Book Review: Your Scandalous Ways by Loretta Chase

When it comes to historical romance, Loretta Chase’s Your Scandalous Ways has got to be one of my favorites because, quite frankly, the heroine is a big ol’ ho. No bookish schoolmarm or passive princess or, egads, even worse, “feisty fireball” here. The star of Your Scandalous Ways is a ballsy, unapologetic, fallen-from-grace whore. And I, for one, loved her.

After being disappointed by Chase’s last book, Not Quite a Lady, I had my reservations about picking up another Chase novel about a “fallen woman”, but I heard such good buzz about Ways that I (thankfully) set aside those qualms and read the book. I’ve long been a fan of Ms. Chase’s gifts for sparkling writing and fresh characters, and this latest offering does not disappoint.

Your Scandalous Ways is the love story of Francesca Bonnard, our illustrious slutpuppy, and James Cordier, a spy and jewel thief who is, in many ways, something of a slutpuppy himself. James is on his last spy mission: to nab some important and big-time-secretive papers from Mrs. Bonnard. Francesca is divorced from a real asshat who treated her like shit and had her shunned from English society, which is how she ended up in Venice, where the plot of the novel unfolds. As expected, Francesca and James become smitten with one another, both against their better judgment: James is tired of spying, this is last job, he should just grab the goddamn papers and go; for Francesca, falling in love is dangerous and not particularly good for business because she is — say it with me now — a whore.

What isn’t expected is the fantastic character development Chase employs here. Throw out any notion you have of how these characters might behave; i.e. James must be unsure of Francesca as a mate because of her profession, or Francesca must be so unhappy and unfulfilled because she’s a courtesan. Wrong, and wrong. James knows from the beginning that she likes to play games and toy with men, but he loves every second of it and willingly takes part; his reservations have more to do with the mission at hand and how a relationship with the victim might jeopardize that and less to do with her whorin’. And Francesca, for her part, is a pretty happy hooker. Even at the end, with the Happily Ever After looming on the horizon over the Grand Canal, when she’s clearly in love with James and has told him so, she still refuses to be “owned” by any man. She actually likes her job…and how many of us can actually say that?

For me, James — even with all his charm and humor and yummy-nummy-nummy physicality — took a back seat in the gondola to Francesca. I just bloody loved how this heroine managed to nab the hero and fall in love with him, never for a second compromising her ideals (however misguided) or having some ridiculous and unrealistic “transformation” into a changed woman.

Though Chase’s characters are terrific and her writing is damn-near crackling, there are a few plot elements that left me a little cold. First of all, Your Scandalous Ways has a lot of back story; both Francesca and James come with a fair share of baggage that the reader really needs to be let in on to understand the scope of the situation they find themselves in. And I didn’t feel as if we were given proper access to that baggage. Both of their histories are given a few sentences here and there, and a few conversational mentions, but nothing much beyond that. We are asked to just trust that the bad guys are bad and the good guys are good. I needed more proof of that.

Secondly, there is a whole subplot involving Francesca’s father that just did not work in the scheme of the novel. What we really need to know about him — because he plays a big role in how Francesca got into the situation she’s in — we don’t really learn; only the barest skeleton of details are sketched out as far as he is concerned. When he pops up later in the story, it’s a pretty anticlimactic moment. Daddy who?

Third, the villains. Another thing I love about Chase’s stories is that her villains are always complex and utterly human; in fact, even though I didn’t enjoy Not Quite A Lady, the villain of the book is one of my favorites for the simple fact that he isn’t really a villain at all: he’s a person. But the villains are much more one-dimensional in Ways. We don’t really get under their skins like I’m used to in a Chase book, and the result is a set of pretty cardboard bad guys.

With that said, Your Scandalous Ways is still a damn good read. With the author’s knack for creating memorable heroines and heroes, coupled with her extraordinary voice as a writer, this one stands out in the romance genre. It’s also refreshing to see an unapologetic, rabble-rousing, scandalous heroine just not give a fuck that she’s all of these things. Because she knows she is more.

And so do we.  Grade: B

 

Title  Your Scandalous Ways

Author  Loretta Chase

Publisher  Avon

Year Published  2008

ISBN  006123124X

Snarkbytes  From her author bio: before getting published, Loretta Chase once worked a “Dickensian six-month experience as a meter maid”.

January 22, 2009 | Filed Under Romance | 6 Comments 

Book Review: Not Quite A Lady by Loretta Chase

I’m a big fan of Loretta Chase. Her Regency-era romances are classy and sharp — and always with a dollop of delicious wit. With smooth, elegant prose, Chase has fleshed out some of the most entertaining characters in the romance field. Her Lord of Scoundrels is often considered a classic of the genre, and rightfully so. In everything I’ve read by Chase, she’s breathed refreshing life into the boy-meets-girl/boy-and-girl-thwarted-by-douchebag/boy-and-girl-achieve-happily-ever-after of the Almighty Romance Novel.

