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Sunday, June 19, 2011

Two Reviews, One Blog Post

One of my favorite stories is an old Harlequin American romance by M.J. Rodgers. The Adventuress has a mild-mannered librarian heroine who moonlights as an action/adventure writer who has a recurring protagonist. She's on a helicopter in Hawaii with the hero (who's the pilot) when it crashes thanks to a hijacker. The knock in her head, has the heroine believing she's the character in her book. As they try to survive in some very remote terrain, the heroine impresses the hell out of the hero.

You know, of course, that the action/adventure aspect grabbed me immediately, but I also liked the "become the book character" aspect as well. I have a fair amount of keeper books and I broke those down further to reread books. The Adventuress is a reread book for me. I love it!

It totally reminds me of the movie, American Dreamer starring JoBeth Williams and Tom Conti. I don't own many DVDs, but this is one I had to have. In this story, the heroine wins a trip to France, goes alone, and she's hit by a car. When she wakes up, she believes she's the character in the Rebecca Ryan novels that are written by the Tom Conti character.

Her delusion gets the pair mixed up with some real bad guys and soon they're in danger and trying to figure out what's going on.

The movie and book are tied in my mind--I can't think of one without the other popping into my head--and I love them both! I think it's the idea of forgetting your own life and becoming someone else that intrigues me. In real life, putting aside the past and the baggage we've accumulated to change is almost impossible. Yes, we can change, but it's a gradual thing that requires effort. In these two stories, the heroine gets a bump on the head and instantly becomes someone else. There's some pretty cool character growth arcs, too.

My ratings:

The Adventuress - Keeper/Reread book
American Dreamer - 4 stars