Almost Heaven

Author: Judith McKnaught

This was read sometime last year, and I had a long debate whether it was worth posting or not - it is hardly the most intellectual or thought-provoking material in my collection. Then I decided to be honest to myself and my readers, so here it is.

After a truly depressing experience reading 'Disgrace' for the 2010 Global Reading Challenge, I needed something light and fluffy. Well, this was hardly light and fluffy, but a good dose of pleasurable reading nonetheless. I am not including this in the Challenge, though.

It is a typical, formulaic romance where the hero is tall, dark, coldly handsome and turns out to be of noble birth. The heroine is the most attractive creature on earth, spirited and independent - with an intellectualism that she is forced to hide in a bid to be accepted by society. I can hardly remember the plot (something about Scotland, a scandalous encounter, debutantes), but reading it reminded me of being seventeen when I was still in school and we denounced the male of the species as heartbreakers and decided to stick to falling in love with fictional characters instead.