Passionate about what?

Once more, I fill in the details before I opine:


A Passionate Magic
Flora Speer
LoveSpell
362 pages
ISBN: 0-505-52439-2


I am not above reading paranormal or fantasy or magic-using romance. Far from it. I even dabble with writing the stuff. Occasionally, you come across some excellent examples of how to do it. See Susan Krinard or Nora Roberts.

And sometimes, you find examples of how not to do it. A Passionate Magic is one such example.

The book tells the story of Dain of Penruan, a baron with a wicked mother. Not stepmother, just his mother. Lady Richenda, his father's second wife, is a religious fanatic. She's really a harping, nagging, nasty woman whose only redeeming quality -- being the second wife and feeling like she lived in a shadow -- doesn't do anything for her. I just didn't care.

Dain himself, having grown up with this woman harping at him all his life about a feud begun by his grandfather and the father of a rival baron, is not a particularly charming fellow when we meet him.

He's certainly less likeable than Emma, the daughter of Gavin of Wroxley, Dain's enemy. Emma is a witch, for want of a better word. She's very skilled with healing people, she's loved by everyone, and she has an uncanny ability to make people like her. Hm. Doesn't sound very magical. Oh! She can find her way through heavy fog by using magic. And she can bind them so they can't move. Okay, the latter's sort of impressive. The former -- again, who cares?

Emma is, of course, clever and bright and charming, and Dain suspects that she's out to plot against him as soon as she arrives in Penruan. A good portion of the book actually deals with this. Too much of the book deals with this. Oh yes, eventually they consummate their marriage -- aided by a potion from another witch -- and he feels he's been betrayed. Shake. Stir. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Part of the problem with this book is that there's just too much going on! There's Dain and Emma. There's the fact that Emma's not really Gavin's daughter. There is the mysterious 'Hermit' character. There is Agatha, who is not the simple, elderly healer that she seems. There's Richenda, of course, and her creepy servant Wade. There's a mysterious lady in white. Oh, and there's a cave where it's rumoured that Merlin's being held.

And that's not all!

Ms. Speer simply tried to do too much, and managed to do none of it well. The characters speak a slightly elevated English -- few contractions, etc. Usually, they don't sound like they live in the modern world. But then, often enough to be annoying, they break the fourth wall, and we're listening to people debate over coffee at Starbucks. Not literally, but it's nearly that jarring.

There are charming moments in the book. Blake, Emma's page, is fairly cute and well-written. The bad, however, far outweighs the good. To tell the truth, it's not that it's bad. It's annoying, and that's worse.

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