Avon Teen Fiction (Paperback), ISBN 0-06-000552-1
Now young adults can find true love with an Avon True Romance. HarperCollins recently debuted its Avon teen fiction line, with titles penned by popular romance authors, including Meg Cabot of The Princess Diaries. Meg Cabot's Nicola and the Viscount provided my first exposure to the new series edited by Abby McAden. Although living up to the Princess Diaries collection (three enchanting, fabulous books so far!) proves difficult, Cabot tells a terrific tale and leaves me thirsting for more of the series.

Making her debut into London society, Nicola, a headstrong, 16-year-old orphan, resists the proposals of many suitors. Instead, Nicola sets her mind on marrying Lord Sebastian Bartholomew, who she and her best friend Eleanor Sheridan refer to as "the god." While some, like Eleanor's brother Nathaniel, consider the Viscount Bartholomew above Nicola in station (thereby questioning his interest in her) and below her in character, Nicola chooses to ignore the warnings and accepts a proposal of marriage.

While certainly endowed with good looks and many fine qualities, the Viscount harbors neither love for poetry nor respect for Nicola's strong will and determination. It appears the Viscount's only interest lies in money and trains. Could Nathaniel's opinion of the Viscount be more than just jealousy? Nicola vows to get to the bottom of the Viscount's motivation for marriage and she does. In the investigation, Nicola discovers that the one who truly loves and respects her remains close within her reach. Who knows, Nicola just might end up with a viscount, after all.

With a romantic plot that somewhat mirrors The Princess Diaries, Nicola and the Viscount proves predictable, although pleasingly so. But who cares about predictable, as long as the right guy gets the girl? Nicola and the Viscount combines friendship, relationship problems, mystery and enough clean, fun romance to keep a reader reading, whether they be young adult or adult.

Lynne Remick

Lynne Marie Pisano is a freelance writer, poet, book reviewer, SCBWI Metro New York LI Critique Group Coordinator and Co-Chair of the Long Island Children's Writers and Illustrators. She lives in New York with her husband Michael, her son Kevin and a daughter named Kayla, and Dante, a Schipperke.

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