Love Song For A Raven

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Love Song For A Raven is a Mira reprint of a 1987 Elizabeth Lowell Silhouette Desire title. It is a moody character-centered story set in the Queen Charlotte Islands.

Janna Morgan is an artist who has come to the islands for inspiration, and to recover from the break-up of her marriage. One day, she is caught in her boat when a sudden storm comes up. Carlson Raven finds her, chilled and suffering from severe hypothermia. When Janna wakes up, she is naked and in bed with a big, handsome, equally naked man who treats her as he would a sister.

Raven and Janna are two lost, lonely, and wounded souls. Raven is a big, tall, Haida Indian. He is handsome and a successful commercial fisherman, but sees himself as an unlovable man. In his eyes, he is too big, too tall, and too Indian to be attractive to any woman. A few years back, Raven had reached out to another lost soul, a woman named Angel (A Woman Without Lies) and had fallen in love with her. When Angel could only feel friendship for Raven, it served to reinforce his feeling that he is fundamentally unlovable.

Janna thinks of herself as a misfit, too. She is not a dainty little woman. She is five-feet-nine inches tall and feels her size makes her unfeminine. Janna was married to a man who was more a friend, and as a result, their love life ranged from dismal to non-existent. Janna blamed herself, and bought shelves of sex manuals trying to find out what was wrong with her. Even when her husband broke down and confessed that he was a homosexual and had married her in an effort to change his sexual orientation, Janna persisted in blaming herself.

Raven is not an overbearing, almost cruel man as are some of Ms Lowell’s later male characters, but is tender, kind, and as close to a Beta male as she can get. And, I liked Janna very much. She was a perceptive woman who was was quick to see the true dynamics of the relationship between herself and Raven. Janna has to convince Raven that what she feels for him is not just gratitude for saving her life, but love.

Like all Elizabeth Lowell books, Love Song For A Raven is extremely sensuous. The love scenes in this book are lyrical, without the edge of cruelty that mars some of her more recent work. Love Song For A Raven is not the book to read if you are looking for action and adventure. After the initial storm where Raven rescues Janna, there are no other dramatic incidents. Angel and her husband make a short appearance, but this is really a two-character book. If you would like to try Elizabeth Lowell, and are not fond of macho, extremely alpha male characters, this is the book to read.

Reviewed by Ellen Micheletti

Grade: B+

Sensuality: Hot

Review Date: 10/06/98

Publication Date: 1998

Recent Comments …

  1. excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.

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