Sweet Caroline

Lori likes Tessa Dare stories.


I like Tessa Dare covers.


I guess that's what it is, because I keep buying them and why not? Beautiful covers. A blurb with a hook and a really good sounding plot. Hope springs eternal, as they say.


Then I get to reading and ... it's another DNF. The first book of hers I read, Goddess of the Hunt, the heroine Lucy was an idiot. The book was a DNF for me, my very first one.


I just tried her newest, Romancing the Duke and ... the same thing happened. I couldn't stomach anymore of the sweetness and light of the heroine and the out-of-era things like reenactments (not actors, everyday people reenacting a book). The plot was turning into a farce before my very eyes.


Dare's books are so treacly sweet; so much so that my doctor wanted to do a fasting glucose test on me after I'd read one. Her books have won lots of awards and she has beaucoups of fans, so I know it's just me, but some of her characters make me roll my eyes. And gritting is bad for your teeth, so my dentist says.


I must be one of those people who like angsty books. Or perhaps I'm one of those people who prefers their historical characters to act within the precepts of their era. Dare's characters read too modern to me and usually her plots too.


I hope Lori is enjoying these books. I'm going to have to get myself in hand and quit buying them. Even an old fart like me can learn to say no.


Eventually.