Trust Me, by Brenda Novak [Mira Books, 2008] 

David Willis: Caregiver

David Willis is part Best Friend, part Caregiver.  He’s continual friend to ex-wife Lynette, peripheral friend to Skye Kellerman, and caregiver to his son, Jeremy.  He’s an all-around good guy who has a deep sense of responsibility toward those he loves and to those he’s made promises to.      

STATS: David has been a cop with the Sacramento Police Force for thirteen years and one case has affected him more deeply than any other.  Oliver Burke, who is at San Quentin for the rapes and murders of several women, almost raped Skye Kellerman.  Had it not been for a pair of embroidery scissors, David never would have had the chance to know–and fall in love with–Skye.

THE LOOK:

He’s tall and lanky.  “We’re talking two hundred pounds of lean muscle, the tightest ass I’ve ever seen and the kind of lips that could keep a woman on her back for weeks.” 

LEADING LADY:

Skye Kellerman is one of three co-founders of The Last Stand, an organization to help victims of violent crime.  Her passion comes from her personal experience with crime–a near rape and murder by a man she helped to put behind bars.  

She and detective David Willis have a tortured love for each other.  Tortured because David has honorable intentions to keep his family intact for the sake of his son–at the cost of his own happiness.  He struggles with mending his broken marriage because of his promise to his son, Jeremy, that he’d move back in and be together again as a family.  He’s noble, almost to a fault, but nobility in this day and age is to be revered.

BOTTOM LINE:

David Willis and his nobility/honorability is a hero to love.  Despite his enormous internal conflict, he manages to stand by both his ex-wife [who has MS] and Skye Kellerman, the woman he truly loves.  

Though he’s a great hero, Trust Me is really Skye’s story.  She loves David, but is resolved to live her life without the man she loves because she won’t be his leftovers.  She knows she deserves more than that and she is ready to give him up because of her own sense of honor.

David and Skye compliment each other.  If they are able to outsmart Oliver Burke and survive his release from San Quentin, they just might have a chance at love.  You’ll have to read Trust Me to find out what happens to Skye and David.

QUESTION OF THE DAY:

Brenda Novak has created a unique setup for her Last Stand series.  The Last Stand is an organization that supports victims.  This premise itself is noble and gives Trust Me [and the other books in the series] characters who’ve legitimately suffered and who deserve happiness.  

Victims and victim’s rights are tough subjects to talk about.  What do you think of the way Brenda Novak handles a very difficult social issue?

The Lost Duke of Wyndham, Julia Quinn [Avon Books, Harper-Collins, 2008]

When I read the back cover of Julia Quinn’s newest book, The Lost Duke of Wyndham, and saw that the hero was a highwayman, I immediately thought of the classic epic poem called, ‘The Highwayman’ by Alfred Noyes.  That poem is in the majority of 7th or 8th grade literature books  [it is filled with figurative language–a teacher’s delight].  The Highwayman has always been a favorite of mine because it’s so much fun to teach and discuss with students who are just discovering poetry.

A highwayman has a special appeal to me and so I bought this book and delved right in.   It didn’t disappoint.  Jack Cavendish-Audley is a charming, Robin Hood character.  He’s a highwayman and smooth as silk.  And just like in Alfred Noyes’s poem, his heart is true and he loves but one woman.

Stats:

Highwayman.  Rogue.  Swashbuckler.  He’s tall, dark, and handsome, rides a stallion name Lucy, and is trying desperately to hide elements of his past that he’d rather remain secret.  He has a deep appreciation for art and can read volumes into the paintings he admires.  He’s not so much into books, or reading of any kind, but a man of remarkable intelligence and impeccable manners, even when he’s robbing you blind.  JQ tends to give her heroes small disabilities that they are able to overcome–it makes the men real and vulnerable and Jack Audley is no exception.

The Look:

With his mask on, there’s not much to look at except his mouth.  “…his lips were so full of movement, so perfectly formed and expressive, that she almost felt she could see him.  It was odd.  And mesmerizing.  And more than a little unsettling.”

Jack has a smooth voice, like fine brandy, and eyes that are heavily-lidded and seductive.  His crooked smile is devilishly charming.  It hints at the secret things he’d like to do to a woman.  His clothes are well-worn [the dowager Duchess of Wyndham, aka Jack’s dear old Grandmama, would call them tattered and unacceptable].  He cleans up well, however, once he’s at Belgrave Hall.

Leading Lady:

Grace Eversleigh, companion to the dowager.  She’s an intelligent, impoverished innocent who is inexplicable smitten by the highwayman.  She reacts to his smile, then to his intelligence and appreciation of art, and finally to his visual caresses.  She’s an honorable woman who balances the [conceivably] in-honorable Jack [highwayman and all that].

The Final Analysis:

Find the Lost Duke of Wyndham!  It’s a fast read, a 3 course meal that is full of satisfying delights, and is as humorous as all of JQ’s other reads.  Jack Cavendish-Audley’s Robin Hood sensibility stems from his core and makes his plundering excusable, and even, one might say, acceptable and worth cheering.  He’s had his share of women [masterfully ensuring that no babies are sired by him], but he has saved his heart for Grace, and only Grace.

Question of the Day:

What is it about the Swashbuckler that is appealing?  Could you overcome the conceivably in-honorable traits of a highwayman?

