Retro Reads - Romance discussion
Our March Retro Read
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Wow! 1962! Sure, the romance is really tame. A few kisses and that's it. Other than that I didn't get too irritated with the female protagonist. She was more feisty than most in Gothic mystery novels of that time period. She had been married and maybe that made her a bit more mature, but she didn't let these alpha's boss her around. So kudos to Dorothy Eden for a least taking steps in the right direction. I don't mind the romance being toned down and the focus being more on the characters. These books are more mystery/suspense than romance. In this case I never really warmed up to either of the men. Still, this was classic Gothic all the way I loved it!! I missed the first Dorothy Eden retro read, so I don't know about the second part of the question.
I really loved Sinister Weddings, so I was thrilled that we got to read this. But the big difference for me was the romance - or lack of it, more like. In the Sinister stories, the romances were important. Which I guess makes sense, since they were about weddings. In Whistle, I didn't actually realize Cathleen was half serious about either of these guys until the end, especially since she knew she couldn't trust them, and to the men it just seemed like play or manipulation.I think that's what dated it for me - because Cathleen's newly single, everyone just seems to assume she'll want to get hooked up as soon as. And even though there's no real passion with either of them, she also just seems to assume she'll end up with Liam or Rory. Or that's what I felt - that there was no real romance, but because of their situations, it just made sense that she would marry someone.
Also, the fact that six months is long enough to grieve the loss of your entire family, so quit whining - that seemed pretty dated to me too!
But I loved the suspense aspect of the story. I didn't think it was written as well as the Sinister stories - I doubted some reactions and was a bit confused at times - but it was still great fun to read. It definitely was more sombre, although still pretty witty, and I liked that it shared with them a strong heroine.
Lila
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...Here is the link to my review. I didn't love the entire book, but I did love Cathleen. This was an interesting one...not as much romance as I would have anticipated, but really didn't require it to carry the story. Overall it was enjoyable.
My review goes up tomorrow. A couple of days late. I didn't like it. I wish I did. :( From the TBR Pile
Spring looms on the horizon, and it seems that things have gotten, well, a lot greener these days. That’s right—Saint Patrick’s Day is only two weeks away. And though it’s true that these days, most celebrate the holiday by donning green garments and drinking copious amounts of beer, we think the best way to toast all things Irish is by (you guessed it!) picking up a good book.
Dorothy Eden's Whistle for the Crows offers a little Irish romantic suspense this month. Set against the backdrop of an austere Irish castle, with a brooding intense hero and an inquisitive haunted heroine, we'd wager this tale will keep you more than occupied this month.
First things first: this read is super retro (it was first published in 1962). How does its age affect the story? Did you find the romance a bit more "tame" than that depicted in some of our more contemporary retro reads?
We've featured Dorothy Eden's Sinister Weddings as our Retro Reads pick for July 2013. For those of you who have been with us since the inception of the program, in what ways does Whistle for the Crows differ from this title in subject matter and tone?
Whistle for the Crows