Saturday, October 04, 2008

Claiming His Runaway Bride - Yvonne Lindsay

Reading this book really brought home to me all the reasons why I've always loved category romance - the intense focus on the romantic relationship, the raw emotional power of a story when it's done well, and the sheer un-put-downability factor. This book had all of them.

Here's the blurb:

He Didn't Want Her To Remember...


The accident that had taken Belinda's memory had provided Luc with the perfect means for revenge. His beautiful bride had no recollection of fleeing her groom on their wedding day...or the real reason behind their union. All she recalled was the unbridled passion they still shared--and the steely-eye mogul planned to take full advantage of it.


Full disclosure - Yvonne is a very close friend of mine and she sent me a signed copy as a gift, but the instant I started reading, all I cared about was the story. I curled up in a chair, opened it to the first page and didn't get up again until I'd turned the last page. I had to see if these two would manage to heal their relationship, but not only that, if their HEA (Happy Ever After) would be believable.

I'm happy to say that by the end, I really felt that Belinda and Luc had come through the fire and would make it. For me, the pivotal point was Luc's realization in the final part of the book about an integral aspect of his nature and how it had affected his relationship with his wife - it was a very, very powerful emotional moment, and something you rarely see in these hard-edged alpha heroes.

So needless to say, this is highly recommended! You can read an excerpt on Yvonne's website.

Any other category fans? Who are your favorite authors? Favorite types of category stories?

7 comments :

Sayuri said...

I'm a category junkie, I have to admit. Just now my fav line is the Blaze line. There are some great authors in that line right now. Sarah Mayberry is by far my fav. Everything she has done is just brilliant. Despite the short format she always manages to get to the heart and emtion of the story right away.

Lori Borrill, Jo Leigh, Kathleen O'Reilly, Leslie Kelly and Kate Hoffman are all excellent as well. I've glommed the lot of them

I'm deffo checking out your rec. Sounds good!

May said...

I love category but sometime it finished too soon.

I used to read Silhouette's Intimate Moments (now Romantic Suspense) but a lot of my favorite left. So now I mostly follow the author, no matter what line they wrote.

I loved Kathleen O'Reilly (just found her this year), Alison Kent, Marilyn Pappano, Nina Bruhns.

Anonymous said...

I cut my romance reading teeth on category but like May said, many of my faves left and I followed them. I do prefer the longer length books now - you get more characterisation and a deeper story arc. Although many of my keepers are from category, Linda Howard, Nora Roberts, Sandra Canfield/Karen Keast to name a few, and I dearly love a re-read of these.

I do still buy Jo Leigh - she writes for Blaze.

Have a great weekend Nalini :D

Heather said...

I started reading romance back in the day. I definitely have my favorite catagory authors, however I will read anything as long as the story catches my attention.

Jennifer K. said...

I used to pretty much only read category, back when Kay Hooper, Iris Johansen, Linda Howard, Elizabeth Lowell, etc. were writing for them. I kind of migrated with them to more single titles and away from the categories as their careers took off.

I don't read them so much anymore, but I have had my eye out for some of Nalini's and for some of Jessica Bird (J.R. Ward's) category books. They're hard to come by, though.

Shaymless Aymless said...

Hmm... Don't usually read the Desire series much anymore, but I'll put it on my list since you usually lists some good one here.

PS. Finally got copy of HtP! It only took a month and four bookstores to find it! *g*

NAVAL LANGA said...

To Ms. Nalini singh

I have just read some of your posts. It is needless to say that I liked the writing, especially the style.

I liked the way in which you put the words in creating the whole scene of a meaning. For other aspects of the writing, I can talk later on.

If you are fond of reading short stories and other writings by an Indian author, do visit my blogs.

Naval Langa