by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

First things first. I love the iridescent dust jacket and endpapers. I am glad that the publishers are doing Susan Elizabeth Phillip’s books right. Heroes Are My Weakness is built on the tropes of a Gothic Romance novel. It folds in a little Rebecca, Jane Eyre, Mistress of Mellyn, and probably a good many others. The book is dedicated to Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, and Phyllis Whitney among others. It was fun to figure out the many homages in this book to the various gothics I have read. The Hero (Theo) at first, seems dark and cruel, but of course, we know the mystery of his past will be revealed and it will turn out that he is really a pussycat. I figured out the dark secret pretty quickly thanks to my familiarity with Rebecca. Annie, the Heroine, is all SEP: too quirky to live, and aided by, as in This Heart of Mine, some imaginary friends. In this case, not characters in a children’s book series, but puppets. I am glad to say the Puppets are actually fairly entertaining, and not annoying like Daphne and Benny in THOM. The typical Phillips humor is alive and well, much of it in the humorous way she plays on the clichés in a Gothic Novel. She could have wrapped it up a little sooner; the last few chapters kind of dragged a bit, but I guess she just couldn’t resist inserting just one more scene common in many Gothics. I did love the setting on “Peregrine Island.” It wasn’t too hard to figure out that it was based on Monhegan Island, Maine. All in all, an entertaining read; Not her best, but well worth the time. I give it 3.5 stars, bumped up to 4 out of love and gratitude to the author for the many laughs and entertainment over the years. **3 1/2 stars out of 5**

September 2, 2014