Title: Arrow to the HeartAuthor: Jennifer Blake
Publisher: Fawcett Columbine/Ballantine
Original Date of Publication: 1993
Genre/Sub-genre: Historical Romance
Part of a Series? No
I didn't enjoy Arrow to the Heart as much as the other historical romances I've read by Jennifer Blake. I've though hard about why that might be, and I've come to the conclusion that the power structure customary in Blake's novels is out of balance in this novel. Usually, the heroine is initially dominated by the man (i.e. kidnapped, held captive, forced into marriage) and a major joy of reading is taking in the situation, in which superficially the hero holds all the cards, all the while knowing the heroine, unbeknownst to herself, has completely mentally and emotionally dominated the hero. It's important that she not know, since (I believe) her power is greater than the hero's because it gives her the ability to control the hero's power, and the balance is equal only if she wields it unconsciously. Also, there wouldn't really be a plot otherwise.
However, in Arrow to the Heart, the hero and heroine are thrust into a situation by an external force and are equal in situational power, which immediately diminishes the hero's power. Also, the hero and heroine are more open and communicative than normal in Blake's historicals, which further upsets the power balance and makes the plot a bit more far-fetched, since the closer the heroine is to realizing the hero loves her, the more desperate the events keeping them apart appear. Basically, the delicious balance of the male dominating the physical while the female dominates the mental/emotional is off.
It's still a good book, and the ending is as satisfying as any other Blake historical. I wonder-- Blake returned to historical romances with Arrow to the Heart after writing a string of contemporaries-- can the difference in her typical power structure be attributed to the influence of more contemporary, "modern" expectations?
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