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Category Romance Review: Tangled Hearts by JoAnn Ross

category romance
Tangled Hearts by JoAnn Ross
Rating: one-half-stars
Published: 1990
Illustrator: Daniel Crouse
Imprint or Line: Harlequin Temptation #333
Published by: Harlequin
Genres: Category Romance, Contemporary Romance
Pages: 224
Format: Paperback, eBook
Buy on: AmazonAbeBooks
Reviewed by: Introvert Reader


Category Romance Review: Tangled Hearts by JoAnn Ross

TOTAL SPOILER ALERT ⚠

The Book

I have to give it to JoAnn Ross for her book Tangled Hearts, in that she tried to do something unique for a category romance novel. It’s just unfortunate for me that I didn’t like where she went with it.

The cover of this Halequin Temptation tells it all, pretty much. There’s a couple engaged in a sexy embrace while in the background is a black-and-white image of a lone man.

The Plot

Alanna Cantrell got married to Mitch Cantrell six years ago. Their whirlwind courtship was passionate and thrilling. But soon afterward, terrorists captured Mitch, a journalist, who was taken hostage and presumed killed.

Over the years Alanna has picked up the pieces of her life. By the time the story opens, she’s seeing Jonas Harte, a staid, steady, predictable kind of guy, certainly not the type to gallivant off to war-torn countries for the thrill of reporting a story. Just as Alanna and Jonas are about to announce their engagement, who should turn up from the dead, but Mitch, Alanna’s husband?

Through flashbacks we are shown how Mitch and Alanna met and see their brief time together before his disappearance. This was the first category romance I recall where the heroine slept with two different men (albeit one in the past and the other in the present).

Although shocked to see Mitch, Alanna’s happy he’s alive, but not necessarily happy he’s back in her life. Alanna claims she’s content with Jonas, an architect, as he’s not the type to ever do anything outrageous and dangerous. Back in her youth, a wild man like Mitch appealed to her. Now that she’s older, she needs a more solid type.

The Two Men

Jonas overhears Alanna complimenting him for his “boring’ qualities and seeks to prove that, in his own way, he’s just as adventurous and passionate as her ex. He is determined to win her over.

Mitch hopes desperately to resume his relationship with his wife, shocked that he’s returned to a much different woman than he remembered.

In the end, too many years have passed for Alanna and Mitch to bridge the gap. Alanna has changed, and so has Mitch, but they didn’t do it together, so they are too far apart to be together once more.

I felt so bad for Mitch, who spent years in captivity, with only his thoughts of Alanna to bring him hope and comfort. When he’s finally released and runs home to meet his wife, a woman who has been more of a fantasy in his mind than substantive reality, she’s moved on.

Final Analysis of Tangled Hearts

I just never warmed up to Jonas, who was sort of milquetoast for my tastes. He was a nice guy but dull. So I think Alanna got with the wrong hero. However, there was a sequel to this book, Tangled Lives, where Mitch met a woman more in tune with his lifestyle.

Again, I appreciated the love triangle aspect of Tangled Hearts, where the two men vying for the heroine’s love are both fundamentally decent people. But I’ve seen this done better in other romances and couldn’t help but feel that poor Mitch got a bad break. My “hated it” rating is a bit harsh, but this romance left a sour taste in my mouth, which I’ve never forgotten.

Rating Report Card
Plot
1
Characters
1
Writing
3
Chemistry
2
Fun Factor
0.5
Cover
2.5
Overall: 1.7

Synopsis

Torn between two lovers

On the eve of her engagement to Jonas Harte, Alanna Cantrell received a most unexpected present the return of her husband, Mitch Cantrell. Six years ago, the dashing foreign correspondent had swept her off her feet. Then Mitch was kidnapped by terrorists and presumed executed. Slowly and painfully Alanna had built a new life for herself.

Mitch wanted his life back… including his wife. Visions of his beautiful bride had sustained him through his captivity. He loved Alanna and swore not to lose her again.

Jonas loved the woman Alanna was now, but could he fight her memories? Jonas vowed to prove that he was the right man. He was determined to win Alanna again!

TANGLED HEARTS BY JOANN ROSS
forever mine valentine crouse

Category Romance Review: Forever Mine, Valentine by Vicki Lewis Thompson

category romance
Forever Mine, Valentine by Vicki Lewis Thompson
Rating: four-half-stars
Published: February 1990
Illustrator: Daniel Crouse
Imprint or Line: Harlequin Temptation #288
Book Series: Mine Valentine Series #2
Published by: Harlequin
Genres: Category Romance, Contemporary Romance
Pages: 224
Format: eBook, Paperback
Buy on: AmazonAbeBooks
Reviewed by: Introvert Reader


Category Romance Review: Forever Mine, Valentine by Vicki Lewis Thompson

MILD SPOILERS ⚠

The Book

Vicki Lewis Thompson‘s Forever Mine, Valentine, Booke #2 in her “Mine Valentine” duology was my introduction to the now, sadly, defunct Harlequin Temptations line.

