Dark Fever, by Charlotte Lamb, is part of her series based on the Seven Deadly Sins, with the theme of lust. It’s also a terrible romance with a bizarre and unsatisfying storyline.
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by Charlotte LambRating:
Published: 1995
Illustrator: TDB
Imprint or Line: Harlequin Presents #1840
Book Series: Deadly Sins #5
Published by: Harlequin, Mills & Boon
Genres: Category Romance, Contemporary Romance, Romance with Rape Element
Pages: 187
Format: eBook, Paperback
Buy on: Amazon, AbeBooks
Reviewed by: Introvert Reader
TOTAL SPOILER ALERT ⚠
The Book
I’ve said this before about a Charlotte Lamb book, but now I really mean it: this is the worst romance she wrote I’ve ever read! I don’t think I’ve ever hated a Harlequin Presents as much as Dark Fever. No, it wasn’t boring. It was bizarre and awful, leaving me with a horrible feeling!
The Plot
Dark Fever was part of a series of books based on the Seven Deadly Sins. The theme of this novel is lust, although there’s no sexual intercourse in it. I thought this book’s theme of sin was gluttony because of all the talk of food. It was set in Spain, after all.
Bianca has just turned 40 years old. She is a widow of three years, still mourning for her husband. Bianca has two teenagers and feels down in the dumps, so she goes on a trip to Spain. She sees a handsome man swimming in a pool at her hotel and instantly falls in lust.
The man, Gil, is much younger than Bianca. He is also deeply attracted to her, and he cares for her as well. They flirt; she teases him. Ultimately, her feelings for her dead husband create an overwhelming sense of guilt over the sexual desire she feels for another man.
Then a tragedy occurs: Bianca gets brutally beaten and almost raped. Her trauma causes her to become disgusted at the idea of sex. Most of the book entails this: not the relationship with Gil, but Bianca’s healing from her ordeal. Sadly, she seems not to have truly recovered.
Bianca says goodbye to Gil and goes back to England. However, Gil feels far more for Bianca than she does for him, so he follows her and declares his love.
The Awful Ending
The end of this strange book is the insulting coup de grace:
“…I’m not even asking you to marry me, Bianca, I’m only saying I want to get to know you better.”
She met his eyes. “You want to sleep with me—isn’t that what you’re saying?”
“You know I do,” he said huskily. “I won’t lie about that—I want you, I said so, but not until you’re ready.”
“And if I never am?“
He grimaced. “I’ll have to live with that won’t I?“
“Yes,” she said her gaze defiant.
DARK FEVER
Bianca stares at herself in the mirror as she prepares for their first date, thinking she’s too old (at only 40!) for romance and may be in it for a short-term fling.
Who knows what will happen? It’s a mystery that ends unresolved.
Final Analysis of Dark Fever
This was a romance novel? What the ever-loving hell?
I understand some modern romances don’t end with a HEA but with “happy enough for now,” but that is not what I expect when I read a Harlequin Presents! Especially one written long ago, in 1995.
Dark Fever by Charlotte Lamb was “women’s fiction” published as a romance, and I hated it!
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| Overall: | 1.3 |
COVER POINTS DO NOT COUNT!
Synopsis
Bianca was enjoying her first holiday since the death of her beloved husband, three years ago….Until she met Gil Marquez, the owner of the hotel where she was staying. Gil opened up such intense feelings of desire in Bianca, which she hadn’t known she possessed. How could she want this man with such dark intensity, yet be certain that she was falling in love…?
Dark Fever by Charlotte Lamb