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24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tyber Evans is my favorite romance novel hero!, September 2, 2000
Tyberius Augustus Evans is gorgeous, brilliant, rich, kind to animals, small children and kooks, sexy, eccentric, and secure enough in himself to fall utterly and completely in love. This is a fantasy hero - no real man could ever compete with Tyber. There's no angst here, no dark and brooding secrets, simply the perfect man. When an author writes a romance with a hero such as this, the heroine has to be handled correctly. I mean, what we've read before tells us that if she falls too hard and too fast, there will be no conflict and therefore no story. Did Dara Joy follow that steadfast rule? Not on your life. The set-up for Zanita, our heroine, is that she's never experienced fulfillment because she's always held herself back, never allowed herself to become befuddled. Her best friend has advised her that she'll know when it's the real thing when she jumps in feet first. Which is precisely what happens; Zanita falls for Tyber asap, and before she knows it, she's completely befuddled. Ah, you say, if she's befuddled, does that make her too stupid to live? Well, I certainly didn't think so. She didn't get herself into situations she couldn't get out of, although the hero's mastery prevented many of the situations from getting out of control (just another reason to love him!) Humorous romances require quirkiness of character. Zanita, as Tyber puts it, is a genius in non-linear thinking. Perhaps I relate to her; my husband says I get from A to C via Q. My synapses fire differently than most. So do Zanita's (okay, so her name is a bit on the zany side, but I can live with that!). So, does her befuddled-ness annoy our hero? In many romances, it does, and that's where the humor generally is found - think Bewitching or A Basket of Wishes. In this book, Tyber knows Zanita's non-linear thinking is what is drawing him in to her and he's secure enough to go along for the ride. She knows he's eccentric but is living her friend's advice - she's jumped in without thinking, and for once, her love life is working. There's great humor there. So we've got a great hero, a befuddled heroine, humor. . . did I mention great sex? Well, sort of, because Zanita, who never experienced fulfillment, is fulfilled quite a bit. From what I gather, Dara Joy's other books are quite a bit more explicit than this one, but, believe me, Tyber's brilliance isn't limited to the laboratory. Not only that, he knows Zanita is the one for him, and the way he brings her along is masterful. So, we've got a great hero, a befuddled heroine, humor, great sex. . . where's the conflict? We all know that there has to be conflict for a romance to work. Without that tension, it's a bore, right? I mean, haven't we read books where the hero and heroine get along so well that it's like talking a walk in the garden? Well, it's a lovely walk, but after about an hour, you start to wonder, "Okay, this is fine, but what else is there?" Dara Joy created a small amount of conflict for Tyber and Zanita by creating conflict within Zanita, who has a hard time taking Tyber's commitment to her at face value. And, the author created external conflict as well - a problem and a mystery for the two characters to resolve that falls outside their relationship. It is, in essence, what keeps them together initially. The author also creates a bit of extra fun in the characters of Mills and Gregor, whose one meeting is filled with some of the best bickering I've ever read - I look forward to reading their romance one day! This romance is a wonderful piece of fluff, and if you have the requisite sense of humor to enjoy fluff, I strongly recommend High Energy. TTFN, Laurie Likes Books Publisher, All About Romance (This review drawn from the October 20, 1991 issue of Laurie's News & Views column now known as At the Back Fence, at All About Romance)
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by Dara Joy
by Dara Joy
by Dara Joy
by Dara Joy
by Dara Joy
