Romance: To My Senses By alexandrea weis
Romance |   |
This book is dedicated to a section of New Orleans that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. It was the land of stone lions, parquet floors, white tuxes and overflowing champagne glasses. Nicci, a nursing student from a well-connected family, is in the middle of everything. She seems to have her feet solidly on the ground---which makes her a perfect narrator. Not that she is immune to the hazards of love. I'm a guy who on a long trip might listen to a Books-On-Tape romance, but what I found interesting reading this one was wondering what it says females value in a man (besides the requisite, rugged looks and mysterious past). Just when it seems the answer is, someone who will listen to what a woman says and consider it thoughtfully, the author gives us a male character who does just that. Nicci finds him boring.
I liked the different levels of plot: Colleen and Eddie (immature), her father and uncle (old rivals for Nicci's now deceased mother), a business rivalry between the two prominent families. These dynamics counter balance the major conflict: Nicci's betrayal by a painter/gigolo who seems to be the bad boy women might secretly desire ("I was helpless beneath him, yet I hungrily waited, eager to submit to his desire. He teeth teased my skin, his hot breath burned against my cheek."). He brings out the artist in her. Nicci's hobby is reading and she would like to be a writer some day---sounds like a profile of the audience.
This novel is extremely well written except for some soap opera lapses ("I was sure in the end she would get what she wanted from David Alexander, as she always did. I wondered if he would get what he wanted from her in return."). The characters are sharply realized and the dialogue, snappy. Occasionally there's a line like, "I noticed how her eyes were all over me like a swarm of bees, buzzing with curiosity," that reminds us we are in the South. Actually I wish the character of the city played an even a greater role, mirroring the book's theme more.
The title is a tease too. It could mean, "come to one's senses" or" loose yourself to them" and savor the chicory of life. There's a dynamite surprise for our narrator in the middle of her bridal shower that provides a perfect turning point, plus an unexpected twist to the book's conclusion. Perhaps women like the melodrama of a relationship---feeling the urge to pull away, only to be held tighter. Alas, Nicci, you fell in love with someone other than me. But for 300 pages it was nice to imagine what that might have been like had it happened.