Seven
years ago, Joy had been a naïve twenty-year old aspiring speleologist and guide, with
stars in eyes and love in her heart for handsome, upcoming journalist Gabe Venture. In the
heat of New Mexico, while exploring the natural wonders of the Lost River Cave, they’d
shared one incredible night of passion. Afterwards, Gabe’s soaring ambitions for his
career had drawn him away and he’d left Joy broken-hearted and disillusioned. Since
then, they hadn’t laid eyes on each other.
Now,
Joy’s become the renowned hydrospeleologist Dr. Joy Anderson with countless papers
and discoveries to her credit. And Gabe has finally achieved the fame he’d so badly
desired, having roamed the world and written about his countless and dangerous adventures
in exotic locales. But nothing has ever moved him as much as the staggering beauty of the
Lost River Cave, nor has he ever been able to forget or forgive Joy. And Joy, in turn, has
never forgiven him for walking out on her when she needed him the most.
But
when forced together to work for one last time at the Lost River Cave, the two of them
have to finally learn to forgive each other or be destroyed in the process. Will that
magical cave and its mysterious voices heal these two wounded souls or will their
bitterness corrode away the lingering traces of love? And what about the child they’d
created out of this love?
Elizabeth
Lowell is an experienced author with countless successful novels to her credit. Recently,
like many other authors from the romance mainstream, Ms. Lowell had also ventured into the
sub-genre of romantic suspense, but in this book she returns to the familiar haunts of a
purely romantic story. And that’s all there is to this story – Romance - pure,
unadulterated, old-fashioned romance. Initially, the protagonists hate each other
bitterly, but as the novel progresses, this love transforms into a breathtaking love. This
has been the theme of countless such books and Ms. Lowell has attempted to recreate the
magic again and with her experience, she does succeed…..but only moderately. With no
suspense to make the novel tense, no mystery to add anticipation, no believable pathos and
certainly no humor, the book feels bland and seems uninspired. However, what conflict
there is between the main characters, is fiery and challenging and adds some much wanted
spark to this otherwise ordinary story. One other redeeming feature of this book, is the
cave exploration part of it which is described in detail and which comes across as highly
authentic and comprehensive. Overall, this book a good way to pass a lazy afternoon.
Reviewed
By Rashmi Srinivas for The Road to Romance
October
28, 2003 |
