Divorced from the would-be-actor father of sixteen-year-old Tara, Amy Stewart's used to immersing herself in her role as a financial analyst, but it's come at the cost of anything approaching a social life. When she enters the virtual world of Buckling Swashes, a pirate massive multi-player online role playing game still in the beta testing stage, it's only to prove to Tara that she can do more than just work.
Unfortunately there seems to be a problem leaving the game - perhaps because she entered during a storm, just as lightening struck. Or perhaps it's just that, new to MMORPGs, she doesn't know the way out. Either way, she's resigned to reaching whatever milestones she needs to in order to attain officer status, thereby winning her bet with Tara and - hopefully - leaving the game. Besides, there's something interesting about playing... Earless Erika, a name Amy came up with on really short notice. She'd never be as bold with the game's baddy, dashing blond Captain Corbin, scourge of the seas. And when Amy discovers that Corbin, the game's creator, can't escape either, they have a real objective - to find and kill the character of the programmer intent on destroying Corbin - in the fantasy and in real life.
This being a romance novel, there's also plenty of sexual attraction and 'physical love' (apparently it's not correct to call the action in romance novels 'sex scenes') interspersed among the fighting and angsting.
I'm no fan of MacAlister - in the past I've found her premises really promising but the execution disappointing, and on occasion book-hurtlingly bad. Her incessant use of the phrase "the English accent" in Improper English, and the allegedly hilarious (and indefensibly lengthy) mascara blob 'spider' scene in the same novel has caused Lynn and I to use 'MacAlister' as shorthand for "great blurb, crap novel" lo! these many years.
I decided a few weeks ago to write a MacAlister review, and was intending to reread my copy of Improper English, which is languishing in a box somewhere at home, but I haven't been able to lay my hands on it. My branch of the library didn't have it, but they did have the then-unread (by me) Blow Me Down and I decided that, anti-MacAlister as I am, a cleanish slate would be fairer.
I must say that I was surprised, though this is in part because my expectations were so very, very low. In so many romance novels the significant stumbling block to happiness could be resolved by a single conversation neither character is willing (for no good reason) to have ("Oh, she's your ward, not your bit-on-the-side/illegitimate-daughter..."), but in this case the couple hurdles were external and reasonable. The plot was somewhat interesting, the characters were differentiated, and though the premise was a bit of a stretch it was more plausible than I initially predicted.
The instant and overwhelming physical attraction was a little too Sookie Stackhouse for me, I could have done without the detailed 'physical love' scenes (using custard as a lubricant doesn't seem hygienic to me, even if it is virtual custard), and the novel did say that the people speak aloud etc during the game, making me worry a bit about Tara wandering in in mid-"my girl parts want you Corbin. Badly!" Which brings me to - girl parts? Ugh! The teen dialogue is no less cringe-worthy, and read to me very much as written by an adult without any kids. Blow Me Down's only two years old, so it's not that it's dated yet. Just tragic.
Plus I have yet to meet the find a lover who writes a deathless marriage proposal, inspired by my (not insubstantial) "deliciously pink and nibbleworthy... delectable breasts..." and this before anything more than nuzzling. I'm clearly hanging out in the wrong reality.
All in all though, less bad than I anticipated, but I don't think I'll be rethinking the whole thing. And there'll undoubtably be another MacAlistair review in this blogs' future. - Alex
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