Affair of Honor, by Jayne Ann Krentz

I hadn't read one of my old Jayne Ann Krentz categories for some time now. I guess a couple too many bad ones in a row had put me off, but really, there are some gems in there! My latest read was Affair of Honor, a 1983 title written as Stephanie James.

A QUESTION OF HONOR

Icy silver eyes held her captive until Ryder Sterne decided that his lovely prisoner wasn't a trespasser after all. But the electric encounter between the daredevil writer and beautiful philosophy profess Brenna Llewellyn had just begun. Ryder lived life in the fast lane, and Brenna had landed on the inside track. In his embrace she could almost forget the career crisis that had driven her to this mountain cabin retreat. Suddenly she faced a new challenge: a lover who demanded commitment and took absolute possession-giving her no choice but abandon all logic ... for love.

At last, an early category by Krentz that doesn't feature an extraneous suspense subplot near the end! Very refreshing, that. Add to that quite a nice story, and my grade was a B.

I think that for me, the difference between a JAK wall-banger and a JAK comfort read is the hero. Ryder is an alpha, but a different kind from the typical over-the-top bastard common in the early 80s, and which JAK has used in some books. His alphaness shows mostly in that once Brenna has made the choice to sleep with him, that's it. He sees that as a commitment and refuses to let her back out of it. None of Brenna's "We're having a summer affair" for him. As far as Ryder's concerned, their relationship is leading to living together and /or marriage, and that's it, no room for discussion.

Come to think of it, this is, to say the least, a bit weird. In real life, a guy like this would be off his head, IMO. Still, it was a little thrilling here, probably because it's soooo distant from the comittment-phobia so many men show in real life. Well, thrilling up to a point, because he irritated me at times, as much as he did Brenna.

I thought the protagonists' professions were quite interesting. Brenna was a professor of philosophy, and this was a big (and fascinating) part of her life, while Ryder wrote men's adventure novels. One of my favourite scenes of the book was when Ryder gives Brenna one of his books to read and proceeds to read a philosophy text himself, telling her that the reason to do this is so that each can discover a bit about the other.

I liked the plot of the novel very much, too. Most of the action takes place while these 2 are on vacation and have rented neighbouring houses near Lake Tahoe. This, and the lack of a suspense subplot, allow the focus to rest solely on them and their relationship, and that was a huge positive, IMO.

All in all, a nice, enjoyable read.