Waiting For You
Grade : C

Waiting For You made me wait. Wait for the characters to grow up. Wait for the native warrior mentioned in the blurb to appear. Wait to get into the romance.

The novel starts with a lengthy description of the childhoods of the hero and heroine in a crumbling mansion. Jack is the heir of an obnoxious drunken reveler, affectionately called Awful August. Meredith is August’s ward. August is set on squandering Jack and Meredith’s inheritances on alcohol, gambling and prostitutes, not necessarily in that order. He neglects the children when he’s not abusing them, and the seven-year-old Jack ends up taking care of the baby Merry. Although they grow up as siblings, an attraction develops when they're old enough, however much Jack strives to deny it.

In his anger towards his father, Jack indulges in a bit of highway robbery, the victims being the equally obnoxious friends of his father. When he's discovered, Jack and Merry are forced into marriage and he flees the country for five years. When he returns, they have a marriage to adjust to, secrets to uncover and dangers to brave. I can't reveal much more without spoiling the story although, the secret agenda of a certain character is obvious enough.

While the premise could make for a dark, depressing read, Waiting For You isn't somber. There are several funny moments, and occasionally I had the odd experience of not knowing whether the author meant something as a joke or not. The characters are a lot less tortured than you'd think (how could anyone called Merry be a sourpuss?). Jack and Merry don’t wallow in their negative emotions, and their special friendship supports them.

Comic relief is provided by Cluny and Clancy, two actors who perform for August and stay to take care of the children. One of them was supposedly brighter than the other but I have trouble remembering which. I kept thinking of them as Clumsy and Clone because there wasn’t enough personality between the two of them to differentiate the two characters. Regardless, they are delightful, although they quoted Shakespeare in a rather pointed manner. After their death they hang around as ghosts, waiting to see Jack and Merry happy.

I enjoyed the quirky image of ghosts swinging in a chandelier, but unfortunately they created a distancing effect. Their point of view was used so much that it made identifying with the lovers more difficult. I felt like an invisible onlooker – a ghost in the chandelier myself. Waiting For You is set up as a play in four acts and this spectator was unable to forget it was only a theatrical piece, unable to deeply care about the outcome.

Another problem was the slow start. Getting through the first third was difficult - I finished ten other books while reading it. It takes Jack and Merry twelve chapters to have their first adult conversation and get into the romance properly. After that the story picks up. Perhaps revealing the past in flashbacks in the middle of romance would have evened the book out.

I hope to see a sequel about Kipp, the dandyish friend with a female pseudonym and a tendre for Merry. I'm always sorry for the loyal friends who walk away alone. Another character who could have outshone Jack and Merry had he been given more time on stage was Walter, the native warrior who turned out to be an intelligent businessman with a political conscience.

There’s nothing really to dislike in Waiting For You by Kasey Michaels. I struggled with the first twelve chapters but finished the rest in an afternoon. The prose style is fine and I liked some of the secondary characters, but the author’s way of using the point of view of those secondary characters was distancing, and the whole thing was too slow. This romance just isn’t very memorable.

Reviewed by Maria K
Grade : C

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : December 10, 2000

Publication Date: 2000

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