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A Delicate Balance
When Linda, an heiress, sets out to find out what real life is like, she decides to accompany Mrs. Bates to the Greek Island of Corfu, posing as her hired companion, but she gets more than she bargained for when suspicious accidents begin occuring that threaten Mrs. Bates' life.
- GenresRomance
272 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1993
7 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Roberta Gellis
56 books185 followersRoberta Gellis has been one of the most successful writers of historical fiction of the last few decades, having published about 25 meticulously researched historical novels since 1964. She was married to her husband Charles for over 50 years and they lived together in Lafayette, Indiana with a lively Lakeland terrier called Taffy. She has one child called Mark.
Her page at the Internet Speculative Fiction DataBase
Her page at the Internet Speculative Fiction DataBase
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 11, 2011
This was very light and a lot of fun.
February 13, 2025
What lousy writing! It sounds like a children's book in the beginning and doesn't improve along the way! I've never read any of Ms. Gellis's historical novels, but they were written from the 1960's to the 1980's and this book was written in the 90's, so I'm guessing her talent must have dumbed down over the years.
DNF
DNF
September 14, 2016
An heiress, Linda, becomes bored with her wealthy life and pretends to be straped for cash in order to get hired as a companion to an elderly English lady Mrs Bates. The family are plot feathures, especially the main love interest, Mrs Bates nephew Peter. There is a secondary 'love interest' and there is also someone apparently trying to kill a member of the family. No one wants to let Linda in on the secret. If this outline seems a little bland, it is because this book, while pretty good within it's category and genera is indeed a little bland and exceptionally dated:
Published in 1993, by 'Leisure books' who specialised in mass market paperbacks, the novel is described by the publisher as "...a fast-paced novel of romantic suspense and breathless intrigue." The publisher attempts to over-dramatise the novel (especially the blurb on the back cover) are actually very amusing, and have dated much, much more badly that the story itself, as a good story is everlasting.
To me it seemed like a classic 1980's book it is not fast paced by today's standards, there is little suspense and I could see the plot coming a mile away. I am not usually good at anticipating the ends so possibly I read it many years ago and subconsciously remembered something of it. The other option is that as a mass market book no surprises were desirable.
Social attitudes between the 80-90's and now have changed majestically, Linda's response to being bored is no longer really likely. The absence of the medial and electronica of today makes it feel like historical fiction and the romance and sex scenes have not stood the test of time too well. It was fun to read, as an occasional blast from the past.
Roberta Gellis is one of my favorite authors, and her deft writing style, effortless character creation and delicate descriptions on relationships between people are as good as ever in this novel. These lovely writing skills make the novel still a lot of fun to read despite the fact that in most regards the story is out of date. I do prefer Gellis' historical books though and there is none of that here.
Published in 1993, by 'Leisure books' who specialised in mass market paperbacks, the novel is described by the publisher as "...a fast-paced novel of romantic suspense and breathless intrigue." The publisher attempts to over-dramatise the novel (especially the blurb on the back cover) are actually very amusing, and have dated much, much more badly that the story itself, as a good story is everlasting.
To me it seemed like a classic 1980's book it is not fast paced by today's standards, there is little suspense and I could see the plot coming a mile away. I am not usually good at anticipating the ends so possibly I read it many years ago and subconsciously remembered something of it. The other option is that as a mass market book no surprises were desirable.
Social attitudes between the 80-90's and now have changed majestically, Linda's response to being bored is no longer really likely. The absence of the medial and electronica of today makes it feel like historical fiction and the romance and sex scenes have not stood the test of time too well. It was fun to read, as an occasional blast from the past.
Roberta Gellis is one of my favorite authors, and her deft writing style, effortless character creation and delicate descriptions on relationships between people are as good as ever in this novel. These lovely writing skills make the novel still a lot of fun to read despite the fact that in most regards the story is out of date. I do prefer Gellis' historical books though and there is none of that here.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews