The Particulars: Harlequin Intrigue Noir, 2015, Digital-Only, Novella
Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: Late 2014/Early 2015 Harlequin published seven novellas under the series title "Noir" within the Harlequin Intrigue line. The novellas aren't a traditional series, more like an imprint. Kind of like how Blaze started out as an imprint of Harlequin Temptation before Harlequin spun it out into it's own line. Anyway, the concept intrigued (ha!) me and after reading one by a local author, I ended up snapping up the rest.
The Review: So, I'm in a slump and said slump is of the variety where I just don't have the spoons to do any reading. But I'm the dang hostess of this here Challenge and missing a month grates against my hardworkin' Midwestern work ethic. So I did what every panicky TBR Challenger does when starring down the barrel of the "deadline" - I dove into my Kindle looking for a novella.
This month's theme is Opposites Attract and honestly you have to squint really hard to find any semblance of that here, but...desperate. I was in for a penny, in for a pound and was able to knock this one out on a Sunday afternoon.
Erika Nile is an agent working for an organization run by her father's BFF and ties to the CIA are bandied about. Anywho, she's been tasked by Daddy's BFF to get close to a rogue agent, Jace Mitchell, who apparently has some sensitive information. Erika's orders are to get that information, transmit it, and oh yeah - don't actually read it or worry your pretty little head over it. One slight problem however - Erika has recently developed debilitating migraines. I'm talking light sensitivity, aura, passing out, incapacitated for long stretches of time migraines - and she hasn't told anyone. She's going to get this job done and then get checked out.
She finds Jace, she gets close to him, and naturally feelings start developing. The chemistry is off the charts electric for both of them, and there's nothing for it. They have the kind of sex that you'd find in a hot vanilla erotic romance. There's lots of guilt for both of them - Jace because he's keeping secrets, Erika because she's keeping secrets. In post-coital bliss Erika is able to grab the intel, transmit it to her boss, and then - you guessed it - he orders her to kill Jace. Um, uh-oh.
Now that I've read a second novella in this series, and refreshed my memory about the first one I read back in 2017 (!), a pattern is starting to develop - we're talking style over substance here. This novella is very slick and sexy. You've got a spy vs spy vibe going on with a little bit of Jason Bourne tossed in. There's secrets and lies and what nefarious plot did Jace uncover that his former boss (Erika's current boss) wants to exterminate him over? I get what Harlequin was aiming for here, the two Noir novellas I've read so far have been very stylish and a lot sexier than your average Intrigue. I think this could have worked as an on-going mini-series if not for one pressing issue....
A novella just isn't long enough. It's just not. There's the bones of a good plot and story here but at 101 pages (according to Amazon) the author has to take shortcuts, and in a story about spies and espionage? I found myself going from point A to point C with no layover at point B to tie it all together. And when I got to the ending? It just didn't make much sense to me. Insert confused Britney gif...
Oh, and the heroine's migraines? We never truly get a reason or "resolution" to those. I mean, I was leaning towards drugs or an implant for a long time but then a repressed memory is tossed into the mix and I guess that was the reason? Look, the human brain is a mysterious and complicated thing, but I wasn't buying it. Erika's migraines are described as violently depilating - I need more than a throwaway mention of repressed memories.
Is this a good story? Eh? Look, it's stylish and slick and I wasn't mad while reading it. But that's really all it is - stylish and slick. The Intrigue line is one of the shorter and trickier ones to pull off in the category romance universe (they average at 250 pages) and I think this story would have been better served at that page count. But as is there were just too many leaps, the world-building not fleshed out enough, too little meat on the bone. However, it wasn't a total failure - I'm glad I have the other Noir novellas in my TBR because they are quick, sexy and slick reads, but that might be all they are. Fun brain candy for an afternoon but not a meal that'll leave me sated.
Final Grade = C
5 comments:
"It's stylish and slick and I wasn't mad while reading it" is sometimes just what we need (even without deadlines).
I wonder if any of the authors took the concept as their own, maybe self-publishing?
I feel you on the "meh" reads. I had one myself recently. It was literally mindless and brainless, and there's certainly a time and place for that, but it wasn't really what I was looking for, so I was disappointed by it. I prefer more than a bare outline.
I agree with you that noir really needs to be full length to work. It's tricky enough in and of itself, but you really can't take shortcuts. It sounds like this could've used the extra pages to really make the noir part work.
As for me, I found another winner on the Presents pile this month: "Rivals at the Royal Altar" by Julieanne Howells, who is a relatively new HP writer. The MCs are nicknamed the Ice Queen and the Playboy Prince. They are fairly well fleshed out as characters, and pretty interesting considering they are royals from an imaginary country. Overall, this was a cute read and I really enjoyed it, even if I did have to laugh at the hero's Magical Peen Powers.
What an entertaining review - I'm so glad you got in this book for the challenge. Even though it wasn't great, sometimes just getting through a book that didn't suck is a win. Maybe it will help with the slump?
I understand the frustration with the novella-length stories. Because of this very issue you describe, I tend to only read novellas that are in series I already read. That said, I'll jump in on an audiobook novella more times than ebook. Not sure why... But Audible has a lot of free ones and they are not bad.
On to next month... my schedule is so tight, I think I'm just going to read a new purchase to get it off my TBR (and because I want to read them, but I've picked up too many review books).
I had exactly the same problem with my novella. They're a really tricky format.
AL: You know, that's a good suggestion and one I didn't think to check!
Eurohackie: Ha ha ha! Yes, the Magical Wang tends to be right at home in Presents Land. I've been living under a rock for the last several months, Howells isn't an author I had heard of yet.
Jen: I like to read short and I do like novellas - but yes, they can be very tricky. Heck, Harlequin Intrigues are short, but this story (I think) would have been perfect around that length (250 pages). Short, snappy and action packed while giving a few more pages to flesh out the world-building and connecting the dots better.
Willaful: So tricky!
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