All of the books in the pile were for my classroom library, and I was $4 short from getting the loyalty stamp card at my favorite independent book store. So back to the shelves it was so I could meet the minimum $30 purchase stamp. It took a while, but I finally settled on an author and genre of romance I had never read before: Beverly Jenkins and African-American historical romance. The selection, Jewel, turned out to be a satisfying one.
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I’ve only ever read one Beverly Jenkins (Indigo), but I have a whole bunch more of her books on my TBR list.
Prior to me reading Jewel, Indigo is Jenkins’ only other book that I had heard of. While I’ve added Jenkins to my list of authors to continue to read, I’m in no rush. In general, I don’t like reading historical romances set in the United States. They don’t allow me to escape as much into the story. May have to do with me being too familiar with the setting/context in which those stories take place.
I’ve read three of hers and have a couple in my TBR pile. I understand what you said to Malin about the setting. I feel the same way often.
I have a hard time with Jenkins. One the one hand, her heroes are in their own class of great, and her plots are compelling and not overly convoluted. On the other hand, I find her heroines to be guilty of the worst kind of indecision and denial re: their feelings for the heroes, and it makes the books feel like they are dragging along for no good reason. There is also something about her prose that reads like a book report of her own book, and I don’t know if that makes any sense, but it’s kind of weirdly stilted and detached and detracts from the passion in the story.
The book report analogy is perfect! I have only tried one (Topaz), and it was a pretty decent love story, but SO stilted. And while I appreciate that she has clearly done a boatload of research, it was like “let me pause the story right here to give you a history lesson” way too often. I prefer when the history is woven into the story in a more seamless manner. That said, I have every intention of trying her again.