Review - Date with the Devil

Title: Date with the Devil
Author: Olivia Rupprecht
Publishing Date: November 1991
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: C+
Sensuality: Warm

Can I just say this book totally makes me giggle? I mean first of all check out the ridiculous cover. Of course, it was written in 1991, so what did I expect, right? What’s inside the book is just as tacky as the cover. In this case, the saying “never judge a book by its cover” doesn’t apply. My whole reason for reading this book was because of a post I read over at the popular romance blog, Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. A reader couldn’t remember the title of this book and described the plot. It sounded so ridiculous I knew I had to read it. What can I say? I’m a glutton for punishment.

Diedre Forsythe wins a trip to the Bahamas. She takes a day cruise site see around the surrounding area and a surprise storm capsizes the boat. After hitting the water she blacks out and wakes up to find herself in the arms of a strange man lying on a bed of palm fronds. She recognizes the man from the boat as Sterling Jakes a fellow passenger. (Don’t you just love the name, Sterling Jakes? It’s about as silly as the rest of the book.) He was able to save himself and her by swimming to the nearest island. Now it’s just the two of them and they have to live off the island to survive.

I loved the premise of this book. Two strangers who have to learn to live off the land in order to survive is a promising plot. No outside conflict, only the two of them against nature. Unfortunately, the delivery just didn’t work for me. Sterling was in the military and he studied as a Ninja and knows how to survive. So he teaches Diedre how to find food and how to make tools. Sterling came off as too much of a know-it-all. Plus, he was a lot older than Diedre and that immediately put him in control. What really got me, was the way he would talk. It was all very cheesy and he always called Diedre, Darling. I found myself rolling my eyes at the things he would say.

This story was very brief at a whopping 180 pages. It was an easy read and I read the book very quickly. I didn’t like how Diedre behaved at the end. She all the sudden turned into an immature ninny. Feeling so sorry for herself, she just ran away instead of confronting her problems. It weakened the book, for me. I don’t know if I can actually recommend this book, but it was funny and short. I didn’t mind having spent time reading it. But it’s definitely not an award winner. (Well, I suppose that depends on the award).