Mini-Reviews: Rescue Fantasies Times Two

As the Reading Slump from Heck marches on, I decided to force the issue by tackling two novellas over the weekend.  Coincidentally, both novellas feature what is perhaps my least favorite theme in romance - Ye Olde Rescue Fantasy.  How well I tolerate the hero swooping in to save the heroine from certain doom, as always, boils down to execution.  One of the novellas was a success and the other one?  Not so much.

I meant to read Angel by Victoria Dahl ages ago, especially since I enjoyed the companion novella, Harlot, so very much.  Angel is a short prequel (as in 60 pages short...) that tells the story of prostitute Melisande Angelle and her regular customer, Bill Donnelly, who falls in love with her and how they end up leaving New Orleans to head west.

There's really not a whole lot to recap here (hello, 60 pages), but I wanted to point how well done certain aspects of this story are - namely the religious "stuff."  The story opens with Melisande leaving the brothel to attend Christmas morning services at church.  How Dahl tackles Melisande's faith and the religious themes in general, in this short novella that most definitely is not an "inspirational" is really very intriguing.

Still, Melisande thought maybe God still loved her.  She thought she could feel that when she sat beneath the paintings and the stained glass and the crucified savior.  The priests, however, would be a different story. 

The sex scenes are suitably erotic (read: vanilla) without kink and the romance itself is quite sweet and tender.  There's not a lot of substantial conflict here outside of Melisande being a prostitute and of mixed race to Bill's burly white Irish-ness.  At only 60 pages this conflict is addressed, but not unpacked in any deep sort of manner.  It's self-contained and works well in the short format, but given how intriguing I found the set-up and characters I couldn't help but want more.  Still, a solid read and if you liked Harlot you'll want to read this one too.

Final Grade = B

Desire Me Now by Tiffany Clare isn't a "bad" book, just one that tackles the Rescue Fantasy trope in a manner I personally find unappealing.  When I hit the 20% mark and found myself still not caring?  Yep, I gave myself permission to DNF.

Amelia Grant is gently born, hiding her true identity, and working as a governess under an assumed name.  By the 20% mark she had been:

1) Drugged and almost raped by her employer, fleeing the premises with her few meager possessions and what amounts to her life savings.

2) Her reticule, where she has stored said life savings, is snatched away in the streets by a crafty pickpocket.

3) She is almost trampled to death by horses in the street while running after the pickpocket only to be rescued by our hero, Nicholas Riley.

4) Nicholas takes one look at her, has lecherous thoughts, but wants to protect her, so tells her in no uncertain terms she is now his new secretary - never mind she has no clue how to be a secretary.  She's hung up about this, but he's a steam-rollin' Alpha hero so it's not like her protests are all that concerning....

5) And for added measure, she has to work because after Papa dies her wastrel brother gambled away what money was left and was getting ready to sell her off to marry a man whose reputation is worse than that of the employer who tried to rape her.

Seriously.  

I get that the girl is having a bad day (OK, bad life) - but outside her constantly needing to be rescued and the hero having a White Knight Fetish, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to find the chit interesting enough to read about.  Which is ultimately the problem.  Even with Nicholas being a "self-made man" there's just nothing interesting about these people.  In fact, Nicholas is vaguely creepy, rescuing Amelia from certain doom, wanting to protect her, but still, of course, wanting to take her to bed for carnal delights.

None of it was working for me and my Kindle runneth over so....

Final Grade = DNF

Review: Harlot

There was no way I was not going to read Harlot by Victoria Dahl.  A historical western about a heroine who is a whore?  How can Wendy NOT read this?!?  I didn't so much read it as inhale it.  While it wasn't everything I hoped it would be, it was still pretty darn good.  Albeit I recognize that it won't be a story for everyone.  You know, for reasons.

Caleb Hightower left Colorado to make his fortune in California.  The plan is to scratch together enough funds to marry the girl of his dreams, Jessica Willoughby.  Jessica's is a doctor's daughter and Caleb views her as more angel than as young woman.  What she sees in the likes of him, he'll never know.  Finally, after two years away from home, he's back.  Only to discover that his dream girl is now the town whore.

Well - sort of. 

After Jessica's father passed away she was left with the mountain that was his debts.  Correspondence from Caleb was so spotty, and due to behind-the-scene shenanigans from the villain, Jessica firmly believed he had abandoned her.  So she struck a bargain to keep a roof over her head and when she spurns the wrong man - word gets out that Jessica is making a living on her back.  Caleb shows up at her rundown farmhouse, says some awful things, but knowing that her taxes are soon due - Jessica makes another deal with the devil.  She knows Caleb wants to "punish" her - but damn, the taxes are due.  She'll give him a week and he'll give her $25.

This is one of those stories where I can immediately dissect why others probably won't like it.  For one thing, it's a novella.  I actually think the novella length works well for this story.  Yes, I would have liked more background about Caleb's father - but honestly?  The nature of the conflict (basically the evil-doing's of the villain) would have gotten tiresome in a full-length story.  I've seen other reviews about not connecting with the characters (code for, in my opinion, thin character development) - but I didn't have the same reaction.  I suspect because Dahl does a dynamite job with heartbreak and dialogue.  I felt like I knew these characters and gods my heart broke for both of them.

Which leads us to Caleb.  I suspect some readers will actively dislike him.  He says some pretty awful things to Jessica.  I wanted to slap him silly at moments, but I also understood his pain.  This is a man who literally built up Jessica to an ideal.  She's on a very high pedestal - one she certainly didn't ask to be placed on.  And when she falls from that pedestal, Caleb reacts poorly.  Now, is this her fault?  No.  It's Caleb's for idealizing "the ideal" - which stems from the belief that he's "not good enough" for her.  Hence the whole going to California thing.

What made this story work so well for me was the angst and the dialogue.  Our black moment comes in the form of Jessica putting her foot down.  There's a Big Ol' Confrontation between her and Caleb to spur us towards the finish line and it's a doozy.  I wanted to jump up out of my seat and cheer for this heroine.  It was Everything.  And the best part?  Caleb has his own Come to Jesus Moment.

My one solid quibble with this story stems entirely from my own dashed expectations.  I wanted a story about a heroine who was a whore.  As in, living above a saloon, multiple "clients" whore.  That's not Jessica.  Yes, she trades sexual favors for security - but it's not like she's taking in clients on a nightly basis (to go into greater detail boarders Spoiler Territory).  Is this splitting hairs?  Probably.  But my feeling is if you're going to write a romance novel with a whore heroine - why not go whole hog?  Although I'm a big enough person to realize this is all in Wendy's head and I just need to get over it.

It's not going to be for everyone, but it was for me.  I thought Dahl handled the time period well, the messy conflict, and made the happy ending actually believable (a tall order with a story of this nature).  Also, it was a "gritty western" - which is Wendy Catnip.  I know the contemporaries are doing well for her, but I hope Dahl has more westerns up her sleeve.

Final Grade = A-