The Wilderness Trail

I bought a bunch of old Harlequins for the covers to do an art project but I thought what the hey? I'll read a few of them before I take the covers off. So this one has a theme I like of a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness where the hero and heroine have to walk out. This story is very much a product of its times. The man was 33, very domineering and know it all. The girl was a childish 20. She kept acting like a cry baby and a bitchy quitter then kept getting pissed and telling the hero off for treating her like a child. Many of these older books you don't see any clear progression of 2 people falling in love. They just suddenly decide, between one sentence and the next, that they are. This relationship is not written as an equal show more partnership. This guy spent the entire book making the heroine do what he told her to do. He even spanked her once briefly. There were some vague bits that I think might have been attributable to the fact that in the 70s everyone would have understood the inferences. Things like what would constitute sexual teasing by the heroine which would drive the hero to attack her with punishing kisses. Maybe I didn't get it because to me, what she said was nothing at all. Maybe it's just poor writing. I think I've read other books written in during the early 70s that were better.

So to resolve this issue, I will read some more of these oldies I bought for art and let you know. show less