Empress for a day

Among her colleagues, Catherine Coulter has a reputation for quick wit and no-holds-barred opinions. If you haven't yet sampled this best-selling author's writing, just read on. You're sure to become a fan.

Sandy Huseby: Do your readers make the leap with you between historicals and thrillers?
Catherine Coulter: Yes, although a lot of fans will write, "I read The Maze and loved it, but please don't stop writing historicals . . ." Each suspense adds guy readers, which is a very good thing.

SH: If you could be "Empress of Book Publishing," what would you do?
CC: I would use a three-pronged attack to eliminate the ridicule, the smirking, and the contemptuous attitudes that are prevalent today toward the romance genre, and that, in many cases, deserve to be prevalent. The Empress would command that:
A) No romance author will ever again write "rock-hard chest," "passion in their blue depths," "he glowered severely," or other misused and ridiculous adjectives/ euphemisms/adverbs so common in romance and so inviting of scorn.
B) No editor will allow any "romancy" stuff to get by her. Editors will send offending writers Strunk & White, and nag, nag, nag.
C) No publishing house will allow T&A covers (naked men sucking naked women's jugular veins); no publishing house will allow absurd back cover write-ups (e.g. "Her wanton body stirred his desire"); no publishing house will allow "hot word list" blurbs on the covers (e.g. "sizzling desire"). Any "inflamed passions" anywhere within a foot of the novel and the person responsible gets canned -- and the boss. The attitude starts at the top.

Cupid's arrow is right on target

REVIEWS BY SANDY HUSEBY

In The Target by Catherine Coulter, a high-profile judge flees the pressure and paparazzi of San Francisco to find solitude in the Colorado mountains. But it is in this seemingly peaceful place that Judge Ramsey Hunt is unexpectedly drawn into a little girl's terror. From the moment Ramsey discovers Emma Santana near death in the wilderness, he develops a powerful bond with her. When strangers pursue the two and threaten to kill them, Ramsey is, of course, alarmed and bewildered. Even stranger, when Emma's mother Molly catches up with them, she mistakes her daughter's rescuer for a kidnapper. After realizing her mistake, Molly, a crime kingpin's daughter, and Ramsey, the embodiment of justice, unite to protect Emma from those who wish her harm.

Coulter's tautly woven thriller ricochets from the Colorado mountains, to the lairs of crime bosses, to the European haunts of Emma's singing star father. The ride's a swift one, hang on tight!


The ultimate wedding coordinator

Prepare to have your breath taken away as you step back into the world of Cornish castles and haints, and one tormented man, in The Bride Finder by Susan Carroll. Anatole Fitzleger's isolation comes to an end when he turns to the Bride Finder, a man endowed with the power to find the woman destined to marry Anatole. That woman is Madeline Breton. But Anatole fears that if Madeline learns the secrets of the Fitzleger family and Castle Leger, she will reject him.

The Bride Finder is a magical and evocative exploration of the shadowy mysteries of the heart.


Hard-headed heroines

Loyalties are tested in Lord of Midnight by Jo Beverley. Claire of Summerbourne inherited the rash stubbornness of her father. So when Sir Renald de Lisle arrives to take ownership of Summerbourne after her father's death, Claire tries every gambit to avoid marrying him. But loyalty to her family overrides her resistance. Then Claire learns that the reason the king gave Summerbourne to Sir Renald was because Renald wielded the death sword in combat with her father. The stakes grow even higher when Claire realizes she's falling in love with the very man she should hate most in the world.

Beverley's lusty tale ranges from the pig barns of Summerbourne to the king's court with equal aplomb, and her sharp wit and enthralling characters make this a bawdy, bodacious good read.


Stubbornness takes on a different hue in Jeb Hunter's Bride by Ana Seymour.

Kerry Gallivan, determined to fulfill her dying father's dream, heads West to make a home for herself and her brother. Disguised as a young man, she sets off on a wagon train bound for California. When her ploy is revealed, Kerry earns wagon master Jeb Hunter's grudging respect for her determination. Winning his heart, however, proves a more difficult task.

The wide and treacherous prairies challenge Jeb and Kerry as much as they challenge each other in this Western tale of pioneering spirit.


Guys do it, too

These days, guys not only read romances, they write them. In Message in a Bottle, Nicholas Sparks renders the quiet clarity of the love story in its purest form. Boston columnist Theresa Osborne discovers the message while on a seaside vacation. When her curiosity leads her to two more of the loving, lonely messages, Theresa embarks on a search for their writer. Her search leads her to scuba shop owner Garrett Brooks, a man still struggling over his wife's premature death. The currents of the Atlantic capriciously bring Garrett and Theresa together -- or is it something transcending the logic of sea charts?

Theresa and Garrett sail on his aptly named ship, the Happenstance, into an unforgettable romance.


Sandy Huseby writes and reviews from her home in Fargo, North Dakota.

© 1998 ProMotion, inc.
www@bookpage.com