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That Certain Yearning
"You don't know me, Diane," Nik said
That was very true. Diane's heart had gone out to vulnerable young Kirsty, but warning bells had sounded in her head when she met Kirsty's uncle, Nik Channing.
Dynamic and outspoken, he was determined to make Diane think twice about her life and family problem. And there was definitely a magnetism about him that she found disturbing.
Yet clearly Kirsty needed Diane's support. She couldn't let the girl down now--even if that meant facing up to her feelings ... and to Nik.
That was very true. Diane's heart had gone out to vulnerable young Kirsty, but warning bells had sounded in her head when she met Kirsty's uncle, Nik Channing.
Dynamic and outspoken, he was determined to make Diane think twice about her life and family problem. And there was definitely a magnetism about him that she found disturbing.
Yet clearly Kirsty needed Diane's support. She couldn't let the girl down now--even if that meant facing up to her feelings ... and to Nik.
- GenresHarlequin RomanceRomance
189 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 13, 2020
2+
Jameson very much writes "people who fall in love" but also "people who fall in love and that's about it."
There's a certain charm to that. It's nice, and nice to have it straightforward, because that's what this book is supposed to do and what I'm reading it for. But things can also get a bit boring and/or muddled without an actual conflict or some clarifying events to move the leads along their arc.
This one muddies because it's clear from about chapter four they're gone for each other and well matched and should just get on with it. But they have to chase some not-conflicts to ground and then finally give in to one another.
Very not-conflict is the ex fiancee. She's dead weight in the story and could easily have been a casual gf who sneered at having a niece around in order to show the heroine's differences to the hero.
Some dialogue can be weirdly blunt; blunt I don't mind, but the throwaway comments CJ tosses in to add some spark to an interaction don't always suit or land quite right. [Aside: my belief from reading several CJ novels is she would be fun at a cocktail party.]
I do like how her characters are human--the heroines stick up for themselves, have wit, and work to make up their minds without wanting to get hurt too badly in the process. The heroes are charming and then not because of their frustration and needs by turns, wanting of the heroine and saying it, and motivated by getting their HEA with her.
In this one specifically I enjoy how the final scene has the leads wound up tense with uncertainty-but-longing, so they yell and part and then--a miracle in romance--realize they're being ridiculous and run back to each other to resolve the misunderstandings and themselves into love without heaping on another several pages of gnashing before the resolution. The ending is rushed (a constant with many a harlequin categories), but the moments before are quite good.
Those things balance CJ's stream of consciousness prose, sometime lack of definition of what exactly is going on in the physical space or timing of the book, and sudden and brief pov shifts that can let her down.
Jameson very much writes "people who fall in love" but also "people who fall in love and that's about it."
There's a certain charm to that. It's nice, and nice to have it straightforward, because that's what this book is supposed to do and what I'm reading it for. But things can also get a bit boring and/or muddled without an actual conflict or some clarifying events to move the leads along their arc.
This one muddies because it's clear from about chapter four they're gone for each other and well matched and should just get on with it. But they have to chase some not-conflicts to ground and then finally give in to one another.
Very not-conflict is the ex fiancee. She's dead weight in the story and could easily have been a casual gf who sneered at having a niece around in order to show the heroine's differences to the hero.
Some dialogue can be weirdly blunt; blunt I don't mind, but the throwaway comments CJ tosses in to add some spark to an interaction don't always suit or land quite right. [Aside: my belief from reading several CJ novels is she would be fun at a cocktail party.]
I do like how her characters are human--the heroines stick up for themselves, have wit, and work to make up their minds without wanting to get hurt too badly in the process. The heroes are charming and then not because of their frustration and needs by turns, wanting of the heroine and saying it, and motivated by getting their HEA with her.
In this one specifically I enjoy how the final scene has the leads wound up tense with uncertainty-but-longing, so they yell and part and then--a miracle in romance--realize they're being ridiculous and run back to each other to resolve the misunderstandings and themselves into love without heaping on another several pages of gnashing before the resolution. The ending is rushed (a constant with many a harlequin categories), but the moments before are quite good.
Those things balance CJ's stream of consciousness prose, sometime lack of definition of what exactly is going on in the physical space or timing of the book, and sudden and brief pov shifts that can let her down.
abrierto-to-read-hr-other
February 20, 2022"You don't know me, Diane," Nik said
That was very true. Diane's heart had gone out to vulnerable young Kirsty, but warning bells had sounded in her head when she met Kirsty's uncle, Nik Channing.
Dynamic and outspoken, he was determined to make Diane think twice about her life and family problem. And there was definitely a magnetism about him that she found disturbing.
Yet clearly Kirsty needed Diane's support. She couldn't let the girl down now--even if that meant facing up to her feelings ... and to Nik.
That was very true. Diane's heart had gone out to vulnerable young Kirsty, but warning bells had sounded in her head when she met Kirsty's uncle, Nik Channing.
Dynamic and outspoken, he was determined to make Diane think twice about her life and family problem. And there was definitely a magnetism about him that she found disturbing.
Yet clearly Kirsty needed Diane's support. She couldn't let the girl down now--even if that meant facing up to her feelings ... and to Nik.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews