Review: Convolluted plot, a waste of time
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 04 18, 2012
As I read this book, I had the feeling the author had several short stories in mind, and decided to try to blend them into one novel.  Sadly, it just didn't work.  On one hand, the protagaonist is a young penniless female scientist, who takes the a job as paid companion to a girl from Scotland who is promised, sight unseen, to marry a distant relative - who happens to be living in an adobe castle in Texas in the late 1800s, after the Civil War.  The prospective groom is laird of this castle, but also half Comanche.  Of course, he's gorgeous, she's feisty, sparks fly - very formulaic. She hates him, he loves her, yadda yadda yadda.  On the other hand, there's another character who is working on some scientific device that has nothing to do with the story, but the author needed some link to the protagonist.  Throw in the rest of the laird's relatives, who for some unknown reason, still speak with Scottish accents (the laird doesn't), witchcraft, ancient family history, some oddball science, and ancient traditions, and instead of getting an interesting story, you end up with a real mess.  What really turned me off was the expressions the characters used - they were too modern.  Note to author, if you set your book in the past, at least do some research into the vernacular of the time.  Tabitha sounded too much like a Valley Girl, not someone living in the late 1800s.At times this book reads like it was written by a love-struck teenager, other times by a "romance" writer who is following the "How to Write A Bad Romance Novel in 10 Easy Steps" manual.  There are the traditional piercing eyes, solid muscles, sagging knees, racing hearts, etc., but it's almost campy.  More like a spoof than a serious effort.  I kept hoping it would get better, so I kept reading.  It never did get better, and the ending is really poor.I won't be reading anything else by this author.