The Frog Prince by Jane Porter

Warner Books, 2005

Part Sage and part Free Spirit, Holly Bishop, from Jane Porter’s The Frog Prince, is a pretty likable heroine.  Raised on white bread and fairy tales, her world falls apart when her happily ever after dissolves before her eyes.  Her beautiful husband Jean-Marc reveals after a year of marriage that, well, he’s just not that into her.  No attraction.  Nada.  Zilch.

So what does Holly do?  She moves to San Francisco where she works as an event planner.  

Stats:

Di-Vorced.  

Employed, but overworked and under-appreciated.

Mother issues.

Father issues.

Boss issues.

The Look:

Holly starts out a little soft around the edges [read: not in shape] but begins to workout and so gets a hard[er] body and is pretty shapely by the end in her ‘leather and lace’ outfit [“Elvira-meets-Dr. Frank N. Further costume the local Castro sex shop has so thoughtfully assembled”].  She’s pretty, but not beautiful.

Holly, stripped down:

“…I see a shimmer of my face in the reflective stainless steel of the elevator ceiling, and for a moment I understand what this man sees–good hair, good face, good look–but instinctively I know that what he wants isn’t me.

He has his own idea of me.  His own wish for me.  I’d be the woman he needs, not the woman I probably am, and it crosses my mind that all the hair and clothes and makeup we women wear just add to the deception.  Our exterior covers more than it reveals.

I’m not always so impeccably groomed, and I don’t want to be Barbie.  And yet to get the attention, many of us put our best face forward, the carefully plucked, arched eyebrow, the flawless foundation, the smooth matte lip liner with the smoother tawny lipstick.  It’s the illusion of a perfect face, but for me it’s not my real face.  My real face is like me.  Crooked.  Flawed.  Likable if you get to know it.  But most men don’t get to know it.  They get to know the shiny Holly, the Holly who cleans up well, the one who can talk sports and make pleasant conversation, and for most men, it’s enough.

For most men, that’s what they want.  Well, that and nice tits and a hopefully cellulite-free ass.  Oh, and also hot in bed, and a mouth that’s big enough to give a great blow job.  And the desire to give frequent head.  Have I forgotten anything?

I don’t think so.”

This passage from The Frog Prince hits the nail on the head.  This is the Fairy Tale, busted wide open.  What women present to the world [how we perpetuate our own fairy tale demise] and how all that does is set up expectations that can only be broken once our flaws are revealed.  Porter, via her character, Holly, is perceptive at times, and that’s what makes Ms. Bishop such a good heroine.  Her happily ever after doesn’t require a man.  He’s just a perk.

The Bottom Line:

While I didn’t like that Holly didn’t really seem to recognize that Brian saw her for who she was, I understand it.  Her fairy tale couldn’t have a prince at the end.  At one point she thinks: “…even Brian Faden, who is smart and clever, thoughtful and helpful, isn’t what I need.”  She discovers is that she needs to love herself.  It’s a fairy tale and she’s the love story.  The fact that she still was thinking about ‘Gorgeous Guy’ at the end of the book made the self-realization a tad incomplete for me, but it was still a satisfying ending and a good book.  A great beach or summer read.  

Holly Bishop has a fun, perceptive voice and I rooted for her, and really, what more can you ask for?  

Question of the Day:

I’m reading Flirting With Forty next.  What is your favorite Jane Porter book?    

Is Nemo or his dad, Marlin, a bigger hero in the movie FINDING NEMO?  I think it’s a toss up.  They both undergo a huge change in their understanding of themselves and of each other.  And they both perform heroically in various scenes.  Today, I’ve chosen Marlin as my hero profile.  He’s a little bit charmer and a little bit professor and he’s all fish.

STATS:

Marlin is a clown fish who can’t manage to tell a funny joke.  He stops to explain his joke, thereby ruining the flow and punchline.  He lost his wife and million little babies to a baracuda attack at their anemone home and the tragedy left him full of fear for his one remaining fishy son, Nemo.

THE LOOK:

Orange, white and black.  He’s a looker.

LEADING LADY:

Dori, the memory-challenged blue fish that helps Marlin find Nemo and becomes his companion.  She challenges Marlin without trying by forcing him to face his insecurities and by bringing him into situations that require him to dig deep within himself in order to survive or overcome.  For example, when Dori joins three sharks and their Fish Are Not Food Recovery Meeting, Marlin must control his own fear in order to ensure that Dori is safe. 

Likewise, Marlin helps Dori reach inside herself and pull out memories that end up helping them find Nemo.  The two fish compliment each other and bring out the best of each other, and what more could a clown fish want from a platonic partner?

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Finding Nemo is a fanstastic movie full of character arcs, wrought with conflict, and deep with emotion.  Marlin is portrayed as a caring, if over-protective, dad who must learn to let his son make his own mistakes.  It’s a hard lesson for both Marlin and Nemo, especially when Nemo, in true teenage form, rebels and gets himself trapped in a dentist’s fish tank.  But it’s the heroic nature of Marlin, Nemo, Dori, and the fish in the tank that parallel the heroism that is in all of us.  Friendship, in fact, is the element that fosters the heroism in these characters. 

FINDING NEMO contains lessons for all of us, and the characters, particularly Marlin and Nemo [for us parents] exemplify the heriosm that we may not always see in ourselves and in our children.

Question of the Day:

Is Nemo or Marlin more of a hero in FINDING NEMO?