1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good, older romance, Jan 15 2008
By SusieQ - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Heart's Victory (Paperback)
Published in 1983, this romance still has what it takes to deliver a good read: fairly realistic characters, a sexy romance, and a descriptive, well written plot. There's an undated feel to the dilemma that is keeping the lovers apart.
Erik Nylund is Norwegian, a professional skier who has suffered a horrific accident on the slopes. Having made a good recovery, he is now competing in an important competition in Lake Tahoe, NV; his first competition in over a year. Karen Meredith is a former ballerina-turned-ballet-teacher, who is determined to remake her life after breaking off an engagement to a man who couldn't understand what teaching means to her.
Actually, I can't fault the ex-fiance, because, as Erik puts it plainly, it IS hard to understand, at first, what dancing and teaching mean to Karen. She gave up a chance to dance professionally in NYC after her father had a stroke. Erik, who has fought back against disability, can't understand why anyone with a gift and a talent like Karen's would just let that go. Even though her father was sick, a manager could have been hired for his business, and there would have been nurses to really tend to him. After Erik points this out, Karen eventually comes to the painful realization that she was scared of failure.
Karen is a realistically conflicted character. She does kind of drive me nuts, by pushing Erik away and then pulling him back -- and drives him nuts too, for a bit -- but then they decide, OK, we'll just enjoy each other, for the time that Erik is in Tahoe. (And woo-hoo, don't they!) But then Erik asks Karen to marry him, and she has to decide: give up her teaching career in America to follow Erik on the pro ski circuit?
A sexy romance with well-written, fully rounded characters in a believable conflict, HEART'S VICTORY is what I'd call an oldie but a goodie.