The Vintage Romance Reader

She was a dream girl to the world...but to her only one man mattered.

From the moment handsome young songwriter Rob Matthews walked into her recording session, Callie Stevens was hooked. Even though she was a world-famous rock star, nothing, not even the roar of the crowd, made her senses sizzle the way Rob did.

Callie was used to having everything she desired, and now she wanted Rob. But Rob was his own man with dreams he couldn't share and, no matter how enticing he found her caresses, he didn't want to walk in Callie's shadow.

Could Callie convince her reluctant hero they could live their lives in harmony?

Original Publisher: Pageant
Original Year of Publication: 1988
Page Count: 176

This is a smooth, easy, short read - a vintage romance clocking in at 176 pages, its easy to read in a sitting or two. It falls somewhere between Sweet Valley High and Harlequin Presents - short, rather simplistic, escapist fun with a hint of steam to accompany the ton of physical longing going on. While I enjoyed the prose, I didn't care so much for the storyline, or the implication that putting the man in your life first, and changing your entire life to suit him, is an ideal that should be met. That is a very 1980s take, and I'm glad attitudes have changed in the last 30 years.

Our heroine is Callie Stevens, a pert, pretty, tiny blonde woman who is the lead singer of a rock band called Sizzle. The band is at the end of their contract with their record label, and things are not looking good for a contract renewal, which places the band under intense stress. They are performing several songs by award-winning songwriter Rob Matthews (our hero), who objects to Callie's changes to one of his songs, a confrontation which brings them into each others' orbit.

It's lust at first sight, for both of them, and after a rather juvenile chase, they begin to date. When Callie tells Rob that she has to go out on tour during the winter holidays, he blows a gasket at her, demanding to know why she didn't tell him before he invited his family to town. (Like she knew he was going to do that, since they'd only been dating for a few weeks?!)

They part company, and Callie is absolutely miserable during the five-week tour. She decides that touring is not the life for her anymore, and tensions in the band have only gotten worse. She decides to win back Rob and make him the center of her universe, which grated on my nerves but I read on anyway. They reconcile and spent another couple of blissful weeks together, until a celebrity rag runs paparazzi pictures of the band's creepy drummer, Tom, kissing Callie against her will from the tour. Rob once again blows a gasket, tells Callie that she's a liar and a double-crosser, and storms out of her life for good, leaving her once again miserable and alone.

I have no time for this sort of story arc, because how am I supposed to believe in a romance when there is no trust and no communication? Rob automatically believes everything creepy Tom taunts him about and didn't even bother getting Callie's side of the story before judging her and dumping her. Meanwhile, she's rearranged her whole life around the idea of being "home" with him.

Professional musicians tour to support themselves; that ought to be a given, even in the 80s. And professional songwriters, of all people, should know and understand that. So Rob's inability to bend over Callie's touring schedule grated on my nerves in a big way, and set up this whole unrealistic premise that if she loves him as desperately as she says she does, she'll do everything she can - including changing careers - to save her relationship. Why should she have to do all the work?? Ugh.

In spite of my reservations about the plot, this was an easy, simple, frothy sort of love story, and I'd definitely try Paula Williams' work again.

⭐⭐⭐