TEST
When it comes to historical romance, I generally stick to Europe. However, stories like Kissing Comfort remind me why I like to venture into American Historical sometimes.
Comfort Kennedy was named after a lozenge. When she was just about five years old, her entire family was massacred while traveling West, and she was the sole survivor. Two men returning from war found her clutching a tin of Dr. Eli Kennedy’s Comfort Lozenges, and adopted her right there. Twenty years later, they are successful bankers and she’s their daughter. They are the cream of the San Francisco crop, but Comfort has thus far evaded marriage — until her friend and first love announces their engagement, without actually proposing to her first. Though she cares for him, she cannot go through with a wedding nor can she embarrass him by calling him out. So she agrees to a sham engagement, with the intention of ending things in a couple of months.
Not especially pleased is Comfort’s fiancé’s brother, Beaumont (Bode) DeLong, who is a far cry from his scapegrace brother. Bode barely manages to keep his family afloat on their shipping business, and can’t abide for his brother Bram’s gambling, womanizing, and general irresponsibility.
I have a soft spot for taciturn heroes that admire from afar, and this describes Bode precisely. A formal and businesslike exterior hides his humor and warmth, but he has long loved Comfort and hates the idea of her marrying his brother, who does not deserve someone like her. A series of events reveal that Comfort’s childhood trauma is not as buried as she might think it is, and that there may be nefarious deeds at work. I hesitate to be more specific than that as much of the truth is not revealed toward the end. The mystery unravels at — mostly — a good pace; however, the reasoning behind Bram’s surprise announcement is part of that mystery, but Comfort appears to know the truth at the get-go. It left me with a feeling of disorientation, like the characters knew something that I missed.
As I said, I really liked Bode, and Comfort as well. They were both strong characters that fit well together and made good partners. They complemented each other quite well, and I enjoyed watching them discover each other’s feelings. The side characters were also well drawn. I loved Comfort’s “uncles,” the men who adopted her. They had such a good rapport and connection that I wondered at times if their business partnership was covering up a more intimate relationship. This is ruled out later in the novel, but it often felt like they were an old married couple.
Jo Goodman is a good writer, and a good storyteller. My only quibble is that there were some awkward point-of-view shifts. Other than that, though, I was frequently impressed by her ability to turn a phrase.
Despite my early confusion, I had a hard time putting this book down. I had a few issues with how the ending was handled — there was a scene that I thought needed to be included, but wasn’t — but as a whole, the story was well formed and will be sure to please fans of American historicals.
Grade: B-
Book Type: American Historical Romance
Sensuality: Hot
Review Date: 01/09/11
Publication Date: 2011/09
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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.