Helpful Score: 2
In her fourth romance, Robards ( This Side of Heaven ) combines elements of wife abuse, sexual secrets and mother love. Lyle and Maggy Forrest and their son David, 11, seem to be a stable, wealthy Kentucky family, but Lyle is physically abusive and Maggy is trapped by a web of secrets and by her love for her son. Then after 12 years, Nick King, Maggy's protector when they were children in the Louisville projects and David's real father, reappears as a prosperous nightclub owner. Although unaware of David's patrimony, King wants Maggy back and to do so he is "looking for dirt" about Lyle. There turns out to be plenty. Blackmail, the DEA and other elements follow along with a large cast of secondary characters like Tia Gloria who thinks she's psychic; Nick's half-brother Link, who has a shady past; and a huge, nasty parrot named Horatio who plays a vital (though incredible) role in the denouement. After Maggy is freed from a horrible memory, love scenes (with Nick) are frequent and explicit. Robards's language is often mundane: "You take my breath away," says Nick, looking at the "strawberry-tipped bounty of her breasts." Nor is the author's treatment of the crucial issue of wife abuse exactly profound or realistic. Love does conquer all, though, as formula dictates.
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Uneven handling prevents a good premise from reaching its full potential in this novel by the author of One Summer ( LJ 2/1/93). Magdalena Garcia married wealthy Lyle Forrest so that she could escape the harsh life of the projects in Louisville, Kentucky. Twelve years later, Maggy suffers physical abuse at the hands of her blue-blood husband, who emotionally manipulates her 11-year-old son, David, as the means of keeping her in the marriage. Then Nick King reappears. Nick, Maggy's childhood protector and later her lover, swears he never stopped loving her, which elicits dangerous reactions from Lyle and leaves Maggy torn between the love of her life and her son. The last 12 years of Nick's mysterious past are kept hidden too long, while several chapters contain unnecessary hints about Maggy's obvious "secret." And if evil Lyle can so easily manipulate David, using his affections against her, how can David quickly accept Nick as his biological father? Recommended only for larger romance collections.
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Uneven handling prevents a good premise from reaching its full potential in this novel by the author of One Summer ( LJ 2/1/93). Magdalena Garcia married wealthy Lyle Forrest so that she could escape the harsh life of the projects in Louisville, Kentucky. Twelve years later, Maggy suffers physical abuse at the hands of her blue-blood husband, who emotionally manipulates her 11-year-old son, David, as the means of keeping her in the marriage. Then Nick King reappears. Nick, Maggy's childhood protector and later her lover, swears he never stopped loving her, which elicits dangerous reactions from Lyle and leaves Maggy torn between the love of her life and her son. The last 12 years of Nick's mysterious past are kept hidden too long, while several chapters contain unnecessary hints about Maggy's obvious "secret." And if evil Lyle can so easily manipulate David, using his affections against her, how can David quickly accept Nick as his biological father? Recommended only for larger romance collections.
