Some fans of Judith McNaught has expressed disappointments over Night Whispers and Someone to Watch Over Me because those fans said that the said books are not as as excellent as Paradise or Perfect. This was evident in some of the reviews of the two books online as well as her online discussion board.

In the first place, NW and STWOM could not be compared to the latter two books above because NW and STWOM are thriller/suspense with romance subplot while Paradise and Perfect are romance books with mystery subplot. That's the big difference.

Then, there were those who complained that JM has jumped ship too - meaning she went with the flow of writing romantic suspense novels along with other romance-novelist-turned-mystery-writer.

However, I beg to disagree. I still think that JM has tried to break out of the 'romantic suspense novels' mould. She didn't try to be just "one-of-them" but rather, tried to be different. In fact, I even think that she alone defined 'romantic suspense' with her two books.

For a start, her heroes (Noah and Michael) were not a cop. In most of the romantic suspense novels like that of Linda Howard and Julie Garwood, the main hero is always a cop and the heroine is always a damsel in distress in need of rescuing. But JM did not follow this pattern, which has somewhat become a stereotype romantic suspense and which I think is the easy way out for writers. Instead, she had her heroes cloaked with mystery that me, as a reader just want to know more about them. It helped kept me on edge, wondering if the hero was guilty or not. In STWOM, I was kept in suspense, wondering if Michael was the protagonist or the villain.

Her heroines were not helpless, foolish females. Rather, they were the typical JM heroines - strong, smart, witty and can stand up on their own, just like Sloan in NW who is a cop. I don't know about the other readers, but sometimes, some heroines are so helpless that they were already foolish in my opinion. JM heroines know how to fight for what they believe ...and love.

The wit and humor is still there. One of the complaints I have about Julie Garwood's contemporary novels is that the wit and humor is not evident anymore, unlike her historicals. But with JM, it's still there, at the proper place and time. It might not be the main characters themselves who were funny, but the secondary characters, like Courtney Maitland.

The heartwrenching scenes that is a trademark of JM. When Noah refused to help Sloan, when Michael listened to Leigh's weeping. These just gripped my heart and made the books awesome.

And last but definitely not the least - the fantastic romance aspect. JM's romance is still there in NW and STWOM if one would only look clearly. Of course, it's not as heavy as her other pure romance but it's still there.

"You make me feel like a high school boy in love for the very first time."

"I gave Logan my girl and look what he did to her."

Who were not swept off their feet by these lines? Sigh.

So, JM is still one-of-a-kind writer in my opinion coz even though she's still forced to go with the flow, she's still finding ways to break out of the mould. That's why she's my ultimate favorite author.

Labels: judith mcnaught, night whispers, someone to watch over me