"As You Desire" - Connie Brockway 1997
Okay, well first I should say that I love this book. I just found it a few months ago – I read it in practically one sitting. I loved the hero and the heroine, the setting, and the wonderful cast of eccentric characters. So, let me tell you how bummed I am that my own mother -did not even finish this book!! But she's my mom and I'll give her the benefit of the doubt, but only because she's my mom! She's busy, right now she's forced to read in slow installments and yeah, that's no way to really lose yourself in a book...but, I wish she liked it as much as I do! However, since romance novels are our largest common denominator, I will not squabble over particular likes and dislikes. My mom may not have liked it, but I think she’s the exception more than the rule.
In her DIK review over at AAR, Marianne Stillings says, "When Harry Met Dizzy. Only better." That expression was in my head throughout the entirety of this book, it's so fitting. The dialog is smart, and the characters are smarter. Harry Braxton is the most charming and endearing hero I've read in a long time. He's a self-made man with a secret, but this is no over-the-top melodrama. His fears are real (in his own mind at least) - and the reader sympathizes with him. In fact, when I first began "As You Desire" I was so taken with Harry, I couldn't help impatiently waiting to hear his perspective. Every new chapter - I was ready for it, but Ms. Brockway is too smart for that. She makes the reader wait, building relationships between all the players in this story, not just the H/H. Boy, when you finally learn Harry's true thoughts and feelings - well, it's fantastic -totally worth the 140 or so pages beforehand.
Sometimes in romance, when an author creates a dazzling hero, often they can't create a heroine to compare. "Dizzy" aka Desdemona Carlisle is a delightful match for Harry, in fact, she complements him perfectly in her skills and abilities and love of Egypt. From the very first scene with Dizzy sparks just fly. They're friends, yes, but on every page they walk a fine line between easy familiarity and so much more. Desdemona opens the book, and you get a sense of her life experiences, desires, and humor from page one. She’s been stolen from the market, a little bored and more than a little drunk – and spinning tales of an imaginary hero when Harry appears on the scene.
This book is set in Cairo - but it isn't a Cairo you would expect to find in a romance. Really. I only remember one camel and they only venture outside of the city because Desdemona has the misfortune to be kidnapped, twice, in a week. The novel takes place over a relatively short time period, but it never feels too fast, due to the personal history of leads. Brockway also shows Cairo itself from many perspectives: archeologists and adventurers, museum curators from all over the world vying for chunks of history, and the various cultures native to the land struggling to preserve their own history.
