Kool Aid Served Daily

I just read Finders Keepers by Linnea Sinclair last night. I picked it up because I had recently read Gabriel's Ghost.

So I liked the cover on Gabriel's Ghost and I had read reviews at Amazon which compared her to Steve Miller and Sharon Lee (Mainly the Liaden Universe work).

I can see why reviewers would pick up on that commonality, but I saw a huge difference. The Sinclair books focus more on romance than the Miller and Lee stories. I haven't read any romance novels, but I think the books would deliver less romance than is the standard.

The Liaden stories are concerned with major events and romance kindling in the background. The characters are always young and finding their soulmates. The action is good and the plot keeps you engrossed.

The Sinclair books are romances exploding with passion and major events happening in the background. I got the feeling that if the two main characters had hooked up, then they might have let the events take care of themselves.

What I liked about the stories is that the angst overflowed and the problems felt real. I easily found myself skipping over the love scenes but I couldn't tear myself away from the character development. They, and their problems, popped out at me and seemed plausible. A good contrast would be the Bill Baldwin Helmsman space opera series. Wilf was always falling madly in love with a new interest each novel, but you knew it wouldn't last. And you never got a real feeling for that love interest as a character - no life.