TEST
Bedroom Eyes is a modern fantasy, and it’s cute enough in places. But I know if I’m asked a year from now if I’ve read it, I won’t remember it.
Tax attorney Penelope Sue Fields has recently been recruited away from a prestigious Chicago law firm to relocate to a prestigious New Orleans law firm. Penelope is illegitimate and has no idea who her father is; her late mother had been a waitress, and wanted super-smart Penelope to make something much better of herself, so she pushed Penelope into law school when Pen would much rather have become a gourmet chef. As soon as she hits New Orleans, man-shy Penelope is adamantly pursued by David Hinson, a powerful attorney in whom Penelope is somewhat interested, but she doesn’t understand why he would “settle” for a woman as plain and boring as she.
Tony Olano (and Dawn? Sorry, but I couldn’t get past this character’s name) is a former cop who is after Hinson for his underworld crime dealings. While Tony-O is staking-out Hinson, he finds himself attracted to the woman ladies-man Hinson seems to be hitting on at the moment, so finds ways to keep crossing paths with her. Jettisoned from the force for taking a bribe, Tony has little to fill his time, so he manages to show up wherever Penelope goes.
All this seemed to be heading in an okay direction, when we are thrown a curve with the introduction into the plot of Mrs. Merlin, a lady who dabbles in “candle magick.” Mrs. M. has managed to get herself reduced to a height of 6″ and implores Penelope for help. Penelope, who has an active fantasy life, including a make-believe lover named Raoul, agrees, and takes Mrs. Merlin home with her where they try to work some spells to make things right again.
The remainder of the book deals with getting Mrs. Merlin back into regular human form, and with Tony’s continuing pursuit of Penelope. Frankly, I didn’t really know what to make of this story. It was part fantasy, part crime drama, part romance, but none of the parts really complimented the others, and instead fragmented the story. I never really got a handle on these characters, either, never learned to care about them. As heroes go, Tony was nice enough. He was not too alpha, was genuinely attracted to Penelope, and acted with honor just when it was appropriate to do so.
Obsessed with getting Penelope to bed, and, knowing she is inexperienced, Tony sets up a romantic, lunch-time interlude at a quiet, secluded, quaint New Orleans hotel, where he takes her virginity, makes love to her several times, then turns on her and makes a thoroughly heartless remark to her for absolutely no reason! It was so out-of-character, I almost threw the book down. And, he never apologizes nor refers to the incident for the remainder of the story. Plus, Penelope, hurt to the core by this abrupt cruelty, doesn’t tell him to take a long walk off a short pier, but instead vows to find a way to win him back! I was originally going to give this book a C, but that scene alone is responsible for the minus that goes with it.
The fantasy element in this story never took flight for me. An author must make the reader suspend belief in order for fantasies to work. I was never able to suspend belief in Bedroom Eyes, so the whole Mrs. Merlin thing could have been eliminated, and I wouldn’t have missed it at all.
Bedroom Eyes is not “bad” and I would say it might be okay “summer reading” if I knew just what in the heck that meant since I look for good reading in each of the four seasons, but you’re going to have to be a fantasy-genre-fanatic to get more out of this one than I did.
Grade: C-
Book Type: Fantasy Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 25/06/98
Publication Date: 1998
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.