3 finishers & a DNF

This weekend I read the following:

1.An Affair of Honor
2. Miss Lacey's Last Fling (reread)
3.The Best Intentions

All of the above are the traditional Regencies written by Candice Hern for Signet. Miss Lacey's Last Fling was an accidental (meaning I'd read it years ago, but forgot it) reread. Excellent nonetheless. An Affair of Honor was ok although the villain was too obvious. Some romance authors really need to borrow a page from mystery authors & develop the list of villains a bit more. The Best Intentions was touching & deftly worked.

Started Karen Ranney's Above All Others. It ended up as a DNF because I hate the hero & the heroine. Simple as that. The Hero is controlling, manipulative man who has no problems using the heroine's naivete, poverty & status as his employee against her. She initiates a sexual relationship with the hero for no believeable reason & then "falls in love" with him within two weeks after disliking him for the previous six months. Then, after two weeks of unprotected sex, she becomes pregnant & runs away with his infant daughter just prior to a blinding blizzard. Somehow the heroine manages to hide in a small village near the estate for thirteen months. Then she is surprised when he comes along & takes both children from her.

I do not care to enumerate why this entire scenario, the hero & the heroine are just plain awful. That plot is full of every known horrid Romancelandia cliche that exists. Above All Others is compelling, page turning reading even when I decided I wasn't going to finish. I got to page 252 out of 382 before deciding I just can't take any more. I have three other books by Ms. Ranney on my keeper shelves & Generally speaking I enjoy her style & voice. This title simply wan't meant to be.