Spirit of Ecstasy (Writers Club Press)

Rating:
Summary: In the right spirit!
Review: These days computer dating is big business, so if you're wondering what it's like for a professionally-minded, highly intelligent person to take the plunge and give it a try - this book is a good introduction! It's a page-turner, definitely easy to read and down-to-earth when it comes to human emotions and honest soul-searching. The hero is refreshingly shy, clumsy and willing to make mistakes....I loved the heroine Jackie, she was so convincing in all her "unpretentious spontaneity," and even Richard managed to outdo her, at times, with his primroses, butterflies and rabbits - for a start. It was a dramatic ending, but the author worked up to it just fine, in my opinion. My mom usually doesn't like the same books as I do, but she did admit it was "different" and couldn't put it down once she'd started...and we both agreed the characters were intriguing and very well developed (the women more so than Richard, in fact).

Rating:
Summary: A Romantic Thriller from Scotland
Review: This romantic thriller was co-authored by husband and wife team, Charles and Carolyn Muller of Jedburgh, hence the name Carolyn Charles. It centres on the computer dating intrigues (and mis-matches) of a South African nuclear physicist, Richard Vance.
The reader is drawn into the story immediately, and we learn the perks of computer dating from a female (Jackie) and male (Richard) point-of-view. At turns whimsical, humorous and romantic, we are propelled from London to Wales to Scotland , with time spent in Yorkshire in a fast-paced novel, switching from Richard to Jackie's misfortunes in computer matchmaking. Only near the end do we learn that something more sinister has been lurking beneath the surface of this dating game.The protagonist, Richard, is an appealing, if somewhat bumptious, lovelorn academic, who spills a lot of wine and snogs a lot, unaware of the dangers closing in on him. One or two incidents challenge the reader's credulity and the Austrian and Scots accents are a bit dodgy, but on the whole, this team have produced a commendable and solid novel in the romantic/thriller genre. The couple run a hotel in Jedburgh, but have also found the time to produce a unique publishing venture for other writers.Information on their work can be obtained from:... T B: The Eildon Tree, Special Fiction Issue 6 (August 2001).