Affair: A Novel

This is my third reading of this novel and I found as much enjoyment on rereading it as when I read it the first time. There are some authors whose storytelling and style keep me totally absorbed.Amanda Quick in each of her 3 incarnations is such an author. Whatever the setting, whenever the time period, however the mystery needs to be solved her writing carries me into a different world. I love the strong women at a time when women were not expected to be strong. I love the twists and turns as the villains are revealed and eliminated and new ones appear.Well done.

Well, the book is alright.To me, I couldn't quite bond with the characters and found them a bit shallow.Nevertheless the story is quite entertaining! Not a bad read but not a particularly good one either.I felt that even the dialogue was a bit flat. The characters repeated themselves quite often.And if I read one more "Bloody Hell".......For those who care about this: There are a few sex scenes, they are descriptive but not very long.

I love all of Jayne Anne Krentz's writing except for the newer Amanda Quick books set in the 1920's. I reread books I really like and there are several of her earlier works (Harlequins) and I love the Harmony fantasy/sci-fi series. Affair fits right in with other of her Regency books.

I love Amanda Quick historic romance novels. I love them and have read them at least three times each. She creates the most interesting female characters imaginable. I especially like the ones in which the women are independent and make their own way in life and aren't afraid to say what they think. Every heroine in her historic romance novels is interesting and fun. The male heroes are great, too. It's so much fun watching them try to fight their love for the heroine. Yet in the end, they always give in and admit their love. I love the adventure and danger and how things always work out in the end. This is one of her best. I'm going to read this again in a while since I just finished reading it. I'm reading another Amanda Quick book right now.

Learned something about chemistry, both kinds. Kind 1 - scientific chemical processes. Kind 2 - physical chemistry between men and women. This story shows that women can be strong & smart. It showed that strength thru use of thought can be very interesting and necessary for all involved,like family. Living with emotion can be stimulating as well as fun.

In the 90's, JAK wrote several unique and entertaining Regency mystery romances. All involved a brooding hero who was redeemed by the love an intelligent spinster-like heroine with modern sensibilities. She played with the standard historical tropes (e.g. a hero who is a fortune hunter but falls in love with his mark) and crafted a credible mystery to soften the purple prose of the romance. Then after almost a dozen books, she seemed to lose her way. The h/H didn't marry until the very end of the novel so there was very little development of the relationship beyond an admission of love. The heroines became too modern to fit properly in their historical periods. The heroes became exact replicas from book to book. The only thing that remained consistent was the telling of a decent mystery."Affair" is one of those novels. You'll remember the mystery long after you forget the characters. Baxter St. Ives frustrates you because he is a replica of Jared ("Ravished") and Matthias ("Mischief") but without any of the more endearing qualities. Charlotte is a mixture of Imogen ("Mischief") and Iphigenia ("Mistress"), the modern heroine who runs a business rather than marry and doesn't seem to care or realize she's risking pregnancy with her affair. Together they make for a boring couple.Ms. Quick's later novels improved with the addition of the paranormal but they still lack that spark that made her name famous. I blame the fact that she tells only half a love story. In the earlier novels the h/H married by the middle of the novel and spent the rest of the time trying to work out their relationship for a happily ever after. Now it is just a light courtship interspersed in a larger mystery. Still that makes for a better read than other historicals that are all about seduction and no actual love or relationship.

Good writing. I am more impressed by writing style than plot. Quick-Castle-Krentz has a way with words. It does not matter to me which of her books I have read before I always love the new one. I like her books so well I re-read them. I love to start at the being of a series and read to the end. Some series of her has as few as two, while others continue on and shaved not ended yet. I can only hope all her worlds continue for a long time.

A good beginning , not as good as Ravished or Scandal but like the light heartedness & that the H & h are never abused even though in grave , danger & that heroine is always a virgin until she meets the H ! Love the fantasy! & that nothing really horrible happens to H or h!