Passionate Kisses

Crystal Creek #14

by Penny Richards

LIVING UP TO A LEGEND IS IMPOSSIBLE!

In the beginning, Cynthia McKinney was attracted to J.T. because he'd loved his first wife so deeply. The man obviously took love and marriage seriously. Now, with a new baby to care for and the responsibilities of running J.T.'s household, Cynthia's feeling overwhelmed. She's in no mood for comparisons with the Perfect Pauline.

But then, Cynthia learns a thing or two about her uncompromising husband and his fairy-tale first love. The truth is startling, but liberating. For starters, J.T.'s second marriage was no shotgun affair ...

Genres: Romance

297 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1994

About the author

Penny Richards also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym of Bay Matthews, and as Sandi Shane with the writer Sandra Canfield.

Reviews

[Madison Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was imperfect but it exceeded my expectations. I liked seeing the ups and downs of young love, and the feistiness of the female leads. I almost gave it four stars, but I found the back-and-forth between J.T. and Pauline to get really tedious after awhile. The payoff was nice, but I wish it had happened a lot sooner, and we could’ve seen more of their happy life together, rather than it ending with the sappy resolution. Considering Pauline is dead and her story is told in flashback, I think that’s a reasonable thing to desire. I expected the story to jump between the past and present more than it did, which was a little disappointing too. I liked the “modern” framing device of the story a lot, and I wish we’d spent more time there.

In all, I liked the way the characters were written, and I’m glad I finished the book to see what happened to them. The author put a lot more heart into this book than she needed to, and I appreciate it. I’m left a little frustrated with our romantic lead, J.T., though. I like “tall, sexy Texans” probably more than I should, and yet I’m conflicted. He was written realistically, which meant he was immature, prideful, and whiny before learning his very delayed lesson and humbling himself to Pauline (and Cynthia, at the very-very end). So do I like that his character was so realistic given his age and circumstances, or do I wish he’d been more of a dreamboat? He seemed much more appealing in the modern framing device; why couldn’t the author focus a bit more on that part? Isn’t an unrealistically dashing yet somewhat problematic hot guy the point of a vintage romance novel? Why am I thinking so hard about Crystal Creek #14 published in 1994?

3.5/5. I’ll be reading more from this series.

[Angela9600 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I missed adding this one awhile ago.