mrs_merdle 's review for:

The Beekeeper's Ball by Susan Wiggs

1.0

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Well, I thought this was pretty terrible. I have read Susan Wiggs before, and was mildly entertained, but this one kind of read like she wrote it in her sleep. I don't read a lot of romance novels, but when I do, I pick them not for the rugged handsomeness of their heroes, but usually for the professions of the heroines (examples: antique dealers, home renovators, cooks, farmers, booksellers - you get the idea), so when I read the blurb on this one I thought, "Jackpot! She's starting a cooking school and raises bees!". Sadly, these details were not enough to make up for the way the story kind of only lightly touched down on any of the plot-lines. There was promise there: WW11 Danish Resistance adventures in flashback, a smarmy and abusive ex (who shows up threateningly at the beginning and just kind of lurks around on the edges until he gets his comeuppance off-stage), a hero whose career hints of war-torn journalistic excitement (which is barely gone into). None of these things ever really got beyond the kernel-of-an-idea stage. And the romantic interludes just annoyed me. Any kiss that is described as "sexy" just makes me roll my eyes.