Arabesque, $5.99, ISBN 1-58314-244-4
Contemporary Romance, 2001

Deirdre Savoy is very fond of writing unrealistically bad female skank-ho villains. I don’t know why, but I’m not too fond of this author’s reliance on female cat fights to move a story.

Thankfully, while there are skank-hos and cat fights in Midnight Magic, it is also a very readable story. It’s actually sort of a flashback-and-forth story about Elise and Garret Taylor, husband and wife. I am told how they met back in college as well as their present dilemma, where Elise suspects that Garret is hiding things from her. What could he be hiding from her, hmm?

Well, how about this whopper: he is coauthoring a book on pediatric stuff and his co-author is one sexy mamma who has the eye on him. Oh dear. Is a 17-year marriage going to go up in flames soon?

Of course not. Follow the late Barbara Cartland’s advice on how married couples must take luxury re-honeymoon trips every year (yeah, Ms Cartland, but I don’t see you leaving me any money for my trip in your will), these two go to the Caribbean for some fun, thong, and sun. I hate these people. I need a vacation and where do I go? The kitchen for some brandy. I really hate these people.

Ahem. Anyway, what happens is that this couple have to talk, really talk for the first time about feelings, fears, insecurities, and such. It’s nice to see a romance novel that focuses on this sort of thing. Ms Savoy’s approach isn’t that smooth – she still tends to make the hero always right too often for the whole relationship soul-baring thing to be effective. Still, it’s a decently done relationship dynamic. I do find Elise and Garret monotonously perfect at times, and sometimes the emotional scene seems stilted.

Still, compared to this author’s previous efforts, this one is pretty good. There’s some emotion, some laughter, and just enough love and soul.