Courting Claudia by Robyn DeHart

Cheryl Sneed's review and my opinion once again pretty much mesh. This time though we both disliked the book. And I really wanted to like this book, before I knew anything about it! The author is from Texas and this is her first book, I love reading new authors in hope of finding a new favorite. And the publisher is Avon and I am still looking for ways to tell kristiej she is wrong. It would really really be easier if Avon would help me out here. I had never heard of this author before but I liked the cover. Purple seems to get me as much as red does :). So looked for info on the book and couldn't find any but I wrote this down on the list as a maybe. I saw it in the store a couple of weeks ago and had to wait for a bit, so I sat down and gave it the 15 page test. It had a pretty good start and an interesting idea. Old maid (27, that lump in my cheek is my tongue) Claudia is on her way to meet with Derrick Middleton. She is an illustrator for his newspaper, under the fake name C.J. Prattley. And since daddy has said it is time to marry, she must quit for fear of being caught and causing a scandal. Since her works has caught the eye of the ton and sold more of his paper, Derrick does the only thing he can do. Court her... which is pretty much where I got lost. The writing is choppy. And the dialogue seemed forced, there isn't a flow that sweeps you away to caring about these characters. I could never get a handle on why Claudia gave a fuck about what her father wanted. She should have seen the exit here sign and escaped. Instead she defends her father and questions Derrick's motives and honesty, so close to the end of the book you want to shake her. Being a historical, I could have ran with the family responsibility idea. But the fact this man treated her like shit and she just didn't see it, didn't make sense. Maybe I could have went with it if she had been younger but the naivete the author seemed to be trying for with Claudia didn't read like sheltered, wide-eyed innocence. It read like the character was stupid. I couldn't understand why Derrick would marry her much less fall in love with her. Guess I need to keep trying on the Avon thing... I am not ready to give up yet ;).