Rosemary Hammond wrote well over 40 romances under the Harlequin and Harlequin Presents brands and Full Circle is her very first, debut novel. It is set in Seattle and the San Juan islands, as are most of her other books, and features two characters, Katie and Luke, who tend to live in their own heads, making trouble for themselves and each other because they don’t think to listen to each other.
Luke and Katie lived next door on an island and were soulmates from grade school on, meant for each other and both expected to marry. It’s not clear whether they actually had promised anything but both felt committed. Unfortunately Luke, four years older, was at Stanford studying engineering, playing football and working, and seldom made it home nor did he write. Katie was still committed but went on a few dates with Brian, and sadly Brian kissed her the first time and Luke saw it. Luke then walked off and refused to talk to Katie or listen to her or read her letters.
Ten years on Katie is a legal secretary and Luke comes from a high-flying New York legal practice to lead an anti-trust civil suit, and Katie is assigned to help him. They clash. Luke kisses her silly then walks off, claiming he just wanted revenge for her dumping him. Things proceed from there, with him alternately yelling at her to type stuff and making out. Poor Katie thinks it’s all in pursuit of his revenge.
Full Circle is not a bad novel but it isn’t very good either. Had I read this first I wouldn’t have bothered to purchase several Rosemary Hammond books and probably wouldn’t have bothered to read many on Archive.org either. Keeping in mind this is a first novel here’s the parts I liked and loathed:
Like: Hammond uses beautiful settings and makes us feel like we’re there. Excellent, atmospheric descriptions of the beaches and older homes in the islands.
Like: The other woman is vain and silly but not malicious.
Neutral: The overall plot of former girl/boy next door getting back together. There is some emotional tug of war going on in both of them although it’s not shown very well.
Loathe: Katie realizes she still loves Luke but she doesn’t say anything. When he’s kissing her senseless and carrying her upstairs she doesn’t ask whether it’s for love, simple sex or revenge. She assumes it’s revenge. It’s not crystal clear to readers but Hammond hints that Luke is not seeking revenge after the first incident.
Loathe: Both characters let pride get in the way of happiness and future joy. Katie knows she still loves Luke but ignores him at work and does her darnest to send keep-away signals. Luke is just as bad, watching her constantly but never saying anything.
Really Loathe: What the heck did Luke have as grounds for revenge anyway? He wouldn’t talk to Katie after seeing her with the other guy, jumped to conclusions, then held on to his anger for ten years. Katie had just as much reason to be angry as Luke.
Really Really Loathe: The whole revenge thing. I don’t care for revenge plots much – they have to be something special to be any good – and this one makes even less sense than most.
Hammond shows us Katie’s point of view only, and she uses inner thoughts more than verbal dialogue or action to build her character. That’s OK but it leads to a weaker romance than had she shown us Luke’s mind or used other characterization techniques.
Overall I was a bit bored reading this. I’ve a stack of Rosemary Hammond romances and am slowly working my way through; some are excellent and some less so. It took me a couple weeks to get through this because I kept picking up other books to read. I couldn’t relate to either character and the plot left me cold.
2 Stars
I got my paperback copy on eBay and Full Circle is available in print format on Amazon and Thriftbooks.
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