Tender Escape
Grade : D

Oh, how I wanted to like this book! Tender Escape features an unusual heroine: she's older and larger than the usual romance ingenue. Olivia Hammond raised two children (now college-age), provided for them after being widowed, and became a successful business owner in the process. I liked her right from the start.

Unfortunately, everything else in Tender Escape worked against my enjoyment of the book. The rest of the characters are completely indistinguishable, and the mystery plot became so confusing that it remained a mystery to me at the end of the book. The biggest problem of all, however, was the awkward writing.

Olivia Hammond is a realistic character, a competent businesswoman who runs her own spa. She manages her business and her employees with a masterful hand. In her personal life, however, she is at loose ends. Her children are off to college (although I did have to wonder about the daughter attending Morehouse, since that is an all-male school). Left on her own, Olivia has neglected her healthy diet and exercise. She is unhappy with her appearance, though she always dresses well and projects a professional, well-put-together image. And she has another problem: she is being blackmailed, by someone who claims to know more than Olivia does about the accident that killed her husband years ago.

Determined to take action, Olivia hires Clifton Zayne, a private investigator. Aghast at the cost of his services (and having already paid $5000 to the blackmailer), she can't keep out of the investigation, to the exasperation of Clifton, who has enough problems keeping his mind off Olivia's soft and inviting curves. I really liked the contrast between Olivia's critical view of herself and Clifton's admiration of her figure, which mirrors the way women all too often see themselves.

But the writing quickly causes the book to bog down. Ms. Poarch provides plenty of detail: what characters eat, wear, and drive; the weather, the landscaping, and Olivia's exercise routine are all described, often in minute detail. The problem was that all too often, the detail adds nothing significant to the story and at times appears in odd places. For example, here is a scene where Clifton is in an elevator with the suspect he has been tailing:

"Once [the door] closed, he stood in the left corner. She stood in the right corner, humming. She was an attractive sister, Clifton thought. Slender and tall, about five-eight, too thin for him, she was a looker. Not everyone was as foxy in a short, curly hair style. Her high cheekbones on her oval face, which barely held any makeup, were perfect for it.

"Then Clifton noticed her clothing. The black dress was pretty, but inexpensive. The same for her shoes. They looked as if she'd purchased them at Payless. They definitely weren't designer quality leather. Her earrings and the necklace that curved around her neck were bad quality fake pearls."

At this point, I'm thinking, um, Clifton, shouldn't you be thinking more about what you are going to say when you confront her? And what to do if she has an accomplice upstairs, or a weapon? But instead, the narration wanders on for four more paragraphs in this vein. These sort of digressions happen every few pages in the story, seriously undermining the flow of the plot.

It's like watching a movie where the camera begins to show some interesting action across a room, and then inexplicably stops panning in on the actors and turns away to take a perfect closeup of a vase on the mantelpiece, while meanwhile the action continues out of view. At first you think that the director wants you to pay attention to the vase for a reason, but none turns up. Eventually you get frustrated and stop paying attention.

Tender Escape has the ingredients of a workable romance, but it feels like they are still all in a jumble, like a puzzle dumped out of a box and not yet assembled. That might be a good place to start a puzzle, but if you claim that's the final product and offer it up for inspection, you will only cause confusion and frustration. By the time I finished this book, all I wanted was an escape of my own.

Reviewed by Colleen McMahon
Grade : D

Sensuality: Subtle

Review Date : March 31, 2000

Publication Date: 2000

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Colleen McMahon

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