This romance book cover art* is just fantastic. (* Ed: Link dead, long live the link!) The attention to detail reminds me of my favourite Mills and Boon romance novel, that I read at T’s grandparent’s bach in the Queen Charlotte Sounds one Christmas. I feel obliged to give all sorts of excuses for reading this crap – I was on holiday at the beach, it was the only reading material available apart from old National Geographics, I had finished Crime and Punishment … but I will fight the urge. OCCASIONALLY I READ BAD FICTION. Especially if it is around 100 pages, contains more froth than a tall latte, and can be polished off with no effort within 40 minutes. But I digress.
This particular Mills and Boon had suffered a hard life. Falling to bits, it was from the ‘vintage’ era of romance novels where the heroine was either a nurse or secretary. This particular edition was not well copy edited; as I remember, the heroine’s name briefly swapped to that of her sister during one torrid love scene. That woke me from my skim reading stupor – “what the … threeway action? In a Mills and Boon? From … wait … 1951?!” No such luck – the name reverted back to the original and the deeply uninspiring love scene continued.
However, cue later love scene – Stock Romance Cliche #14, where the heroine tries to resist the mesmerising power of her suitor, then crumbles under the weight of his devastating attraction. (These sorts of scenes always make me vaguely uncomfortable – if you don’t even LIKE him, why are you in a deserted moonlit chateau in France together?) But this particular scene is destined to remain permanently engraved in my memory. As she gives way to her passion … and I quote … “she felt something deep within her crack”.
Gold. Pure gold. And I last saw that book over ten years ago.
