by Rosamunde Pilcher

 Oh dear. I am “rereading” one of my most beloved authors and so far they are not living up to my memories. When I say rereading, I mean I am listening to them on audiobooks. I see reading the reviews of Wild Mountain Thyme, that almost everyone can’t stand Victoria. I too was very frustrated with her, especially in the beginning when she did not do the right thing by calling the kidnap victim’s grandmother and grandfather and calling the cops. The villain, Oliver Dobbs, her ex-boyfriend that she is still infatuated with, is very well drawn in his despicableness. With just a few mild observations and descriptions of emotions, the reader knows right away he is a horrible human being. That was well done by Rosamunde. Throughout the book, the reader wonders when Victoria is going to wake up. Answer: She doesn’t really. Until, that is, he leaves her and she has no choice but to wake up. Because He left Her! Even in the middle of the book when he threatens to “beat her black and blue,” she still makes excuses for him and hopes to make a life for them and his son, (that he kidnapped from his dead wife’s legal guardians), that she now loves as her very own. She’s actually behaving like a textbook domestic abuse victim. But, Lord!, I don’t want to read about one in the context of being the heroine of a sweet romance! Oliver never gets told off, never made to see himself as a “destroyer” as his mother-in-law characterizes him, to Victoria, at the very end. Luckily for this feeble dunderhead, there is a typical Pilcher hero to pick up the pieces. He is well-off, nice, handsome, strong, sensible, and good with children. To add to this embarrassment of riches, he is now a Scottish laird of a real almost castle. The only question is, What in the world does he see in her? We never really know.

It looks like Victoria is the least favorite of all the Pilcher heroines. I fervently hope that I will have to endure no more of heroines of this ilk. Except I felt almost as much antipathy towards the heroine of Snow in April, my first re-read. Hopefully, it will be uphill from here for Rosamunde’s hapless heroines. I do love her writing, her gentle world, and the way she draws her secondary characters. I also love her decent attractive heroes. Keeping my fingers crossed that the next heroine has a backbone and common sense. The reader, Lucy Patterson, is brilliant. She does high emotion very well. **2 stars out of 5**

November 18, 2018