Review 017 - Cupids Arrow by Ann Douglas. Storyline <Brief outline only> Girl meets incredible, Nuevo-riche girl and falls in love. Or 'sugar meets it's match in saccharine'. Merits <What was worthy of comment> As always, Ann Douglas writes well with a real descriptive flair. The sex when it eventually arrives is real and sumptuous in quality. The settings are well thought out and the characterisations are well realised, if somewhat glowing (see demerits). As a romantic story for Valentines day this is bound to have its fans. Demerits <What detracted from the story> Number one hate for me pops up all too early: "In her last year at the school, the twenty-one- year-old stood five seven and weighted a hundred and twenty-four pounds. Short black hair, recently cut to just above her neck, framed a flawless face." 124 pounds, um that is 8.85 Stone (I'm British) or 56.24545388Kg if you are European. 'Five seven' oh, five foot seven, for Europeans that is 1.69m. Why can't Ann be bothered to describe her? Why resort to such a poor a method of 'shorthand'? Maybe 'slim' is too undescriptive as compared to her reading on the bathroom scales, whatever! This really takes me as a reader out of the story. If I were to describe a friend to someone who did not know them - guess what, I would not do this way so why *must* authors? OK, rant over. Although this is written for valentines (which does give *some* excuse) it is for me far, far too perfect. Everything in the garden is so rosy, I feel a desperate need to spray it all with herbicide just to get some variety. There will be 'romantic escapist's' who will hate my viewpoint on this one, c'est la vie. A heart-felt plea, can we have some use of contrast in stories - it makes it so much more entertaining! I found this story a chore to finish. Atmosphere <How well evolved was the environment> Marks out of 20 <16> Can't criticise Ann here. The feel is sumptuous, in one way or another, through out. Well realised. Workflow <How well did the story progress and develop> Marks out of 20 <15> For me a little drawn out, but all the aspect of flow are there and in general well applied. Eroticism <Just how erotic a read is this (erotic, not sexy!)> Marks out of 20 <14> Well written sex scenes coupled with an emotional story. The rating reflects that. Not my personal thing for excitement, but it is erotic. Mechanics <The boring bit, grammar, typo's etc.> Marks out of 20 <12> Other than the truly appalling use of shorthand to describe 'key' characters, fine. Ann is an accomplished writer and in general makes very few errors. I have marked her down here for laziness. Impression <What did I feel having read the story, did I want to read more?> Marks out of 20. <2> I would rather have my eyeballs pierced with red hot pokers than have to re-read this confection of boiled sugar! I guess you can pick up on the fact that I don't like it. In general I do like and often read Ann's other stories. I would even happily point readers towards her writing, just not in this case. I firmly believe this sort of writing undermines 'romance’ and helps its detractors to classify it as 'unimportant'. Life just isn't like this, and I can't read stories that contains nothing but unremitting good fortune. It bores. Consider the death of Moira's parents, both within a year of each other, is poor Moira devastated? Nope, she's just $300,000 better off. Surely even the most estranged daughter would have some reaction, other than seeing parental death as a jolly. Do we get her emotions, no. Do we see any recognition of the tragic events in this young woman's life, no. It could have been so much more than romantic 'fluff'. Total score 59 Yotties out of 100. <An average score would therefore be 50> Readability guide 00-20 must try harder. 20-40 needs development 40-60 readable 60-80 good read 80-99 should read 100 reserved for my stories :-)