Where Fires Once Burned by Zelma Orr

Another deeply unfashionable but beautifully written 250 page romance.

April had loved Russ like forever. They married when she was 18. They both worked part-time as well as attending college. Then 3 years into the marriage Russ tell April he feels she’s smothering him with her immature love and that he’s missing out on knowing more experienced women, literally walks out and divorces her 3 months later. April is devastated, has a break-down then quits college and finds a new job driving vans and then big rigs.

Six years later, there has been no-one else for April. She lives a very spartan but generally happy life with her dog Brush, still driving trucks for a living. Russ also still unmarried, has been kidnapped, beaten and held for ransom in Egypt. After 12 days the company pays the ransom and Russ is freed. During his captivity he thought about his life with April and realised he still loved her. So on his release he returns to the apartment he and April shared when they were married, sees a little boy who looks vaguely like April playing on the stairs and assumes April has found happiness with someone else.

Meanwhile April had an accident in her rig when a man driving a stolen vehicle crashed into her. She suffered concussion and sectional amnesia. April cannot remember anything about her life experiences but does remember enough to still work day to day. The accident was reported on the local news station which is how Russ comes back into her life.

So Russ starts dating April all over again. And of course April, even though she doesn’t remember Russ, is receptive to him because he’s the only man she ever loved.
To give April credit she does initially tell Russ to get lost when her memory returns but she soon changes her mind. And Russ’s motives for seeking out April are far from perfect. Ok, he remembered her love whilst he was in captivity, and no other woman has ever cried when he moved on but, I ask myself, will his feelings last any longer than 3 years this time around. In a way, though, it doesn’t matter. Let them find happiness together for as long as it lasts. They’ve both suffered enough.

The story is written in a fantastic natural style. There are no sub-plots or superfluous characters so the reader spends all their time with the main couple. Something else that is unfashionable nowadays. And the bedroom scenes, while not hot, are very sensuous.

The only thing strange about this romance is that despite the cover I gained the impression that it was written by a person of colour about a non-white couple. But that’s the sort of crap Harlequin used to impose on some of its authors.

Lovely, lovely working class american romance which I’ve read many, many times.

Genre; contemporary romance. Movie rating PG13; pre-marital sex; deception.

Try To Remember by Vanessa James

This story is almost a carbon copy of but at the same time completely different from The Devils Advocate written by the same author. This is what happened in the days before sequels became de rigeur. Personally I could read versions of the basic outline forever and a day. Which is two people mending a broken marriage where no adultery is involved.

Ms James utilises her two most effective devices here. The heroine with (selective) amnesia. And the thoroughly evil manipulative relatives. In my opinion American romance writers cannot do evil relatives. I mean. The heroine forgets about the man she loved, the fact that he married her and the baby she lost. For what? To live as a moonling companion to a malicious step-father. The entire plot hinges on the serendipitous death of the step-father. And if that hadn't happened neither Isobel nor Eliot would have found happiness together again. I just wanted to shake the pair of them.

Strictly speaking this story involves TWO doormats. Isobel and Eliot are abominably abused and lead by the nose by their jealous relatives. Both of them are supposed to be intelligent people. Eliot was a lawyer. Pardon me. But when a man marries, he becomes the legal guardian of his wife doesnt he? So why does Eliot allow the step-father to refuse him access to Isobel when she is injured in the car accident? Why does he get himself banged-up on a trumped up charge? Because he's a masochist who loves being a martyr. Thats why.

That Bobbi. What a bitch. That Edmund. What a perv. And let me just explain the 2 sets of parents relationships to each other. Hang on, I don't think I can.

Some readers may ask 'Is Isobel TSTL?' And 'Is Eliot a complete nutcase?' Personally I do not care. Their faults humanise them.

Brilliant story. Beautiful ending.

Genre; contemporary romance. movie rating PG 13; substantial blurring of sexual boundaries with families, porn photos.