Baker, Jeanette

PERSONAL:

Married; two children. Education: Graduated from University of California, Irvine; later earned M.A.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Mission Viejo, CA. E-mail— jeanettebaker1@compuserve.com.

CAREER:

Writer. High school literature and writing teacher, newspaper columnist, and freelance magazine writer.

MEMBER:

Romance Writers of America.

AWARDS, HONORS:

RITA Award for best paranormal romance, 2000, for Nell.

WRITINGS:

ROMANCE NOVELS

Legacy, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Catriona, Pocket Books, (New York, NY), 1997.

The Reckoning, Pinnacle (New York, NY), 1997.

Irish Lady, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1998.

Nell, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1999.

Irish Fire, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2000.

Spellbound, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Blood Roses, Mira (Don Mills, Ontario, Canada), 2002.

The Delaney Woman, Mira (Don Mills, Ontario, Canada), 2003.

Chesapeake Tide, Mira (Don Mills, Ontario, Canada), 2004.

A Delicate Finish, Mira (Don Mills, Ontario, Canada), 2005.

The Lavender Field, Mira (Don Mills, Ontario, Canada), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Jeanette Baker has written both contemporary and historical romance novels, some with paranormal elements or dual contemporary and historical plotlines. While her books are set in various parts of the world, Baker has professed a particular affinity for the British Isles, which she began visiting as a teenager. On her Web site, she noted that she has explored "the most remote and historical corners of Ireland, Wales and Scotland," adding: "Because of my penchant for the underdog, England's ‘conquered tribes’ became my passion."

Two early novels, Legacy and Catriona, have modern-day heroines dealing with ghosts or long-ago curses, and involve English-Scottish conflicts of past centuries. Several other stories draw on the struggles between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.

One of these is Irish Lady, mixing a story of twentieth-century Irish tensions with one of similar troubles 400 years earlier. There is a supernatural element, with a ghost from the earlier era appearing to the modern protagonist, a lawyer who is trying to clear her onetime lover, an Irish Republican Army member, of a murder charge. Some reviewers found the story compelling. Romance Reader contributor Jean Mason preferred the contemporary story to the historical one, praising Baker's "bang up job" of depicting modern Northern Ireland. Jill M. Smith, writing for Romantic Times Online, found Baker able "to blend genres with gracious ease."

Also set in Northern Ireland is the award-winning Nell. A prosperous modern-day young Protestant woman, Jill, in love with an impoverished Catholic political activist, is haunted by an ancestor, Nell, who was involved in similar political and romantic turmoil. At one point Jill travels to Nell's era, the sixteenth century. Several critics praised Baker's complex, time-shifting tale. "She interweaves the two love stories in such a way as to hold the reader's interest throughout," related Mason in Romance Reader. Writing for Romantic Times Online, Smith deemed it "another shining example of Ms. Baker's exceptional gift for storytelling." Deborah Rysso and Jack Helbig, writing in Booklist, judged Baker's plotting and characterizations superior to those usually found in romances, and called the novel "an intelligent and satisfying read."

The contemporary romance A Delicate Finish has a far different location, the California wine country. It involves mother-and-daughter-in-law vintners in complicated love affairs, the widowed older woman with a competitor, the younger with her estranged husband. Some reviewers found Baker's skills effective in this setting. Patty Engelmann, reviewing the title for Booklist, described the novel as a "sweet romance." Romantic Times Online contributor Catherine Witmer dubbed Baker "an excellent storyteller," adding that she makes even the particulars of wine-making "riveting."

Another California-set contemporary is The Lavender Field. A woman lawyer with a horse-breeding background is assigned to purchase a group of Lipizzaner horses from a man who is reluctant to sell—a single father who prizes them more than the much-needed cash a sale would provide. The lawyer's work conflicts with her growing attraction to the man and her fondness for his children and horses. Baker once more received compliments from critics. Engelmann, again writing in Booklist, deemed the novel a "heartwarming romance" of family "heartbreak and joy." Witmer remarked on the novel's "vivid descriptions and characterizations," summing it up as "an intensely pleasurable read."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 1999, Deborah Rysso and Jack Helbig, review of Nell, p. 965; May 15, 2005, Patty Engelmann, review of A Delicate Finish, p. 1640; June 1, 2006, Patty Engelmann, review of The Lavender Field, p. 46.

Publishers Weekly, January 11, 1999, review of Nell, p. 69; July 8, 2002, review of Blood Roses, p. 37.

ONLINE

All about Romance,http://www.likesbooks.com/ (March 29, 2006), Nora Armstrong, review of Nell, Blythe Barnhill, review of Nell, and Rachel Potter, review of Blood Roses.

AllReaders.com,http://www.allreaders.com/ (March 29, 2006), Harriet Klausner, review of Chesapeake Tide.

BookBrowser,http://www.bookbrowser.com/ (January 24, 1998), Harriet Klausner, review of Irish Lady; (March 21, 2001), Harriet Klausner, review of Spellbound.

Jeanette Baker Home Page,http://www.jeanettebaker.com (March 29, 2006).

Romance Reader,http://www.theromancereader.com/ (March 29, 2006), Jean Mason, reviews of An Irish Lady, Nell, and Irish Fire, Judith Flavell, review of Spellbound, and Irene Williams, review of Spellbound.

Romantic Times Online,http://www.romantictimes.com/ (March 29, 2006), Jill M. Smith, reviews of Legacy, Catriona, Irish Lady, Nell, Irish Fire, and Spellbound, Anne Black, review of The Reckoning, Robyn Glazer, review of The Delaney Woman, and Catherine Witmer, reviews of Chesapeake Tide, A Delicate Finish, and The Lavender Field.