Lost in a plot...in which I try to make sense of a Boonie plot and instead end up somewhere round Taupo
by tosca on Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Spent the last couple of days at home sick - who gets a stupid flu in summer? doh, me apparently - and managed to get through a couple of books while editing various newsletters etc. My latest Mills & Boon (I call 'em Boonies) novel is 'The mistress of his manor' by Catherine George. What follows are my random-ish thoughts.
Title: The mistress of his manor
Author: Catherine George
Publisher: Harlequin Mills & Boon
Year: 2010
The story confused me but that's nothing new. I'm often confused. Plain old March Aubrey sees Joanna Logan wandering around their gardens centre and, even though he suspects she might be with her slightly older husband and their child, goes out of his way to meet her and...perv. For want of a better term. When it turns out that Joanna is instead spending the day with her father and younger sibling, March's cup runneth over. Only somewhere in all the talking he forgets to tell her that he has a secret - he's like Superman, he's not who you think he is. Unlike Superman his secret isn't as obvious as wearing his undies on the outside of his tights. March Aubrey is, in fact, Lord Arnborough of Arnborough Hall, and the garden centre on the estate is part and parcel of what he owns. Feeling somewhat out of her league (tried to imagine it myself and my tiny brain could only come up with small town South Auckland girl dating small business owner from Ellerslie or Remuera - I know! I'm so provincial!), Joanna tries to put him off. Which somehow translates to dating him. Then, as if I were not confused enough, she realises she knows his brother. Get this: her ex-boyfriend and she were at a party, he wanted to drive drunk, she tried to take the keys, he drove off with their friend (March's brother) and left her behind, there was an accident, relationship over. In the present, the ex-boyfriend pops up again, turns out he was gay and in love with March's brother but couldn't tell him, March's brother knew but he was into women...and then I got lost. Sometimes it seemed like the brother had a tendre (can't think of another term that isn't rude) for Joanna. And that's without her mother and father who are her mother and father even though she was raised to believe someone else...look, forget it. You read it. He has a bad temper and she's childish - more than once I wanted to kick them. Hard. I'm not, however, going to judge Catherine George by this one novel alone. I intend to read some more of her novels, starting this week. In fact, I'll begin with 'An Italian engagement.' Expect that review on our library website in a few days or so.
