine Tey’s Brat Farrar (first book Mum recommended that I liked; her previous recs were failures – Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Forever Amber, P&P, Daddy Long Legs and What Katy Did – then BF and Charlotte Sometimes were successes.). Shadow Lover is similar to BF so I liked it. | ||||
| Shadows at Sunset | RS | 2000 | ||
| Quite odd. A mish-mash of ghost story, noir, romantic suspense, contemporary romance, southern gothic (even though it’s set in Los Angeles) and dysfunctional family drama. It’s as if it stumbled through the Hollywood studios of Sunset Boulevard, The Ghost and Mrs Muir and The Glass Menagerie. I couldn’t deliver a verdict on this. It hovered between “WTF?” and “Hm, interesting.” Actually, would be better to imagine this book as a Jennifer Cruise novel in form of Tippi Hedren on a sofa where she watched 1940s-era noir films all night long with a mountain of cocktail glasses on the left and the ghostly Gloria Swanson and a friend on the right. |
I’m stopping here to take a break. I’ll try to put up Part 2 (and probably Part 3) for the rest of Anne Stuart’s novels, short stories and category romances over the next few days. Eep.
Enjoyed Nightfall very much. Dark and edgy = very likable. Hated Into the Fire.
I’m not surprised you liked Nightfall. It’s right up your alley.
Why did you hate Into the Fire? I do remember disliking it intensely, but I couldn’t remember enough to know why. Just that the heroine was weak. That’s all I could recall.
Heroine was weak and stupid. That was about it, really.
Thanks for this overview, Maili. The books in the Ice series are a mixed bag, but I devoured all of them. My favourites are ‘Cold As Ice’ and ‘Ice Blue’.
I’m tempted to try some of her old category romances. Harlequin reissued a few as part of their Treasury series.
Oh, thanks. I’ll have to make a note of the ones you liked. Is it necessary to read the series in order? I’m usually fussy about reading in order, but the mood I’m in – I don’t have the time and patience for it so I’d like to read Cold as Ice or Ice Blue ASAP.
I think her best work can be found in her category romances. I’ll need to crack on with Part 2. I will as soon as I stop scratching my face.
I don’t think reading the series in order is essential. Characters from previous books crop up, but in an unobtrusive manner. I would, however, recommend reading ‘Ice Blue’ before ‘Fire and Ice’ because they are the most connected. I will also add a note of caution with regard to ‘Ice Blue and ‘Fire and Ice’: they’re both at least partly set in Japan. I’ve never been to Japan, so I enjoyed the unusual setting. You obviously have and might see errors which went right over my head. But, yeah, the second and third books in the series (‘Cold as Ice’ and ‘Ice Blue’) are the ones I remember liking.
Oh, in that case I’d better read the series in order, then. Thanks for the heads up. Also for the warning. I’ll pretend it’s set in an alternative universe. That’s what I’ve been doing with a British-set historical romance anthology* last night and probably today.
*”Jane Austen Made Me Do it: Original Stories Inspired by Literature’s Most Astute Observer of the Heart”, edited by Laurel Ann Nattress. An arc from Netgallery.
I liked the first Ice book and loved the one partly set in Japan (Reno’s book–I think it’s Fire and Ice, per Sarah’s comment above). Completely over the top and totally unbelievable but, sigh, reading enjoyment is not always logical.