Prelude ~ JoAnn Durgin
Prelude by JoAnn Durgin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I got this novel quite a long time ago but had not found the chance to read it until recently. I kept looking at the cover and telling myself I needed to read it, but other books, by necessity, had to come first. I finally had a free moment to pick up something from my backlist to-be-read pile and Joann won first prize, or maybe I did.
I expected with the .5 and a name like Prelude for this to be a novella and fully intended to finish it in a night, boy was I surprised when I read a few hours and had only made it about a fourth of the way! Usually, I look up that sort of thing, but as I said, I’d had this one a while so I just picked it up. I was not disappointed that I was wrong, it just took me longer to read than it otherwise would have. There is such depth within the story that I was easily able to go a few weeks between setting it down and picking it back up. My mind would get right back into the story with ease.
Joann weaves a pleasing hero and a strong heroine in Prelude. Both have their faults and I love that they are “human” enough to admit to there being physical temptations in budding relationships. I also love that this novel shows them dealing with it in healthy, normal ways. This was an excellent start to a series that is (at the time of this review) into its seventh novel, so should keep anyone who has just discovered it busy with good reads for a while. I know I will be.