Until 2007’s Not Quite A Lady. 

One of the biggest beefs most romance readers have with the great majority of romance novels is the utter implausibility inherent in their stories. For instance, would Cherokee warrior Running Possum really allow some blond nymphet into his tepee for all eternity? Or: would Prince Thorne really start wooing the Cockney wench with the bratty three-year-old kid? Or: would Denver socialite Madrigal VonLocke really knock bedposts with an unshaven, unwashed, though hung-like-a-yak cowboy? You catch where my pheromones are going on this one.

But Not Quite A Lady has an outrageous plot that eclipses any of the ones I’ve mentioned above. Without spoiling it, I’ll tell you this: it involves a baby, an adoption, and a reunion that puts any Meredith Baxter-Birney TV movie to shame. It doesn’t help that it’s all ridiculously predictable. Just a few chapters in, I already sensed where this might lead, but being a Chaseaholic, I refused to believe it would get to that point. But, alas, it does get to that point, and the ride there isn’t much fun either.

Which is sad, because I really, really wanted to fall in love with Lady Charlotte (the “not quite a” of the book’s title). I immensely enjoyed the fact that she was not a prim, proper Englishwoman, pure as the driven blow — I mean, snow. I liked that she had something of a past, had majorly fucked up when she was young and foolish, had skeletons in her finely-appointed cherry-wood wardrobe. This made her real, and I like real. I had so many hopes for Lady Charlotte, but from the moment early-on when she compared herself to a pig, actually longing to be the pig, I knew we would soon part ways.

Also, this heroine is the biggest clutz in modern literature. Lady Charlotte falls down, twists her ankle, loses her footing, and spends so much time flat on her fine patrician face that I was shocked in scenes where homegirl could walk into a room and not bail into the tea service. Not only does this take away the romantical image of graceful noblechick, but it’s also a cheap storytelling ploy far beneath Chase’s talents: heroine falls down a lot, hero is conveniently close by, he catches her/she falls into him, end of story. Her clumsiness also made wildly impossible the love scene where Darius takes Charlotte on a desk. C’mon, Charlotte couldn’t balance on a desk like that! As soon as her ankles were behind her ears, she would’ve plummeted to the floor. I’m not just snarky, I’m also trampy, and I know full well how shenanigans like this play out.

Then there’s the hero, who I also really, really wanted to fall in love with. Darius Carsington is a strange hybrid of geek/rake. This intrigued me, and I had high hopes for him. He was a nerd, sure, but he was also a big-time lustbucket. Darius knows how to put down the almanac and pick up the chambermaid. There are several well done moments in which we see him scrutinizing the internal battle of logic versus falling in love, but even these interesting vignettes are overshadowed by the complete impossibility of the story at hand.

Not Quite A Lady’s one redeeming feature is actually quite surprising: the villain. In many books, in particular romances, the villains are mega-asshats that are evil to the core, without even one humane character trait. But the one we are lead to believe is the villainous tyrant in this book is not a villain at all. He’s a human being, and this is wonderfully refreshing. To take someone who has plans and ideas and hopes and dreams that differ from those of the rest of the characters, and to not portray him as a hateful bastard bent on destroying the Happily Ever After — this was classy indeed. 

Despite Not Quite A Lady, I still love Loretta Chase. Her latest, Her Scandalous Ways, is on my to-be-read list, and rumor has it that this newest offering is classic Chase. So I’ll accept Not Quite as a little stumble; though, of course, the queen of the little stumble will always be Lady Charlotte.  Grade: C-

 

Title  Not Quite A Lady

Author  Loretta Chase

Publisher  Avon

Year Published  2007

ISBN  0061231231

Snarkbytes  Loretta Chase blogs about romance with six other dynamic divas of the genre at the magnificently-titled Word Wenches.

October 20, 2008 | Filed Under Romance | 681 Comments 

Book Review: Nightrose by Dorothy Garlock

Eighteen years ago, when I was first becoming interested in the genre, I read a romance novel that I’ve never forgotten. It’s lived on the periphery of my memory ever since, and as I read more and more historical romances over the ensuing years, I inevitably compared them all to this one early tale that had introduced me to the world of affordable paperback love stories. Typically, I found all other subsequent romances to fall short of the spectacular tale spun by Dorothy Garlock in her 1990 novel Nightrose.

A few weeks ago, I got my hands on a used copy of Nightrose and trembled with anticipation at rereading it (as only booksluts like myself can tremble over a book). I was excited to see if the story was as great as I remembered, or if it had somehow changed over the last eighteen years. I knew I had changed, so the idea that the novel had as well, for better or worse, was a very real possibility. And I was right. Nightrose had indeed undergone a transformation. It was even BETTER than I remembered.

