Guilty Pleasure

Finally had some time in the past few days to indulge in reading a bit of 'chick lit' -- a guilty pleasure that I've had very little of in recent months.

Since I couldn't spot any new work from my usual favorite authors, I decided to expand my horizon a bit by trying a different writer. My new pick was Susan Carroll.

Bought one of her books (The Bride Finder) and breezed through the whole thing in one night, although I must admit that it was 4am by the time I finished reading.

I was so happy to find a more traditional romance novel, without the mystery/murder/slasher angle that's been creeping into all the more recent writing (I believe the official term for the latter is 'romantic suspense').

As it turns out, the book had been written in the late 90s, so it was just perfect, IMHO.

I'm already planning to hit the bookstore the first chance I get to pick up the sequel to The Bride Finder. I hadn't realized until I reached the ending that it was actually the first in a trilogy (although technically the story stands alone and is complete).

* * *

When my sis-in-law learned about my new find, she was quick to lend me another Carroll novel the next day (Winterbourne), which had been written several years before the other novel.

It was another enjoyable read, although I felt that there was way too much plot crammed into a single book. Our poor hero had to go through too much (court intrigues, accusations of treason, castle sieges, becoming a prisoner of war, and so on) before he finally got to his happy ending.

I guess the author was constrained by actual historical events and had to stay true to the setting of the story, and therefore had to ride out the plot until a logical stopping point could be reached.

After two books, I think it's safe to say that this author is a good find. I am happy to have found a new name to add to my list of 'authors to buy'.