The Courtship Dance by Candace Camp **
I give up. Really.
I'm not really sure why I've continued to read this author's work. I'm consistently disappointed. Well, no, that's not the right way to put it. I'm consistently underwhelmed. This book was not as bad as some of the others in the series, but it was up there.
Francesca was once engaged to Sinclair. A woman claimed to be Sinclair's mistress, so naturally Francesca believed her (even though the woman was not nice, a liar, and the "villain" in another book) and broke off with Sinclair. Many years later Francesca finds out she did something stupid. How is she going to fix this? She will find Sinclair a wife, of course! Because naturally the reason he's never married is because of his broken heart over her. Sinclair decides this is a DELIGHTFUL idea, because then he can get what he really wants, which is Francesca to marry him. Sound convoluted and a little absurd? It is.
Francesca went from being a funny, sophisticated, competent woman, to being a whiny, insecure, weepy, stilted woman. The majority of the book took place as her internal monologue. There was almost no input from Sinclair. We have no idea why he felt the way he did, why he acted the way he did. I get that this author doesn't bounce back and forth between point of view, but since there was so little EXTERNAL dialogue we could get no real impression of him.
I am not a fan of the Big Misunderstanding. Even less than that am I a fan for the "I had a poor sex life with my prior spouse, therefore I must be frigid." The CONSTANT references to her "cold nature" and frigidity were tiresome and unnecessary. I get that she felt insecure. I do not get how, after consummating the relationship, there is no reference to the amazing "recovery" she made.
The whole concept of Francesca finding Sinclair a wife to make up for the Big Misunderstanding was kind of funny at the end of the prior book. In actuality, though, the premise didn't work. The only person it made sense to was Sinclair, given his motives, but we were never privy to his motives! The dialogue is labored, not witty. The best thing I can say about the sex scenes is that they were brief. There is, as always, quivering and molten pooling, but thankfully only 2 references to loins.
Basically, I've given up. I have tried to like this author, I really have. She's not horrible and I know she tries hard. Her *characters* are good. The story lines are okay. But the books are flat. And they leave me rather sad that I've spent the time on them. So I'm done. I'm just calling it a day and saying, straight up, that this author and I are clearly not a good match. So I'm breaking up with her. I'm sure it's not her, it's me. Can't we stay friends? But not ones that see eachother -- just ones that if we bump into each other at the bookstore, there will be no hard feelings.
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