Tag Archives: Bantam Loveswept

REVIEW – Kaleidoscope – Joan Elliott Pickart

19 Friday Sep 2014

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KaleidoscopeI thought I was finished with Joan Elliot Pickart. But the box of books delivered by my brother were, alas, not my beloved Loveswepts. I had high hopes for a reread of Iris Johansen’s Return to Santa Flores. But instead the box was filled with 1970s Harlequins. Stay tuned. In the mean time, we’ve got more Joan, because I won 20 on ebay.

Kaleidoscope. Loveswept #179  (Feb 1987)

Meetup: Slapstick. Aging mothers share a creative project that gets them into trouble, and the H/H must bail their respective mothers out of jail in the wee hours.

Conflict: He’s a divorce lawyer who doesn’t want to get married. The heroine loves kids enough to open a childcare center, and her biological clock is ticking. (She’s 29.)

80s standouts: Lunch. Avocados stuffed with shrimp. Shrimp in an avocado. However you say it, it seems wrong. But people are making it.

His fashion: Brown suit and tie with a pale yellow shirt.

The Penetration Station: “Without hesitation she opened herself to him, and he entered her with a thrust that stole her breath away” (p. 159).

Survey Says: This book has a well-written beginning. Great banter throughout. Likeable hero. Likeable heroine. Nice tension. Cute.

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REVIEW – Lightning that Lingers – Sharon and Tom Curtis (Laura London)

12 Friday Sep 2014

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Lightning That LingersLightning That Lingers #25 Sharon and Tom Curtis (Laura London)

Meetup: Shy librarian heroine visits local male strip club. He’s the star act.

Conflict: She’s a shy librarian, and he’s a male stripper.

The Penetration Station: “He blew softly along her hairline, and slowly entered her” (p. 138). No honeyed havens here ladies and gents.

Survey Says:  It’s a classic. Pure and simple. Notice no 80s standouts here. Nothing to laugh at. I read Windflower last year this time, and it’s haunted me ever since. This little book, though not at the level of Windflower, certainly blows everything else in this Loveswept category line out of the water. Sweet. Funny. A hero you can taste. A heroine not unlike Ana from 50 shades in that you wonder what he sees in her, but then the authors give her pluck and bittersweetness. So you’re happy for her. Happy for you. Happy.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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REVIEW – Riddles and Rhymes – Joan Elliott Pickart

09 Tuesday Sep 2014

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Riddles_Rhymes_cover_artRiddles and Rhymes #317 – Joan Elliott Pickart (March 1989)

Cover Art: Ed Tadiello

Meetup: Hero walks into a used bookstore the heroine had just inherited from her eccentric aunt, and with a ray of sunshine dancing off his blond hero hair, they fall immediately in lust, followed promptly by love.

Conflict: Hero is a painter, and painting has been his mistress. Though he’s ready to commit, heroine doubts his love will withstand his next gallery show. Also, there’s a detective story running through this one, with guns, federal agents, and references to Hart to Hart.

80s standouts: She’s a high school English teacher on summer break, who, had she not inherited the used book store (if not anachronistic enough), would have spent the summer delivering telephone books.

His fashion: One yellow knit shirt tucked into faded jeans. Not too terrible.

Her fashion: Turquoise dress. Appropriate only for mother of the bride dresses, or dresses for women who were in their 20s in the 80s.

The Penetration Station:

He kissed her once more, then lifted his head to watch her face as he entered her with a smooth power, filling her, bringing to her honeyed haven all that he was as a man

Yes, that’s right. Her honeyed haven.

Survey Says: Another one of Joan’s fun romps. References to Fletch throughout warmed my heart.

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REVIEW – Secrets of Autumn – Joan Elliott Pickart

05 Friday Sep 2014

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Secrets of Autumn by Joan Elliott Pickart
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Secrets of Autumn coverThe Secrets of Autumn #162 – Joan Elliott Pickart (Oct 1986)

Meetup: Slapstick. Heroine pretends to be unfashionable and unattractive while she temps for a handsome architect to gather psychological data for her dissertation.

Conflict: Hero falls in love with plain jane heroine because he’s looking to settle down, and feels betrayed when he learns that she is actually fashion-forward.

80s standouts: Were human subjects research protocols not run through an IRB in the 80s?

His fashion: Not terrible. Very little brown, surprisingly.

Her fashion: It wouldn’t be the 80s without a teal blue shirtwaist dress.

The Penetration Station: “He came to her with strength tempered by gentleness, and she received him with love” (p. 87). Meh. Not Joan’s strong suit.

Cover Art: Nick Caruso. They’re both wet.

Survey Says: Joan Elliott Pickart does fun romps better than tragic sap. This one was a romp. Fun and funny. Actually liked secondary character (hero’s male chum) – Bish Terzoni. Bish Terzoni?

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Caught the Bantam Loveswept wave?

03 Wednesday Sep 2014

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I’m afraid I have. I caught it back in 1984, the year of the line’s debut. That’s when my mother first starting receiving the books monthly by the half-dozen, boxed in cardboard, and to the wrath of my father who lamented the subscription fees. (It wasn’t the only box of books she received each month.)

It’s easy to see how a 13-year-old Catholic school girl could have loved these stories, fallen in love with the very idea of being swept off her feet…and (a little too early) into the bedroom.

As a 43-year-old? I’m having fun swimming in the retro. Brown suits and yellow dresses. Phone books and travel agencies. Illustrated front covers. A lost art.

On sale on Etsy by Curiosities39t

On sale on Etsy by Curiosities39t

And the marketing campaigns. My favorite – a 1-800 number to call to assist Bantam with research on its readership. These bits of ephemera are making my re-reading of the Loveswept line more fun than even Joan Elliot Pickart’s opening-scene, open-mouthed, stranger-danger kisses.

Try one for yourself. The entire Bantam line was digitally re-released in 2011.