As much as Mallory Dale loves performing at the burlesque club, Blue Angel, it doesn't pay the bills. Especially in New York City. So she lands herself a day job as a paralegal, working for a divorce lawyer. Besides being inappropriately attracted to her boss, she has other problems on the home front. Her boyfriend, Alec, loves pushing sexual boundaries with her, and Mallory gets the feeling that he wants them to hook up with the newest performer at the club, Violet Offender. Violet is a dominatrix, is more into stripping than burlesque, has major ambition - oh, and she wants Mallory. Like, bad. Really bad. Naturally complications abound.
What follows is Mallory and Alec hitting the skids, Violet manipulating things behind the scenes to get what she wants, Bette Noir rolling back into town, and Mallory exploring her attraction with her sexy boss. It's soapy, it's sudsy, and it's compulsively readable for it's "OMG, what is going to happen next?!" factor.
My issue is basically with Mallory. She's one of those females that obviously hasn't heard the expression "What's good for the goose is good for the gander." She gets insanely jealous and angry with Alec if he so much as looks at another woman - but it's apparently OK for her to have some hot girl-on-girl action. I mean, golly - why is he so upset with her?
Oh, I don't know - could it be the whole you're an unfaithful hypocritical slut thing?
Just a guess.
Sigh.
Now in her defense, she did display this behavior in the last book - so I shouldn't have been surprised. And I really wasn't. The bigger sin here is that she's the sort of female who is easily manipulated. She went through all of the last book debating on what she wanted, what she wanted to do - and she ended up dumping the idea of being a lawyer and went burlesque. But in this book? When her hunky boss suggests that she'd be a "good lawyer" - she makes moves to dump burlesque and head back to law. I mean, seriously?! Make a choice and stick with it cupcake. Be who you are and own it. If the man doesn't like that? Well, maybe the door won't smack him too hard in the butt on his way out.
Now, all that being said, Belle continues to excel at delivering on her world-building. Yeah, I'm hooked now. She's created the club, created the culture, and populated it with secondary characters who keep the whole thing chugging along. She also delivers us a villain in the form of Violet, who sure as shootin' is going to play a sizable role in the next book, Naked Angel.
So I'm pretty much left at the same bus stop I was at when I finished the last book. I still can't really wrap my loving arms around Mallory, but like Shakespeare said, the play's the thing. Er, or the burlesque stage. Er, or more like it, the plot. Belle's got me sucked in with her plot. So yeah, I might want to smack Mallory upside the head - but that doesn't mean I don't care. I do.
Now, what happens next? And what do you mean I have to wait until the end of March 2012 to find out? Ugh.
Final Grade = C+
6 comments:
Oh yeah! I didn't read the first book, but I just read this book and I REALLY agree with you about Mallory, she needs a good smack on the side of the head.
However, I loved, loved the whole burlesque world in this book and Violet was great! I can't wait to see what happens next. *g* Great secondary characters!
Well I'm glad you're hooked :) It's fun to find a series or an author that while not perfect, you want to read more about :)
Sounds like the setting is really different :)
I think I'll give this a try. It's not my usual cup of tea, but I do love the idea of burlesque, I love the underwear and the props and I really love that the women don't have to be skinny contortionists (speaking as one who can do the latter but not the former). And I do love a soap opera, so thank you for this, I'd never have picked it up otherwise.
Hilcia: Yeah, it's really getting to be All About The World for me. Belle has got me sucked in with what she has created. Next book please! LOL
Nath: I like that it's erotica, but there's also this soapy plot, along with a whole "world" to go along with the sexual shenanigans. It's like a really naughty primetime soap opera :)
Marguerite: It is erotica, but I like that Belle gives us more than just wall-to-wall sex. There's the plot, the world-building - it was very compulsively readable for me. And I seriously love soap opera plots. I just can't help myself. Too much Dallas and The Young And The Restless as an impressionable teen ;)
I do recommend reading in order btw. So Blue Angel first....
I read Blue Angel and enjoyed it. Totally agree about the soap opera quality and sexy world. But I'm not sure I want to read about Mallory making the same mistakes again. Alex is still pushing for a threesome? Sounds like they didn't learn anything in book 1.
Jill: In this book it's more Mallory Thinks Alec Wants A Threesome With Violet. She assumes instead of doing something radical like...oh, asking him.
That was really my big issue with this book - that Mallory seemed "stuck" between books. Like she hadn't really learned anything and taken a step forward. More like she took a step back. But the ending of this book leaves me hopeful for Book 3.
Post a Comment