Review: Mildly entertaining, too pat to be good
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 04 8, 2013
The saving grace of "Hero of My Heart" by Megan Frampton is the engaging characters. Both Mary Smith, the unlikely heroine, and Alasdair, Lord Datchworth, need saving and are well developed enough for the reader to get involved in their plight. Sadly, the plot is very thin and the crises are too easily resolved.  Two things really turned me off of this book. First, Alasdair is addicted to opium, although the reason behind that is never quite clearly resolved. He experiences hideous withdrawal symptoms--for about 12 hours!! Then he's off again. Sometimes he takes more opium and staggers around a bit and then goes on. Finally, he withdraws completely with minimal pain and anguish. Now I know that romance novels are not supposed to be realistic, but this really stretches things. For those of us who've read Jo Beverly's story of Darius Debenham's anguished withdrawal in "To Rescue a Rogue," "Hero of My Heart" is nothing short of frivolous nonsense. Secondly, one or two mentions of Alasdair's appealing "musky scent" might be OK, but the repeated use of this phrase is grating and, to tell the truth, just odd. Overall, the novel strikes me as very immature and shallow.