The Penwyth Curse is an odd blend of two stories about two couples who seem to really be the same couple, just reincarnated (or something.) The different time periods are set so that we see the beginning and end of a curse on the land and the redemption of it through the valiantry of a maybe-kinda-sorta-wizard-knight guy. The main question seemed to be “when should I take her virginity? I know I’m going to marry her and I really want to have sex with her, but I might die from the curse if I do it now… but I’m a man with hormones. Dammit.” Add in Arthurian legends, magic wands, and Harry Potter style magic tricks, and this becomes a 345 page novel.

I read this book while my husband and father played a really dumb X-Box game (Rumble Roses), and while this book was better than watching that – it was only slightly better. It was cute in a fairly tale kind of way but soon through it my only motivation for reading it was so that I wouldn’t have to watch two men playing as half-naked chicks beat the crap out of each other in hi-def. At some points I just wanted to yell at the character “take her virginity already!” However, that would have warranted unwelcome comments from the testosterone filled men in the room. I love Catherine Coulter, but this book was a severe disappointment. ( )