Mistress of Mellyn

I found this book at Half Price Books recently, and I just had to buy it for nostalgic reasons. And it made for a quick Sunday evening read, which made me smile.

I think I borrowed most of Victoria Holt's novels once upon a time from my small-town library as a teenager. And upon re-reading this one I was struck anew with the formulaic comfort within -- the dark charismatic mysterious male anti-hero (usually the wealthy owner of some grand estate) that our natural beauty heroine(usually a penniless governess or caregiver of some sort) finds herself drawn towards despite her most stalwart resistance efforts...

Good stuff! Yes, it's not classic literature. This isn't Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters. This is light gothic romance. It's predictable despite the author throwing in a twist or two from time to time. But at the same time, it's delightful. Victoria Holt didn't do a lot of smut, and so there aren't the bodice-wrenching sex scenes of other authors. And that I like very much.