Somebody Wonderful

This book was originally published by Zebra in 2004, and I'm going to give Kate Rothwell (aka Summer Devon) the benefit of the doubt and say that she has become a much better writer in the ensuing 11 years since her debut. Because this book is ridiculous. It would be easier to think that the heroine, Timona (“Timmy”) is from another planet or from the future than to believe that a late-19th century heroine would act, think, or talk the way she does. She decides within about 12 hours of meeting the hero that she is in love with him and wants to marry him, she has 21st century sex-positive attitudes that are explained away because she traveled the world with her absent-minded archaeologist father and her brother told her the facts of life, she charms everyone she meets from rich to poor, she laughs in the face of danger, and of course she is strikingly beautiful. Oh, and she knows how to fight with a knife (but she still needs to be rescued by the hero several times). One extra star for the gruff but adoring beta hero Mick (although the old “I found her on the streets so she must be a whore” trope hasn't worked since The Flame & the Flower.)

I have enjoyed several historical M/M romance novels co-written by Summer Devon and Bonnie Dee, but now I'm wondering if I should think twice about trying another one. Oh, let's chalk the ludicrousness of this book up to Zebra's mediocrity and the author's inexperience.