There could be a few reasons for this, all of which are plausible. Perhaps I’ve read so many second-rate romances that I now recognize a truly good one for the rarity it is. Perhaps, as someone who has tried his hand at writing one of these things, I’ve come to respect the monumental challenges presented by writing not only a believable, logical love story (for what is logical about falling in love?), but an historically accurate document of a certain time period. Or perhaps I’ve just grown up and could relate more realistically to this story of love, compromise and second chances. Whatever the reason, I now regard Nightrose as one of the finest romance novels ever written.

I’ve always felt a certain affinity with the novel’s author, Dorothy Garlock. Like me, she is an Iowan with a fond attachment to the land and the stories associated with it. In fact, I lived and worked for years in the same town Garlock calls home, and though a small community, I can’t recall ever having run into her. That may be for the best, as I probably would’ve groveled at the feet of such a celebrated writer; Garlock, now in her sixties, was one of the pioneers of the American romance novel: the grand dame of the frontier love story.

This title is well-earned, as is evidenced in Nightrose. Garlock constructs a story that is so much more than your dime-store bodice-ripper. Though much of it revolves around the relationship between strong-willed spitfire Katy and determined charmer Garrick, the book is much grander in scope than it first appears. It is really the story of an entire town, once deserted and left to rot, that comes brilliantly back to life, and the diverse, interesting people that populate it.

Nightrose takes place in Montana Territory, 1874. Twenty-one-year-old Katy, her older sister Mary, and Mary’s young daughter Theresa have been abandoned; they are the only residents of the desolate ghost town of Trinity. Mary’s loser-husband Roy has run off in hopes of striking gold, and though he left with the promise to return one day, wealthy and successful, to his wife and daughter, no one is holding their breath. The three young ladies are forced by necessity to leave behind their ramshackle cabin on the outskirts and take up residence in the most unlikely of places: the town funerary. They are completely alone and living off the land, with just a cow, a derringer, and whatever left-behind foodstuffs they can salvage from the forsaken buildings and homes.

Enter Garrick Rowe. Tall, muscled, Greek, and imposing. He sets up camp across from the funerary in the town jail. The ladies are uncomfortably aware of him, tracking his every move, though unsure of his motives in Trinity. He, too, is keeping tabs on them. What in the hell are two grown women and a little girl still doing in this forgotten place?

So begins the brilliant Nightrose. Their paths soon cross, sparks fly, all manner of people come and go throughout the town, shots are fired and blood is shed, and all the while Katy and Garrick are drawn closer together. The focus of the novel gradually expands to include the stories of not only Mary and Theresa, but those of the entire growing community descending upon Trinity, as well as the stories of Garrick’s friends and acquaintances in the “metropolis” of Virginia City.

Of course, there are villains as well. And not just one lowly scoundrel, but several shady schemers with different malicious agendas. Even using the word “villains” to describe these people is too generous. They fall more into the “Mega-Douchebags Who Deserve to be Castrated” category. I tend to dislike romances where the villains are this thoroughly evil, without even the slightest hint of humanity, but in Garlock’s deft hands, these characters serve a greater purpose than just being total pricks. Their collective presence is simply another obstacle that Katy and Garrick, and the town itself, must overcome on the journey to wholeness and contentment. Much like the hardships of living hand-to-mouth off the land, or being submissive to the whims of the weather, or existing under constant threat of attack from God-only-knows-who, these villains are one more hurdle to be overcome. And since all romances rely on a Happily Ever After (the main reason I enjoy them so), this overcoming is triumphant and exhilarating.

One of the aspects of Nightrose I found so impressive was the masterful way Garlock is able to walk the line between creating a story that is completely true to the traditional roles and accepted attitudes of the novel’s era, all the while remaining respectful of the sensitivities of modern readers. Many romance novelists don’t get this; they strive for historical accuracy and end up with offensive stereotypes (blithering, submissive women and violent, aggressive men). But Garlock’s characters are different: they are three-dimensional creations with rich inner worlds and capabilities of great thought and understanding. Katy is perhaps the most headstrong heroine I’ve encountered in a romance novel, often to the point of being stubborn and delusional, and Garrick is so bloody determined to make Katy “his” that he more than once crosses the line into the territory of controlling and obsessive — but these traits in our hero and heroine are not cemented. Like all of us, Katy and Garrick have the ability to change, and this fact is perhaps Garlock’s greatest success as a storyteller. Her characters slowly transform themselves, or let themselves be transformed by “the power of love”, however you choose to look at it. They think, they feel, they come to realizations about themselves and one another. Katy examines the nature of her initially strong (and extreme) aversion to Garrick, and she gets to the root of the problem to see just how flawed her reasoning is. Garrick, too, realizes that if he’s ever going to woo Katy with the passion he feels in his heart, he’s going to have to take a step back, make compromises, and concentrate on her thoughts, needs, and dreams. Whether these transformations are historically likely is not really relevant. What is relevant is that the author is courageous enough to imbue her characters with something truly timeless: GOOD SENSE.

