Sleighride

Rating:
Summary: One of the worst romances I've read
Review: Sleighride is truly one of the worst romances I've ever read; it was torture to try to finish it. Any book takes a lot of time and energy to write, so I hate to slam it, but this one, while competently and clearly written, is a stinker.

Lawyers Rey Brodie and Kama Roxbury set off for a sleigh ride in the wintery Vermont wilderness after taking depositions at a country inn. They end up nearly 200 years in the past at another inn where they are highly attracted to boisterous Lache and shy Ellie, who are two young fiancés. Rey and Kama from the beginning are attracted to each other but then even more so to this couple, and the feeling is mutual. As the story drags on with little happening other than a slow building to the moments when Rey and Ellie and Kama and Lache will have sex, the reader can barely stay awake. The sex scenes themselves don't ring true but are moderately gripping.

The story is boring not only because it's slow moving but also because the hero and heroine are boring generic characters who try to be funny and fail. They share a forced sensual attraction with each other and with the other couple, and they engage in boring dialogue that goes nowhere. Neither pair is appealing nor sympathetic. With virtually no tension, the plot doesn't build and is excruciatingly drawn out through insignificant details. By page 15, I'd guessed the big revelation at the end (it was obvious from the start that this was the only way the attractions could have a satisfactory conclusion).

Do not waste your time on this one unless you've already read everything else in the universe.