A Fine Passion Description:

A Fine Passion review:
4 stars (At last a story about a strong woman with an acutal strong woman) - Many romance storys thrive on the play between the hero and the heroine. Between the strong minded blue-stocking and the yet to be reformed rake... But most fail in actually giving the reader a strong female heroine. Oh she might give the hero a little trouble in the beginning but then she goes all mullen headed and falls in love and loses her brains.



Not so in the tale... I felt the author did a much better job at having two strong characters and yet having them fall in love without their brains oozing out their ears.



The author also presents the reader with a interesting story and mystery along with the romance. This is why Stephanie Laurens continues to be one of my favored romance writers.
4 stars (Overdone on the Strong Female...) - Although overall I like this book, just like most, I found it to be a little wordy and long-winded. The thing that bothered me the most, though I like women with a backbone, is that she had to be in charge ALL THE TIME. Sometimes I wanted to say, "For goodness sake, let HIM be a man!". Also, the word "haughty" was used over and over again. Personally, I don't want to be around a person - male or female - who is constantly referred to as haughty. Also, it seemed like every time Jack said something, her response was "hummph". What does that mean? Although I liked her somewhat, I definitely liked his character much more. She seemed to me to be one of the two extremes - either incredibly prickly or incredibly passionate; there was no happy medium.



I know this all sounds like I hated the book, which I didn't. I just think it drug on a little too long - perhaps like my review!
4 stars (Enjoyable read) - I enjoyed the main characters, Jack and Clarice, of this story. She is a woman raised to be a prominent member of society, and has inherited the forceful personality of her father. That personality is at odds with the society of which she is part, and results in her banishment. She is a woman who holds no regrets, is decisive, and a natural leader during a time period that is not favorable to women, their education, and especially their outspokeness.

Jack is a man who has spent years spying, trying to blend in, trained to "read" people, and look for their hidden motives. He enters society and finds that being back home does not mean these people are better than those he was spying on. His attraction for Clarice is a first physical, but develops because he sees in her honesty (to the point of bluntness), integrity, and intelligence. And he appreciates those qualities in her. Does she have a forceful personality? Yes, but he is not threatened by it, and ultimately comes to deal wtih it, value it, and all without changing her.

I truly enjoyed reading about Jack and Clarice learning to get to know one another, meshing their personalities in compromise, and come to realize their feelings for one another.

The author focused most of the book developing the main characters, rather than the minor plots that initially brought the two characters together. She was at times too wordy, and she has a habit of writing two to three word sentences in a string in an effort to add emphasis to her point..instead this becomes annoying and distracting, and loses its use as a literary device. But, I liked this book much better than the previous Bastion Club book, A Lady of His Own.