Sunday, February 1, 2009

Back into Anne Stuart land

Ice Blue by Anne Stuart (also on Vox)

I was really into Anne Stuart a few years ago but kind of got out of it. Her books have very similar tones. Tortured bad boy heros who are really soft at heart, calm but resilient heroines. The hero reluctantly saves the heroine from everyone, including himself. But in the end, she's steadfastly in love with him, so he resigns himself and loves her back. It's basically the same story. When Anne Stuart is not being overly melodramatic, it usually makes for a good, enjoyable read.

The first Anne Stuart book I read in a while is Ice Blue, which I picked up from the library. In this book, museum curater Summer Hawthorne was given an ancient ice-blue ceramic bowl by her Japanese nanny. Somehow, this crazy Japanese guru is now after it and her. Takashi O'Brien, half Japanese and half white, is sent by a secret organization, The Committee, to get the bowl from Summer by any means necessary and then to kill her. But of course, Taka finds that he just couldn't do it.

I like this book a lot. Typically having an Asian hero or heroine annoys me. But I think it was well done here. Taka is simply who he is, an enigmatic, conflicted hero who is struggling with the task he was given and the woman he is intruiged by. Whatever action was set in Japan or whatever Japanese culture/language is involved, it was used to advance the story. I hate when people set stories in Asian and have Asian characters for the "exotic" nature of it. I am always mildly repulsed by any hint of yellow fever, in real life and in fiction. But in this case, I thought it was very natural and smoothly done. I also really liked how he calls her "Su-chan".
The plot was also pretty good. I wouldn't say it's the most complicated, but I was more interested in Taka and Summer's characters and their getting together. So a semi-intruiging story plot was sufficient.

Overall: A-.

Fire and Ice by Anne Stuart

After I read Ice Blue, I went to the used bookstore (where I have a ridiculous amount of credit) and bought a couple more Anne Stuart books in this series. Apparently there are 5 books so far in this series, including Black Ice, Cold as Ice, Ice Blue, Ice Storm, and Fire and Ice. I guess I'll have to read them all now. *sigh*

In Fire and Ice, Taka's cousin Reno was sent to protect Summer's half sister, Jilly. We met Reno in Ice Blue. He is Japanese, with flaming red hair, and green contact lens. He dislikes American women. We also met Jilly in the last book. She is a precocious young girl who went to college at 16 and is a genius. In the last book, Jilly seemed calm and clear headed. Somehow, in her own book, her personality did not come through at all and I saw no evidence of her high IQ. For a smart person, she's actually pretty idiotic.

Unlike the last book, I did not like Fire and Ice at all. I think this book tried a bit too hard. I guess I just never felt the connection between Reno and Jilly and I never really got to see who they are. In this book, it was a bit more of the stereotypical Asian guy and blond American woman, set mostly in Japan. And I think Anne Stuart went a bit overboard with the melodrama in this one. "No one is going to hurt her. Not even him." Oh please.

I wanted to like Reno and Jilly as much as I liked Taka and Summer. But it just didn't work. It felt like Jilly had a complete personality makeover to fit in with the typical Anne Stuart heroine. And we never got to see who Reno is - the only brief explanation of his hatred for American woman is that his mom was an American. HUH??? Until that big reveal, I had assumed that he is all Japanese, especially when he would say something about Taka being half. And then after that, nothing was ever mentioned about this again. That was very random. And also the Japanese punk with the red hair and green contacts ... blah. So typical.
Anyway, I was disappointed.

Overall: C