"character-driven paranormal romance that delivers"
It was a dark and stormy night...
No, let's start at the beginning.
Alaina Costanza is a lonely historical romance author whose
life consists of typing on her keyboard and caring for her
daughter Kelly. Her past is as dark as a storm cloud, and
that darkness hides memories of despair and lurking madness. And yes, it was a dark and stormy night when her daughter
went away to camp, and she sat down to write a chapter of
her latest book set in the Wild West. When lightning
strikes a tree in her backyard, jumps through her window
and into her computer, yes, you guessed right, she faints
only to wake up in her own book, in the middle of the bank
robbery scene, to interfere, and to be kidnapped by Killian
the villain. She doesn't believe her eyes and Killian doesn't believe
her. She questions her sanity and he questions her honesty
as they travel to a hidden camp where he will share the
loot between the members of the gang. But nothing is what
it seems and they both will have to learn that the ways of
love are unpredictable and magical - not to mention cruel,
if you remember Kelly who is going to return to the empty
house in two weeks! WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES is not what it seems if from the
lovely premise you expect a romantic fantasy exploring the
endless possibilities of an author being in her own book.
The ways of love may be unpredictable but, sadly, the ways
of plotting are completely predictable. The time
travel/reincarnation twist is thrown in early and its
simplicity is disappointing. Before the twist the book is
fresh and original, after the twist it becomes just one
more paranormal romance with rather tired plot devices. However, the author's voice is both strong and lyrical, the
descriptions are vivid, the dialogue rings true and the
characters are real people. Very real; flawed and
complicated, never stereotyped, and in no way larger than
life. They aren't super-witty, or eccentric, or gorgeous.
They are two people who discover each other. A man and a
woman. One would expect such characters in women's fiction,
not in a whimsical paranormal romance, and they bring a
sense of reality to it, a sort of down-to-earthiness that
makes the story strangely believable. The romance itself is
slow burning, tender, and touching in its soft, deep,
bittersweet ripening. I wasn't surprised when I found out the author had switched
to women's fiction. As a serious, realistic when it comes
to feelings, character-driven romance it does deliver, even
more than you could wish for, it's excellent - strong and
true to life. As a paranormal romance, it has a great
premise but runs out of breath after several chapters and
never recovers. Reviewed by Daria Karpova
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted April 13, 2003
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