Sunday, January 18, 2009

Romantic Love 22 - What's Cookin Good Lookin?

This weekend's scan features a fun cover from Everett Raymond Kinstler, Romantic Love 22:

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This cover is often advertised as salacious on ebay, but I think it's naughty and nice all at the same time. The kitchen is the heart of the home, ya know - sizzle, sizzle. My wife hates it if I grab her when she's cooking, so I try and refrain ::) Inside is a racy collection of tales. "Too Young to Love" concerns a seventeen year old who falls for the school engineer. After dating the older man, men her age no longer thrill her, but tragedy ensues when she learns he's a married man... "Doomed to Silence" features a girl in love with her mother's boyfriend. The both treat her like a little girl even though she's full grown, and she's always the third wheel:

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One night when her mother steps out, she enters the living room in her negligee to find her mother's lover has unexpectedly arrived and passions ignite. Third up, meet Carole and Rita in "Two Wayward Girls!" in which Carole finds herself in the sordid world of love for hire. (I'm amazed at how frequently this them is used in golden age romance). Lastly, "Born for Trouble!" in which a different Carole (you'd think they'd switch names in back to back stories) is popular with the boys because she's known as easy to kiss. After school she finds herself as a secretary in an insurance firm and is courted by the gentle Eric Thompson whom she dates many times without his ever once trying to kiss her. When they finally do, she finds the kiss passionless and herself holding in a wild unfulfilled passion:

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She continues to date Eric but meets Ralph, the dangerous type, who greets meets her with the classy line "Hey, Beautiful. Where have you been all my life?"

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Not surprisingly, she's attracted to this dangerous type, and he involves her unbeknownst in a robbery. Can the nice but boring Eric save her from such a wolf?

Get the full hi-res scan here.

Cheers,

Darwin

2 comments:

Jack R said...

Wow, a cover by Kinstler! Thanks for posting this.

darwination said...

You're welcome! I've got another great Kinstler cover from this series coming in the future, and I will try and post some of his other work for Avon when I get a chance.