When narfna announced her Re-Readathon and I went through the prompts, two books immediately jumped to mind as ones I wanted to tackle based on the prompts. The first up review-wise is a revisit to Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels. When I first read Lord of Scoundrels, I did it via audio, I knew then that it hadn’t given me the experience with the book that was possible. I could see the mechanics of why I liked this book, but it had all felt at a bit of a remove to me, and I sort of talked my way around that in my review. I knew this was a great story with an amazing female lead – but the story had felt a bit disjointed as I listened. I had known for a while that I wanted to try this again in dead tree format, and the audio/eyeball swap prompt was the perfect excuse.
As I was making my way through the story of Jessica and Dain I was reminded just how strong a writer Chase is when she really gets going. This was the opposite of the sort of reading experience so many romance novels give me these days. The plot timing is so samey in books released in the past 5-10 years. Loretta Chase decided in 1995 that she was just going to write the scenes she wanted, the way she wanted, with the characters who she created, and we could all just hang on for the ride.
I don’t think I realized how much contemporary customs had impacted my expectations, but I was caught off guard more than once at how Chase turned the story or chose to pace something. Part of that is in the character of Lady Jessica who will bend reality to her will, and part of it is Chase just doing what she wants. There’s no third act break-up, Jessica is as strong-willed as anyone you’ve ever come across in fiction or otherwise, and Dain is an asshole and while he softens a bit he is still an asshole – it’s just that Jessica loves him sort of because of it, and for what she can see as the wounded little boy within. Is the villain mustache twirling evil – yes. Is the MacGuffin RIDICULOUS on its face – also yes. Is the prologue a real downer and tough to get through – yep. But then, Chase wraps it up so well I just didn’t care to be annoyed by the end.
Bingo Space: Joker. Jessica Trent should have been taken seriously by those jokers well before she shot Dain in the arm.
14 spaces without a Bingo, my streak continues.
