How far we've come!

Just the other week I purchased a duo book by a Harlequin Presents Author. One of the stories was a story written in 1997 and was the style classic to the author. I enjoy her books immensely but I can pretty much guarantee how the storyline will pan out.

The second book was the author's first book and it was written in 1975! Now I admit I was tempted not to bother reading it. Even went so far as to put another book in my handbag just in case.

So on the bus I get down and open the book. Well I have to say I'm having a great time reading it. I'm giggling away as I read.

Now that is in no way anything against the author, just the time it was written in. As a side note the book is based in Australia.

Here are the things I've noticed:

• The Hero is a smoker! He would finish one cigarette and then light up another. I dont read too many heroes nowadays that are smokers.

• The Heroine worked in the office as a typist and came back from lunch, rolled foolscap and carbon paper into the typewriter and was on her way. One would imagine that the typewriter would have been a manual one too! Quite a few heroines these days have university/college educations and can pretty much hold their own in the boardroom. LOL

• When they went out for dinner they both had a beer. Today it would have a been a crisp dry chardonnay or a smooth merlot.

• Dinner was T-Bone steak with vegetables, not pan roasted chicken breast on a bed of sweet potato and pumpkin mash, with seared asparagus and finally a creme brulee.

The thing that I'm amazed about really is the smoking bit. This guy is a serious chain smoker! Lying in bed with a cigarette and a newspaper. I shudder at thinking of kissing the guy!

The interesting thing will be if there are any 'intimate' moments. I imagine it will be just made in passing and not in the detail that some authors go into today. I'm about eight chapters in and they are married so I shall see what happens

Also she is pretty much the 'housekeeper'. He is a tobacco farmer (irony there with the smoking) and she is basically chief cook and bottlewasher.

Surprisingly too is that there have been a couple of times it has slipped into his point of view. Just a few lines and very very subtle but there all the same.

Having said all that, this author has written a great deal of books and as I said it is a fascinating read to see how much we have progressed as a society ie computers, A4 paper and white out.

And in the writing sense how far the line has come. As I said above non-smoker heroes and heroines that really do hold there own.

So even though I was extremely skeptical at first about reading the story I will say that I'm really glad that I did.

JN