S. I. (RedHeadDread) reviewed on 12/10/2008 + 43 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 3

I am usually a fan of The Nora's so it was extra disappointing to read this start to a series and be instantly struck by such problems with it.

The description section gives you a fine idea of the plot, so I'll skip that and go right to my issues with the characterizations. The main characters of this book, Hoyt and Glenna, are fairly typical romantic lead types. You may or may not like those types, but there's nothing uncommon about them. So what's my problem with this book? In a nutshell, what is up with the character of King? Let's run through the stereotypes here, shall we? Big, ugly, scary, black guy, but once you get past that he's a softy with a heart of gold? Been there, done that. With the exception of his loyalty, which he has in spades having been rescued from the mean streets of East LA as a child, blahblahblabbityblah, he is everything the heroes are not. Could he be more Other? Needless to say, despite the fact that in her trilogies, there will always be 3 couples in the end, since it's not a romance if there's no Happily Ever After, there is no HEA for King. And yet, if you look at what his role is in terms of the plot, there is no reason why King had to be Black, had to be big, had to be scary, had to be ugly and/or have mismatched eyes. It all just serves to make him distinct and Other and Not The Hero. At first I was ready to be surprised and delighted by an interracial romance in a future book in the series with this atypical hero. Sadly, not only does this not happen, what does happen is par for the course, for authors trying to make their books more "diverse" without thinking beyond "white is normal, therefore all else is..." It is tiresome, stale, and I had hoped for better.

As if that wasn't enough to hate, what's with the evil, bisexual, pedophile vampire queen? What message are we meant to take from this? That she's extra evil because she'll have sex with anyone? Not just other women, but even children?! I know romance is a genre that clings to heteronormative standards, but this was beyond the beyond. I prefer my romances without a big heaping helping of homophobia.

So, the token non-white character gets buried under heaps and piles of Not Like Us and a blow is struck on behalf of monogomous heterosexuality by this villain = pervert depiction. On behalf of all the non-white, non-heterosexual readers of romance, thanks a lot Nora.

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