Customer Reviews

A Kiss Remembered

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

Shelley is a divorcee who has recently returned to college to finish the degree she abandoned just before getting married. Her professor is none other than Grant Chapman, the high school teacher with whom she shared a tantalizing kiss 10 years earlier when he taught civics.

Grant left school immediately following that illicit afternoon kiss, and took a job as a congressional aide. He leaves that job due to another potential scandal. He is once again attracted to Shelley, and since she is no longer underage (thus off limits), he asks her out. In order to find happiness the two must overcome many obstacles including former lovers and a dean that is suspicious of Grant's motivations.

The story is dated, the conflict nearly non-existent, and the dialog a little trite at times. Recommended reading only for anyone who had a crush on a teacher.

It is so often that readers now not only judge a book by its cover and tantamount to it is the value for price. Sandra Brown's latest hardcover A KISS REMEMBERED billed as a classic love story should be released into a paperback given that it is firstly too short and ungratifying in terms of price against quality and secondly a dated re-release of her work when she writes under the pseudonym of Erin St. Clare.

Not that the story itself is insipid. Sandra Brown is a master at crafting moral dilemmas and poignant romance. This time round she weaves a student-teacher romance between Shelley Browning and Grant Chapman. Once at Poshman Valley High when Shelley was a budding student worshipping the devastatingly handsome political science teacher Mr. Chapman until a shocking yet pleasantly intimate kiss fuelled their desire. Confusion propels Shelley to distance herself and run straight into the arms of Daryl Robins, who later she discovered was a erroneous choice for a husband with his selfishness. Grant moved on to the political stage as a senatorial aide but later a scandal exploded to revert him to teaching yet again.

When they meet again it is at a church-sponsored university where Shelley studies as an undergraduate and Grant as the professor. A wiser and matured Shelley finds her grappling with the primal attraction to Grant, yet again public opinion and objections from the school chancellor threatens their rekindle of romance. When love comes heading, Shelley is forced to evaluate her option and apprehend her fears in love. Most importantly of all, she has to learn to trust Grant....

The awkward relationship under Ms. Brown comes maturedly handled without eager prurience - and it is all the more miraculous she can explore and develop their passion within 180 pages. The hardship and hurdles to surmount manifest as ostracization, gossips that threatens Grant's career, political scandals and Shelley's selfish ex-husband. It makes their precarious May-December romance all the more rewarding and triumphant. The love scenes are uniquely Brown's passionate prose and they sizzle. However, it is ultimately Ms. Brown's high-voltage emotional drama that renders her one of the most profilic author today and also one romance writer who is fondly remembered for her optimistic and uplifting romance.

Ten years after a smoldering kiss from her civics teacher, Shelley finds herself back in his classroom, college classroom that is. Recently divorced from the husband she nurtured and put through medical school, Shelley is starting over.

Also starting over is Grant Chapman, former high school civics teacher cum congressional aide, now college civics professor. He is trying to live down a Washington DC scandal involving the daughter of a senator. The last thing he needs in his life is the now grown up teenager that sent him running from Oklahoma to the nation's capital after a fateful kiss.

The passion they felt ten years earlier but never acted on is rampant, and Grant attempts to seduce her until she will finally give in to him. Despite trying to stay away from each other, they cannot. They have a lot of obstacles thrown in along the way including more scandals, the college chancellor, and a host of old lovers.

The material is really dated, but if you read the preface going in, you would know that. Yes, Grant had a hard time saying no, but back when this was written, it was still okay to slap women around in movies, so you can forgive the timing.

Despite the "datedness," it is a compelling romance, which has you rooting for he charismatic leads right until the end. This is a short one - less than 200 pages, and can be read in a single day. It is a nice escapist story

I bought this audio book to keep me company on a long car ride. After about an hour of the same nonsense over and over again I threw it out at the rest stop. I threw it out just in case I got so deperate on my journey that I'd put it back in.

This book is a disservice to the readers. It would do no good for me to describe it. Plotless, stupid, repetitive, and an insult to readers. It should be recalled.

I bought this on Audio CD and it was just too predictable. Very short and a little sappy. Not one of my favorites for sure

I HATED this book. I couldn't even force myself to listen to it, despite having paid for it. It has no plot to speak of and is the kind of book that an adolescent would love to giggle over. I would have given it a "minus" star if that option were available. The title should be: "A Kiss Remembered, That Should Have Been Forgotten".

I just finished reading A Kiss Remembered by Sandra Brown and I will have to say tht I'm more than disappointed. I could tell that it was one of her earlier books. It was so predictable. I definitely would not have bought this book for full price if I had known what a disappointment it was going to be. I love Sandra Brown books; she's one of my most favorite authors. But this did not live up to my expectations.

I wanted to give this book a chance, even though I knew she had written it years ago, but I just could not finish this book. I didn't like the plot, I didn't even like the characters. Blah. I can recommend, however, a spine-tingling lovefest in The Color of Revenge by Millicent Hart. Not one to miss.

I picked up this book when I read a description which piqued my interest. If the woman and man shared a wonderful moment years ago, how would they respond to each other in a teacher/student situation in the present? What kind of classroom atmosphere would prevail, and what kind of personal relationship/friendship might they develop? Unfortunately, the author felt that the two should rush into scenes of sexual intimacy immediately, leaving the plot stuck in a recurring pattern of: He:"Yes, you want me" She: "No, I don't" He:"Yes, you do" She:"Well...yeah, you're right." I also have problems with a morality which makes it ok for him to continue to force himself on her when she says "no" because he "knows" (albeit correctly) she means "yes". Nowadays on a college campus, she would have solid grounds for a sexual harrassment suit. Perhaps I'm just not up on behavior in the romance genre, but I can see lots of ways for this relationship to blossom without constant trips to the bedroom. Sandra Brown is a good author who has improved with age (as we all do!), I think she just hadn't found her stride when this was written almost 20 years ago.

I like Sandra Brown but this book should have been rewritten. I have been listening to it on audiobook and also have the actual book. I didn't realize until I was actually listening to it how badly written it was. It was as if Sandra wrote it with a thesaurus well utilized. Shelley came across as SO immature, even at age 26. And she describes Grant as if he as 45 instead of around 35. I would LOVE to see her rewrite this and create a better female lead, instead of the wimpy Shelley that we have. I really liked Grant and would like to have had him placed in a much better story. It would have been so much more interesting seeing Shelley interact with her ex-husband more (so he could get a better comeuppance). Instead, we get vascillationg between Yes and NO and Yes and NO...and her reasons were wimpy too. As someone who does teach on the university level, NO, I would not date someone I was teaching, no matter how attracted I was to them. It is not ethical and, to me, Grant was very ethical. So much more could have been done to bring them together. It moved too slowly AND too fast at the same time. Now that takes talent! Thankfully, Sandra has written much better books since.