Silhouette Intimate Moments, $4.25, ISBN 0-373-07961-3
Paranormal Romance, 1999
A warlock who can take the form of a wolf. In a category romance! By Nora Roberts! The burning rubber tracks on the highway is made by me as I speed off to the bookstore.
Unfortunately, I must be missing the big picture, as my reaction to Enchanted is: “Hmmm, ho hum. Dinkum boo.” I’ve read so many good reviews everywhere about this book that I can’t help but to wonder if I’ve read the Twilight Zone version of the book.
Rowan Murray is your typical heroine: low self-esteem, perfect for the Boost Your Self Confidence (and Libido) Seminar the hero would school her in eventually. She is at a turning point of sorts in her life, and has ditched her teaching life and Ms Obedient persona to do some soul-searching in a friend’s cottage. She, of course, amidst “Oh, this is wonderful! Beautiful! Oh my god, that is fascinating!” gushing of the scenery (to the point of overkill), meets that intriguingly sexy Liam Donovan and a wolf. Too bad she doesn’t know Wolfie and Liam are one and the same.
Liam, too, has some soul-searching to do, as he is contemplating taking over the coven (a job he isn’t too keen on inheriting from dear daddy). The naughty lad takes on wolf form and spies on our heroine bathing. Uh, excuse me while I ponder about the creepiness of this scenario. I like to think my doggies innocent and jolly. Now I’m terrified of talking in front of them.
My reaction to the whole scenario is definitely lukewarm, almost to the point of indifference. Firstly, it is yet another neighbor story – like The Perfect Neighbor (which isn’t a fun story in the first place). The heroine is another replica of that woman from The Winning Hand. The hero is the usual sort. There’s nothing that surprises me in Enchanted – it’s like autopilot reading all the way.
Also, the heroine is annoyingly oblivious most of the time, and her assertion of her own free will comes wee too late to regain my interest. The romantic conflict isn’t anything original or even interesting.
Hence, Enchanted may be a departure for the normal category crowd, nonetheless it isn’t a compelling read for me. I like my paranormal romances to be, well, paranormal, and this book makes a bit too many concessions to the mundane and cheesy side to be memorable.
