Pam Rosenthal

Regency

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Sensuality:
Cover Cheese:

There's a mathematical theorem-cum-anecdotal cliché positing something like this: If you toss an infinite number of monkeys at an infinite number of computer keyboards and let them pound away for an infinite amount of time, they'll almost surely type out a particular work of Shakespeare's.

Folks way smarter than me use string theory to state precisely the "infinite monkey theorem." And a computer using a Java applet to simulate the celebrated percussive primates at one point recorded a series of randomly generated letters that produced a partial line from "Julius Caesar."

"Julius-flippin-Caesar," for God's sake.

It's not fair. I mean, I actually possess opposable thumbs, yet there are times I stare at the computer screen for what seems like an eternity, and can barely compose dreck to describe novels that deserve infinitely lovely tribute. Novels like the beautifully crafted new gem from Pam Rosenthal, "The Slightest Provocation," a work resonant with exquisite emotional vivacity and searing, elemental eroticism.

Mary Penley, the wealthy daughter of a brewer, and Kit, Lord Christopher -- decidedly not the child of a "working" man -- defied convention and their fathers when they tumbled head over ears from mischievous, secret childhood friendship to reckless, desire-fueled elopement.

Nine years after realizing impetuosity is not nearly so strong as commitment -- and that his buddies at White's could goad him and his myriad self-doubts into just about any dissolute behavior -- Kit decides he's fallen back in love with Mary, whom he'd left after a year of marriage.

But proving to Mary he's a new man proves as hard as convincing himself of the same; not only does she distrust him after abandoning her, he's made a new life out of supporting the government's side of the working man's struggle for enfranchisement that Mary endorses.

What remains agreeable in their relationship is an incendiary sensual attraction from which they hope to establish what they've never shared -- respect, if not an appreciation for what their love could become if only they could finish this business of growing up.

"The Slightest Provocation" is an example of why Pam Rosenthal is one of the finest writers of romance, and one who tops the list of writers who compose novels authentically erotic.

One cannot help but find absorbing her spare prose and clever dialogue, as well as admire her talent for creating characters whose interactions and reactions gain them the emotional intelligence that moves them toward the ability to live and love wholly.

And Rosenthal's narrative is particularly intimate, as if that delightful third person guiding us happens to be doing so over a lovely cup of tea, stopping frequently to interrupt herself with a naughty on dit, or poignant reminiscence.

Hey! Now that I re-read this, I'm thinking this column could hold its own among any written by a computer-simulated ape. At very least, it should give you the sense that "The Slightest Provocation" holds its own among the best romances offered, and why I'm certain you should --

Buy the book.

www.PamRosenthal.com

Next week's review and AuthorView: "Knight of Darkness," by Sherrilyn Kenyon