The Marriage Resolution by Penny Jordan

What tickled my fancy: Reunion angst
What ticked me off: Dude, you’re just gross. Also, love=fertility.
Who might like it: Someone in need of a quick angst fix or possible trainwreck.

This turned out to be the last in a four-part series, but I decided it probably wouldn’t matter much, and it didn’t. Dee is feeling wistful, with all her friends happily married and popping out babies.  Since the only guy she could ever do the horizontal mambo with is long gone, she’s resigned herself to being alone. That’s until he shows up again, ready and eager to misunderstand her actions and motives as only a Penny Jordan hero can.

Hugo isn’t really all that nasty though; mainly he’s kind of sleezy. In flashbacks… many, many flashbacks… we learn that he and Dee were once lovers. On their first date he tells her highly convenient stories about the sexual practices in the African tribes he works with and — rather graphically — that they can’t have sex yet, because his desire to impregnate her is too strong. Any sane woman would be running for the door, or possibly for a basin. Dee instead runs for the birth control pills… understandable, I guess, though he’s a condom guy if ever I read one.

I thought it was kind of cool that Dee and Hugo spend a couple of weeks making each other happy while waiting for the pills to take effect, though the big consummation practically involves heavenly choirs, and nicely proves every point Meoskop made in her Love in the Margins article today.

Back to the future. Hugo and Dee are still Tom Cruise-crazy about each other and that was kind of fun to read.  Future Hugo is far more palatable than creepy past Hugo, though he goes back to his yeechy ways by declaring he’s sure he impregnated Dee, because of how much in love they are. I guess my husband and I were just mildly fond of each other all those years we were trying.

It’s not really wacky enough to be a good trainwreck, but it was angsty enough to be a decent time passer.

---

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.