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RESPITE Madeline Raburn, a post-war world adventurer being chaperoned by men her rich father has hired, stumbles into a bar in Larache, Morocco. She is supposed to be “getting it out of her system” before a prearranged marriage to her Italian fiancé. Sitting next to her is Ryan Davison. a WWII vet, trying to find his balance after being wounded serving his country. As they get to know one another, their mutual attraction blossoms, and they fall in love. Maddy is well drawn as an over-privileged prematurely liberated woman. Ryan seems more like a victim of love than an aggressor; although he certainly is complicit. While she is wealthy, he is the only child of loving Midwestern, unmoneyed parents. When Maddy and Ryan decide to share his room in the luxury hotel, she thinks she has succeeded in dodging her “chaperones. Their attraction builds from mutual lusting to frequent lovemaking. Everyone is “toned.” She loves his firm-toned body, he loves her firm-toned thighs. But is this true love? Ms. Burke is facile with language, but she uses many expressions that didn’t exist until the twenty-first century. This novella could have been better plotted and better paced. The beginning portends of conflict and suspense, which evaporates in the bed of the eager lovers. When trouble does strike, logic leaves altogether, replaced by a hurried ending that is coy and totally unsatisfying. The detailed sex scenes were longer than the story. This reviewer expected a short, historical romance, not an era erotica. Maggie
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