I have had a hard time getting into other Laurie McBain novels, but TEARS OF GOLD had a plot and a heroine that really draws a reader right into the thick of her story.
I first read TEARS OF GOLD when it first came out. (I am that old!) I remembered liking it back then, and I wanted to see if it would hold up for me today. There are plenty of romance novels written during the 1970's and 1980's that I can't touch with a barge pole. Either they're filled with rape or other violence against women or they've got other weird issues that I just don't like. Most often, the romance is just too convoluted -- you're given a hero who has distrust and contempt for a heroine throughout the book-although they don't have a problem shagging like rabbits- only to have him confess his love 3 pages before the end. I hate that.
But thankfully, TEARS OF GOLD is a full, rich romantic novel, with a background and a love story that feels -- well, like a real story is being told. Nicholas and Mara aren't cardboard figures. Mara is initially depicted as a beautiful opportunist, but she has a heart that's been wounded, and her love for Nicholas (as well as her love for her family) will change her over time. Nicholas is an alpha-male, but he has a past that's wounded him, too. And gradually, over the pace of the story, Nicholas learns to trust and to love again. Nicholas doesn't apply force to Mara or consistently treat her with disdain. There's always an element of attraction, and later, love, in his feelings for her, even though he's strongly convinced of her duplicity in the first part of the story. (And he's got reason to be. Even if she's not a devil, Mara is not exactly an angel either.)
This is a long, well-plotted romance novel. I was honestly surprised all over again by how detailed and involved this story really is. It opens in London, moves to gold-rush-era California, and progresses to pre-Civil War New Orleans. Most romance novels written today take place in just one setting, over a shorter period of time, and have fewer subcharacters. For me, it was a pleasure to read a romance novel whose story took place over the course of a few years, in different countries, and yet never let character development or the love story lie dormant. TEARS OF GOLD is on my keeper shelf, for good.
I first read TEARS OF GOLD when it first came out. (I am that old!) I remembered liking it back then, and I wanted to see if it would hold up for me today. There are plenty of romance novels written during the 1970's and 1980's that I can't touch with a barge pole. Either they're filled with rape or other violence against women or they've got other weird issues that I just don't like. Most often, the romance is just too convoluted -- you're given a hero who has distrust and contempt for a heroine throughout the book-although they don't have a problem shagging like rabbits- only to have him confess his love 3 pages before the end. I hate that.
But thankfully, TEARS OF GOLD is a full, rich romantic novel, with a background and a love story that feels -- well, like a real story is being told. Nicholas and Mara aren't cardboard figures. Mara is initially depicted as a beautiful opportunist, but she has a heart that's been wounded, and her love for Nicholas (as well as her love for her family) will change her over time. Nicholas is an alpha-male, but he has a past that's wounded him, too. And gradually, over the pace of the story, Nicholas learns to trust and to love again. Nicholas doesn't apply force to Mara or consistently treat her with disdain. There's always an element of attraction, and later, love, in his feelings for her, even though he's strongly convinced of her duplicity in the first part of the story. (And he's got reason to be. Even if she's not a devil, Mara is not exactly an angel either.)
This is a long, well-plotted romance novel. I was honestly surprised all over again by how detailed and involved this story really is. It opens in London, moves to gold-rush-era California, and progresses to pre-Civil War New Orleans. Most romance novels written today take place in just one setting, over a shorter period of time, and have fewer subcharacters. For me, it was a pleasure to read a romance novel whose story took place over the course of a few years, in different countries, and yet never let character development or the love story lie dormant. TEARS OF GOLD is on my keeper shelf, for good.
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