The Daily Bongo
January 2016
Saturday, January 23, 2016 -- Evening
Named of the Dragon by Susanna Kearsley
I have really been busy over the past few months with work and teaching, and I have not been able to finish a book. Of course, I think I was also running into a problem with finding something that I wanted to read. I would start some books, and then find myself losing interest. I wouldn't say that the books were bad. Let's just say that my personal mojo just wasn't finding a twin in the books. It's happened to me before: I would read a book and think blah. Then a year or more later, I would go back and love the book.So enough rambling. The book that caught my interest was named of the dragon by Susanna Kearsley. As you might have noticed from some of the other books that I've read, I do have a thing for romantic suspense, especially when it has a woo-woo gothic factor. I LOVE Victoria Holt, Barbara Michaels, Philippa Carr, and Mary Stewart, but those authors haven't published much lately (and in fact, all are, unfortunately, dead.) I've looked around for a currently publishing author who fits that romantic suspense mold, and I found it in Susanna Kearsley. One of her newest releases, which was originally published in 1998. I noticed that Kearsley's most recent books appear to be re-releases of earlier books, and I'm not sure what that is about.
named of the dragon takes place in Wales around Christmas time. Lyn Ravenshaw is a literary agent who lost her husband and her baby five years early. Lyn's current authors, Bridget, invites Lyn to go with Bridget for the holidays. Bridget plans on spending time with her current love, while also trying to seduce a new man, Gareth, who is a moody playwright. Well, Lyn has been having problems accepting her baby's death, feeling at fault because Lyn continued to compete in dressage events. Lyn has been haunted by dreams, trying to get to her crying baby, and she thinks that going to Wales might be better than spending time with family who want to take care of her. When Lyn and Bridget arrive at James Swift house, they find more than they bargain for. a woman, Elen, in the shared half of the house has recently lost her husband and is afraid that dragons are after her baby. When Lyn starts to have dreams about a woman asking Lyn to protect the woman's baby, Lyn starts to wonder if she is having a psychic experience. Will Lyn be Elen's baby's savior?
I've read seen reviews that commented on the slow pace of the book, and it does slowly build the tension. It does remind me of some of Mary Stewart's books because Kearsley spends a good portion of the plot on describing the environment and the characters. Even with that, I didn't feel that I got a good view of the characters, except possibly for Lyn and Gareth. That said, I really did enjoy the book. I was curious about where the book was headed, and the occult element was nicely done. At the end, you can say that it could all be explained by subconsciously noticing things...or you could agree with the psychic notifications. All in all, I enjoyed the book, and I need to read more of Susanne Kearsley's books.