Enchanting

by Sharon Green

Unaware that the mystical warrior of her best-selling novel is a real person, author Deanne Lane is amazed when Tarren the Barbarian magically summons her into his world of fire-breathing dragons and invincible armies. Original.

Genres: Romance, Paranormal, Dragons, Fantasy Romance, Magic, Fantasy

448 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1994

About the author

Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Attended New York University and graduated with a B.A. in 1963. Married in 1963, had three sons, divorced in 1976. Raised the sons, Andy, Brian and Curtis, alone in New Jersey. Worked for AT&T as a shareowner correspondent, then as an all-around assistant in a construction company, then sold bar steel for an import firm. Left that job as assistant sales manager. I've been writing full time since 1984.

Hobbies: knitting, crocheting, Tae Kwon Do, fencing, archery, shooting, jigsaw puzzles, logic problems, math problems, not cooking.

Don't do my own research, since if I did I'd stay with that and never get any writing done. I usually can finish a novel of about 120,000 words in about three months.

Reviews

[Eriberri · Rating 1 out of 5]

In my humble opinion, this book really didn't deserve the rating it has on here, at all. I gave it a 2 for the concept alone (the blurb on the back sounded really good), which had real potential but fell well-short in both execution and the style of writing.

I couldn't even finish the whole thing, for several glaring reasons:

Firstly, the female protagonist felt like an obvious self-insertion of the author (or "Mary Sue" if you prefer); she was the sort of woman who was made too look far too perfect and desirable/admired by both male & female - without any flaws to make her endearing or able to be related to by the reader - despite her subsequent dismissive regard for the attention even when she flounced about. Don't get me wrong, I like a strong, intelligent, sure-of-herself protagonist (think Elizabeth Bennett); but while I think she was *meant* to be written as an independent, sexually-aware and confident woman, instead it came across like she had a massive ego and thought herself above everyone else. I couldn't like her at all. which brings me to my second point~

This protagonist is a published author who has been writing this "awesome" fantasy-romance series that is apparently so popular that her agent is praising her to high heaven and begging her for more at the drop of a hat, generally acting in a very overly-friendly and unprofessional -unrealistic!- way for any editor/agent (though she comes across as more of a fan-girl then anything). The protagonist acts dismissive and talks down to her as if the whole idea exhausts her which, again, can you feel the realism! That leads me to my next point~

Everyone finds the hero of her book series absolutely irresistible.. except for her. She can't stand him and frankly doesn't see what the appeal is (also 'I can't let myself get close to him because then I can't write bad things happening to him'.. yeah, whatever, cheap excuse! Countless authors have done it to countless characters that they loved for the sake of the story; in fact, being emotionally-invested in your character makes it an even deeper attachment guiding him through the knocks that make him harder, wiser, more endearing and real; subsequently the authors - and of course we as the readers - appreciate them even more as we see them rise up after the experience).

Really? Come on! This was one of the biggest eye-rolling 'you've got to be kidding me' moments for me while reading this (what I could actually stomach of it). Anyone who has written any kind of original story or novel with original characters can tell you that you invest a special part of yourself in each and every one of them (this I say from personal experience too). Even the villains, no matter how despicable, hold a place in your heart because they're your creation; you own them, you know them, in a way they may even embody certain good and bad qualities that you yourself have - it's what you draw upon (what you know).

So that the protagonist didn't see the appeal for her hero at all and didn't even like him (she says this to her editor..) was totally unrealistic. You create a hot sexy hero in a romance story based upon what you yourself find appealing in a man - otherwise how could you make him convincingly attractive and proceed to write and entire series about him.

Okay, wrapping this up (ironic that a book I don't like could warrant such a long review. Yikes!); Overall the authors' style of writing in was really not to my taste, it felt like it was written by an over-excited teenage girl with little-to-no experience of the world besides what she's seen on TV/movies.

Feel sorry for the sexy hero - he was too good for his creator and really didn't deserve to end up with her, but I gave up on this long before I even got to that point (it was too much for me).

[L.W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pleasant surprise. I knocked it off the bookshelf in the store and read the back as I put it back...and decided it looked interesting. The story line was a little different from the normal stuff and the woman was a strong clear headed thinker. Mix an Alpha Male and Clear thinking woman and spit will hit the spam. I didn't want to put this down. This is a first time read of this author's work and I will go look for some more of her work as it was a pleasant way to spend the evening.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was hit and miss for me. While parts were entertaining, parts dragged on.

[Marcie · Rating 5 out of 5]

personally, I think this book is very good and very entertaining

[Adriana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enchanting by Sharon Green

I enjoyed this interesting story.

The description of the book I am listing below is from the back jacket of the book. I'm adding it because I believe the one on the Goodreads page does not depict this story.

She created him—a handsome hero whose breathtaking adventures leapt from her computer to capture the imagination of millions. Tarren the blue-eyed Barbarian had not only swept Deanne Lane into a fantasy world...he has made her a bestselling author.

What Deanne doesn't know is that in a mystical kingdom a warrior named Tarren really does exist—a man bewitched by this emerald-eyed sorceress who demands he risk his life again and again. Now, with the help of a little magic, Tarren will take Deanne into a world of giant serpents, invincible armies...and a magnificent love beyond her most passionate fantasies...

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I was a wonderful, well written story.