The Temptation imprint launched in North America in March 1984. These books were far more sensual in nature than Harlequin’s other series, the Romance, Supperromance, and Presents lines. Temptations featured main characters from all walks of life, not just the rich. They took place anywhere, from small towns to big cities to tropical destinations.

The setting of Forever Mine, Valentine, is mainly in a shopping mall in Colorado, where St. Valentine himself is a character in the guise of Charlie Hartmann, a sweet, seemingly doddering old man.

The Plot

Jill Amory left her old life behind–including a stable dentist boyfriend–to wander across the country on foot with just a backpack. She paints windows for businesses to earn a little money and has a deadline to travel through all the States. Jill doesn’t quite know what she wants in life, but she knows it’s not commitment.

Spencer Jegger owns a successful sporting goods store in the mall. He’s athletic, attractive, and friendly to all, including Charlie, who insists that Valentine’s Day miracles are in store for Spence.

Charlie tells a disbelieving Spence that he and Jill are destined to be lovers for life. While Spence doesn’t trust the old man’s predictions, he is interested in Jill.

Spence hires Jill to paint the windows of his store, and in the meantime, he and Jill form a playful relationship with sexual tension bursting through the surface.

Jill is hesitant about getting close to Spence. He’s an incredibly good-looking man and makes his interest in her known. Jill’s mind is not on settling down, not even for a short while for a love affair. She’s aiming to roam, to search for something, some purpose in life.

I didn’t understand Jill’s hesitancy towards commitment to Spence and was glad when she decided she knew where her true home was.

Charlie is a cute character, doing everything he can to get Spence and Jill together. The two are destined for each other, he fervently declares. Isn’t it Valentine’s season? Doesn’t Jill’s surname, “Amory,” has the word love in it?

That’s more than a mere coincidence. It’s a sign from the heavens above that they’re meant to be!

Charlie also has a cute flirtation with an elderly mall walker, a lady who wouldn’t mind cuddling up to the supposed St. Valentine.

A Brief Memory About Forever Mine, Valentine

Forever Mine, Valentine by Vicki Lewis Thompson left quite a mark on my impressionable younger self. This romance introduced my young mind to real love-making in books. I’d read sex scenes before in V.C. Andrews’ Flowers in the Attic and Stephen King’s Carrie. But they were brief and not as detailed as what I read in this one!

My goodness, I was such a dorky, nerdy bookworm back then. I passed this book around to my friends, spreading the salacious content around in school until one day, I got in trouble with my social studies teacher.

She took the book away from me in class one day and made a big scene, which was humiliating, although fortunately, that was the worst of it.

Well, except for the fact that it earned me a reputation for years as “that girl who reads the sex books.”

After a while, I learned not to care about what others thought and held my head high and proud whenever I held a clinch-cover romance, and someone teased me about it.

Never be ashamed of the genre!

Final Analysis of Forever Mine, Valentine

Forever Mine, Valentine was a sequel to Vicki Lewis Thompson’s 1989 Be Mine, Valentine, where Charlie had previously wielded Cupid’s bow and arrow to great success. Yes, the angels from above sent the old scamp down to spread love among mortals!

I loved that aspect of the Temptation line. There was so much variety; the books could have any crazy plot or simple, mundane ones. Temptations told all kinds of stories; the only qualifier was they had to be sexually steamy enough for a new era of romance readers.

This Temptation romance had a hefty dose of humor and lots of steamy love scenes making it an engaging Valentine’s Day treat.

Rating Report Card
Plot
4.5
Characters
4.5
Writing
4.5
Chemistry
5
Fun Factor
5
Cover
4.5
Overall: 4.7

Synopsis

Hartman strikes again!

Old Charlie Hartman was out of his mind! To insist that Spence Jegger would marry the first woman he saw on Valentine’s Day was pure madness, given Spence’s opinion of marriage. And an aging vagabond playing St. Valentine was a bit much for even a friend like Spence to accept. Until Charlie pointed out Spence’s “intended,” Jill Amory.

All Jill wanted, however, was to finish painting Valentine messages on the windows of Jegger Outfitters and be on her way. She had a deadline to meet…on the other side of the country. Now all of a sudden two crazy men – one of them the tempting Mr. Jegger himself – seemed determined to influence her schedule…and her heart.

FOREVER MINE, VALENTINE