I have a couple of Ruth Wind books on my keeper shelf, although I’ve been reluctant to reread them. I’m afraid that what seemed new and exciting in late 1990’s might feel old and cliched today. But I remember them with fondness – it’s still rare to find a contemporary author who writes with such emotional intensity. The “women’s fiction” books that she writes now just don’t affect me the same way.
Breaking the Rules by Ruth Wind (SIM 587)
(1994, Contemporary Series) 2/24/09
Grade: 3
Mattie O’Neal is on the run, and she has no time for a man… even an incredibly sexy man who rides up on his motorcycle. But when she has to run for her life, it’s Zeke who rescues her, and shows her another side of the hard man he pretends to be. He says he only wants a short-term affair, but can Mattie persuade him otherwise?
Ruth Wind’s writing is always impressive, but this book didn’t quite work for me. I found the characters appealing, but a lot of the book was devoted to an endless dance of will-they-or-won’t they. It got tedious after a while. There were moments that were well done, but for the most part, I found the storyline cliched, and it didn’t really rise above the familiar plot. She’s the good girl in trouble, he’s the bad boy who’s overcoming his abusive childhood – most of the time, it just seemed too familiar. (Not to mention the very standard series romance ending. The minute he “forgot” the condoms, I knew what was coming.) Still, there were flashes of the Ruth Wind brilliance, just not enough of them to really make the book work.
This is a familiar lament of mine, but there are some authors who can write a familiar story and make it new – but more examples where it doesn’t work, and I’m not sure quite why. The tortured hero finding love is one of my favorites, but here, it just left me feeling blah.
Karen Wheless
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