Talisman of Valdegarde (1983) is the second in the HeartQuest series of pick your path gamebook romances. In this one, you’re a druid and your potential love interest is a bard. You can tell by the (less exciting) Elmore cover art that he’s going to do all the hard work. The problem is another kidnapping, your sister this time. Thankfully, your character cries less in this one, but that isn’t much of a consolation.

I hate it when a story shoehorns in a romantic plot. There is nothing wrong with romance (Han and Leia)! But you can feel when a romance has been tacked on because of reasons other than those dictated by the story (so many choices, but let’s keep with Harrison Ford and go with Willie from Temple of Doom). HeartQuest takes that feeling you get from watching a shoehorned, chemistry-less romance unfold and expands the experience into an entire novel.  

Oh, and Madeleine Simon is a pen name for Morris Simon, a dude, which irks me.