J. Arlene Culiner novel Desert Rose starts with Rose Badger in her vintage store named Second Hand Rose. A good looking man, Jonah Livingstone, walks in and they are immediately attracted to each other. But Jonah is there to buy a birthday gift for the woman he lives with in Reno. After finding a gift and exchanging names, he promises to visit the store again and drives back to Reno.

Rose was born in Blake’s Folly, a mostly abandoned Nevada old mining town that once thrived, but it now had only about fifty residents, She left for a few years to pursue a singing career, but when that didn’t work out, she moved back and set up her vintage store—most of her sales were over the internet. She is the prettiest woman around and is always surrounded by single men, which Professor Livingstone soon witnesses.

So despite their attraction to each other, his situation with Miranda living with him, all of Rose’s male admirers, and each of their independent ways all stand in the way of a quick developing romance, but oh what a great romantic novel it is—and without the use of erotica.

When I started reading Desert Rose, I had just finished reading a John Grisham novel that, surprisingly, was riddled with inconsistencies and editing errors. If this novel had any, I somehow missed them. It is beautifully and concisely written with two fascinating lead characters. I was anxious to get back to the novel every time I had to put it down. It lacks any serious threat or a villains working against the protagonists, which normally make novels more interesting. But despite the lack of contention, I still give it a rating of four and one-half stars.

About the Author

Born in New York, raised in Toronto, J. Arlene Culiner has lived in several cars, one closet, a Hungarian mud house, a Bavarian castle, a Turkish cave dwelling, in a haunted house on the English moors, in the Sahara desert, on a Greek island, in several French villages.

She has worked as a go-go girl, belly dancer, fortune teller, translator, newspaper deliverer, radio broadcaster, contemporary artist, photographer, actress and writer.

She now resides in a 400-year-old former inn/museum in a French village of no real interest. Much to everyone’s dismay, she rescues dogs, cats, hedgehogs, and protects all other living creatures — especially spiders and snakes. Her wild (or wildlife) garden is a classified butterfly and bird reserve.

She writes romances as J. Arlene Culiner, mysteries and non-fiction as Jill Culiner.

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