All of this makes for a very believable and entertaining love story, an easy unfolding and revealing of emotions between two very interesting characters. And swarming around this main romance are several others, just as believable, notably Mary’s own burgeoning relationship with Garrick’s right-hand-man, the burly, furry Irishman Hank Weston.

Yet each of Garlock’s characters - not just the ones in the throes of la passion - are equally memorable. The brusque but tender she-hulk Mrs. Chandler, owner of the eatery. The handsome and sensitive mercantile proprietor Elias Glossberg. Nan Neal, a sassy illiterate showgirl who rocks Virginia City. The spunky working gals of The Beehive, Trinity’s very own whorehouse. I even liked Mary’s daughter, five-year-old Theresa, and I typically find kids in romance novels to be annoying and distracting. But Theresa is precocious and endearing; it’s easy to see how she enchants those around her.

Then there are the love scenes, which Garlock handles elegantly and sensually, without ever tipping over into the unseemly or unrefined. There is a lot of kissing in this book. A lot of kissing. Pages of it, in fact; from a peck on the cheek to a full-out French, and all of it is tasteful and classy (it’s a special writer who can make a tongue down the throat come across as soft and romantic). And I loved the fact that Garrick was Greek; imagining his fine-ass bod was a pleasure for me, and clearly for Ms. Garlock as well. I also loved that Katy wasn’t some heaving-bosomed sex kitten. She had boobs proportionate to her frame (read: SMALL), and while she approached her lovemaking with abandon and great joy, I always got the impression she kept her eye on the bigger picture: she loves this man, and he loves her. Thus, the sex became something more than sex (another fact that many romance novelists completely miss, choosing to focus instead on nearly laughable metaphors and cliches).

Garlock’s prose is luminous. She has the power to transport you wherever her words are in any particular moment. As Nightrose is so much more than your everyday historical romance, her talent as a storyteller is immense. While she could have focused solely on Katy and Garrick, she chose to make this a much larger story: the romancing of an entire town. In this sense, I almost want to suggest that Nightrose is less of a romance novel and more of a good old fashioned Louis L’Amour. With really hot love scenes.

Finally, the cover. Not only can this book be held up as an example of how great historical romance novels can be, but the cover art is also exemplary (at least it is on the edition I read, the original 1990 publication). For one thing, the characters actually LOOK like the characters in the book; in fact, they look just as I had imagined them. There’s also no submissive embrace or cheap excuse to show skin (though Garrick is shirtless, with his back to us, on the cover); there is instead a pose that appears as if they are running into one another’s arms. This is much more believable than some awful cover depicting, say, Katy’s nipple shadow and the outline of Garrick’s twelve-inch bratwurst as they cavort in the mountains with swans and horses creepily watching. Like the book it envelops, the cover is dignified yet fun.

If you’ve never read a romance novel, but have fallen under the impression that they are somehow sub-par or tawdry, Nightrose is for you; not only will it prove your theory wrong, but you’ll have a hell of a lot of fun in the process. If you are a romance reader who’s never really come across a decent one, Nightrose is also for you; this is a book that could be used as a shining example in “Romance Writing 101″. Even if romance novels hold no interest for you, but big epic stories about people and places of a bygone era are more up your alley, then Nightrose is an excellent choice here as well; it plays out in the mind with all the sweeping majesty of a classic Western movie. Grade: A

Book Title Nightrose

Author Dorothy Garlock

Publisher Warner Books

Year Published 1990

ISBN 0446356077

Snarkbytes On her website, Dorothy Garlock posts various recipes associated with the time periods or characters in her books. Click here to view Katy and Rowe’s chitlins.

August 23, 2008 | Filed Under Romance | 12 Comments 



      WHAT IS A SNARK?




      The Snark is a creature created by Lewis Carroll in his poem "The Hunting of the Snark". To give a proper description of Snarks, one must look no further than Carroll himself, who summed them up in one word: Unimaginable.

      But this much we do know: some have feathers, some have whiskers. Snarks sleep a lot, yet they are an ambitious lot -- with very little sense of humor. They love bathing-machines and tend to bring them wherever they go; they are also handy for striking a light. Snarks live on a far-off island, a place filled with chasms and crags, and are constantly on the lookout for Snark-hunters. Their mortal enemies are hope, care, thimbles and forks.

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