A review by quietjenn
Blue Fire by Phyllis A. Whitney

4.0

I tried a few Phyllis Whitney a while ago, when they were recommended as Mary Stewart read-a-likes, and was pretty underwhelmed by them. I think though that they were latter-career offerings and I'm thus I'm once again so grateful that Open Road exists and has re-issues some of her earlier titles. In a lot of ways, this is a very typical 60s/70s Gothic / Romantic Suspense. Innocent but knowing young girl, foreign (kind of) setting, long-buried secrets, the good guy who is really bad and the bad guy who is really good, terrible decision-making, etc. And I'm such a sucker for all of it. But I also found this really interesting on a historical level, just because it takes place is 1960s South Africa, before apartheid, but you can see it coming and it's really evocative of that. (And also, really easy to tell which guy is the better pick. When in doubt, go for the man who doesn't want to beat and control the natives.)