Vision in White by Nora Roberts
3 stars
I'll start off my remarking that I'm a bit unclear as to why this book would be considered a romance novel as opposed to chick lit. To me it read just like chick lit, targets the same market, had the same cultural references, etc.
I don't tend to read EITHER chick lit or romance, so this was new to me.
The backdrop for the story is four childhood friends who work together in a wedding planning business. The focus is on Mac, the wedding photographer, and her relationship with Carter, an English teacher. A subplot focuses on Mac's relationship with her mother.
My feeling is that if I were in my twenties, I'd probably have LOVED reading this book. The pacing is great. It has some cute humor. I loved the closeness of the four girlfriends.
The problem is the romance part. By the time you are forty, I think you are just waaaay too cynical to really (a) believe any guys like Carter exist and (b) to think you'd be attracted to them if they did. Carter was really an incredibly unbelievable portrayal of a man. A man who is bright, sensitive, giving, expressive, very verbal, loving, . . .like pretty much your best girlfriend turned into a guy. And then Nora Roberts gives him a very few masculine characteristics, like he drinks whiskey now and again, and of course is great in bed. Hmmmm. I'm not saying there aren't ANY guys out there like this, but he really struck me as very effeminate. And Mac has pretty much all the control in the relationship -- another wonderful fantasy element.
It just really is playing into the romantic mind of a young woman (and I recall myself as being single and having that mind).
The back of the book has a quote from the New York Times that reads "You can't bottle wish fulfillment but Nora Roberts certainly knows how to put it on the page"
I really can't say it better myself.
If you are looking for a light read with some great elements -- very modern, fast pacing, engaging characters, witty - - I think this totally fits the bill. But if you are even a little bit cynical, I'd say this type of thing is unlikely to become a mainstay of your reading diet.
