Island Bliss [Mass Market Paperback]

To call these strung-together words stories or novellas is an insult to real stories and novellas everywhere. Although they ARE funny as hell for all the wrong reasons. Apparently, St. Martin's press has been giving back to the community by hiring illiterate editors, because they obviously couldn't read this mess, which is loaded with unnecessary words, idiotic and trite phrases and just plain incorrect English. But that's just the mechanics end.

As far as the stories, it's doubtful you'll ever encounter more lightweight, more ridiculous, more insignificant, more asinine and more unrealistic characters unless it's more writing by these four hacks. First off, of course, everyone is highly successful, or about to be, and have no major worries in life, especially where money is concerned. Yeah. THAT's believable. Second, judging by the endless, way-too-long descriptions, what people wear and how they look is apparently just as important, if not more so, as what kind of people they are inside. Yep. Nothing like a "true love" romance totally rooted in shallowness and materialism. Nice message to send. Alers can't tell us why Aimee is unable to sort our her "feelings," but makes sure we know each and every time what she's wearing and how she put it on (she "slipped" into something, or "quickly donned" something). And she has some bizarre need to inform us, three separate times, that Aimee has "groomed feet." (Think I'm kidding? Read this tripe.) Lucia wants to avoid men and really wants nothing to do with kids, yet she volunteers to take Karenna -- a total stranger -- to the bathroom. And David lets her take her only because she gave him her name. Like that makes her OK. Duh.... It's the kind of book you keep turning pages on because you can't believe it can get any more contrived or poorly written, yet it never disappoints.
Save yourself from this slop. Even though it only took me about 2 hours to read the whole book, I know I killed brain cells in the process....

"From the Heart" by Rochelle Alers. Leland lives in an antebellum mansion on Georgia's St. Simons Island where he finds historic documents. Curator Aimee visits Leland to catalogue the discovery. They fall in love, but he lives on an ocean island while she resides in inland Atlanta, making a relationship seem impossible. Though the excuse seems feeble in this world of commuter marriages, fans will enjoy this well written contemporary.

"An Officer and A Hero" by Marcia King-Gamble. Reticent Kitt goes on a Caribbean cruise where she cannot compete with the women participating in the Miss Black Universe contest for the attention of cruise ship employer Jared. Still they fall in love, but several contestants want him too. This is an amusing fairy tale.

"Our Secret Affair" by Carmen Green. Though they work for the same company, Toni and John are competitors. Toni is the top salesperson while John is second. During the company's annual retreat, they fall in love, but they compete for a promotion that will lead to the lay off of the other. Though the premise of firing your top guns seems improbable when there are lesser talents available for downsizing, readers will like this dueling duo.

"Heart's Desire" by Felicia Mason. Single father David takes his three children on a Bahamas vacation where he meets Lucia. They are attracted to one another, but she played the role of stepmother once before and vowed never again. Though matchmaking children have become trite, the two adults make for a fine reading experience.

Some of the premises are weak, but the stories entertain and are fun to read so kick off your shoes and enjoy ISLAND BLISS.

Harriet Klausner

All of the characters in all four stories are bland, one-dimensional, simple, and really just pathetic. (However, two of these short stories were just scanned.) The main characters do not seem to understand their own feelings and motives for anything they do.

Much of the writing is redundant, and therefore, unnecessary. Poor Ms. Aimee Fisher, on several pages, (paraphrased) "just can't understand the emotions she has for Leland."

In another story the characters are so unrealistic that it is ridiculous. John's mother, a sixty-something year old woman, needs Toni, the main character, to help her tell her son that "she wants to go home!" Ple-e-e-a-se!! There is no literary aplomb in any of these short stories. Well, I really just glanced through Ms. Mason's and Ms. King-Gamble's works because I was really too "afraid" to read them.