The Price of Desire by Jo Goodman

This year, I'm determined to actually read some 2008 books in 2008. It's nice to finally find some current books that are worth reading - for a while, I was having a hard time finding any books that were worth buying.

The Price of Desire by Jo Goodman
(2008, Regency Historical) 11/9/08
Grade: 4

After her brother Alistair loses heavily in a card game, Olivia Cole finds herself turned over to the owner of the gaming hell, Griffin Wright-Jones, Viscount Breckenridge. Griffin isn’t at all what she expected - he’s intelligent and considerate, and allows her to live under his roof unmolested. Olivia begins to wonder, is it worth taking a chance on him?

Although I liked the characters well enough, I found this book very hard to get through, particularly in the first half. The pace was very slow, and the hero and heroine are both hard to understand. The author seemed to be deliberately keeping their motives from the reader, and it got frustrating after a while. I got about 150 pages into the book and then put it down for almost a week. Once I got past the first half, the book definitely improved, and I enjoyed getting to know the characters. Both of them are wounded, especially Olivia, and seeing her come into her own was satisfying. But sometimes the author’s writing left me a little confused - it’s as if she tried to make things difficult to understand. However, I did enjoy the book overall, I just think it needed better pacing, and maybe a little editing in the first half.

Several people who share my taste in romance have recommended Jo Goodman to me, but this is the first time I've read her books. (I still have a few in my TBR pile.) I'm not sure if I'm going to seek her out or not - something about her writing style just didn't grab me. Although she's a good writer, it left me feeling somewhat aloof from her characters. I'll have to try another book by her before deciding one way or the other, but it was a little disappointing.