PORTRAIT OF A BRIDE

Author: Tracy Fobes ISBN: 0505525771 1/2005 PARANORMAL Publisher: DORCHESTER/Love Spell
Time Period: Future & Present Day Philadelphia

What if there were no daughters, no women, no wives? What if an artist could capture the femininity, the sensuality, the very spirit of his subjects? An artist so skilled and dedicated that he could paint the sweet curve of a cheek, the fire in a flashing eye, the lush promise of every man’s fantasy and bring her to life, transported from another place and time, ready for the marriage bed of wealthy patrons. What if such a man accepted the honor of creating a consort for his own father, a queen for his people, yet found her irresistible loveliness a temptation too powerful to resist? For this was no pliant, submissive female, but a brilliant scientist, a bold innovator, a daring lover. And her retrieval from modern-day Philadelphia would forever change Blackfell and the artisan who dared to create his ideal . . .

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

*Yawn* Sorry, I must have dozed off while reading Tracy Fobes, PORTRAIT OF A BRIDE. That may sound a bit harsh, but unfortunately, it's true. This one is very dry despite the promise of the "unique read vibe" I picked up on after scanning the back cover. I suppose the thought of a world with so very few women in it that you have to create a portal in time into the past to retrieve them, and make them marry and try to have female children, is still unique. It is just not half as interesting or exciting as it sounds between the pages.

I wanted a hot romance—it's less than lukewarm. Actually, there is zero chemistry between the hero, Conlean, and the heroine, Jordan. I wanted some really cool plot involving the "supposed" FFA (Families For All), but they basically do nothing until the end of the book. I wanted Jordan to start working toward eliminating the plague of infertility—the whole reason she is abducted from her time in the first place—and that never happens. Oh, wait, in the epilogue it does! And the real villain? He ends up being a mere nuisance that is disposed of in one page. One page!

This really could have been a good book, but instead I find it confusing and incomplete. So many questions are left unanswered: If Conlean and Jordan can sneak around and find hidden places and times to be together, why can't he sneak her somewhere to start on her research? What happened to Erickson's wife? Did she die, or was she freed by the FFA?

By the way, from the way the epilogue ends, it appears that a sequel to this one is in the works. Let's hope that some of the unanswered questions, and confusing time travel rules, get cleared up there. It would also be nice if the story gets revamped enough to wake me up.

Shannon Johnson