Review: An amazingly complex love story packed into a novella
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 15, 2013
Originally appeared on Tales to Tide You OverThis delightful novella makes it clear why I've heard Sabrina Jeffries's name often enough to recognize it. I chose Ten Reasons to Stay from a Net Galley list since I enjoy historical romance as a break from the other romances I read, perhaps because the obstacles are more straightforward than in contemporary romance. It's not about being all tied up in your headspace, but rather focuses on the societal barriers of class, bloodline, and reputation, things we like to pretend have little influence over us now despite clear evidence of the truth.Ten Reasons to Stay delves into those questions even more than most because of the character Colin, whose parentage is repugnant to most of his class. Though his parents were officially married when he was born, nothing could change his mother's dark East Indian skin, or the prejudice that comes with being considered a half-breed.The above might make you suspect a lot of backstory, especially for a shorter work, but that wouldn't be at all accurate. Jeffries shows herself to be a master at seeding the key issues without wasting too much time on them. You learn both his history and the consequences as they directly relate to the situation he finds himself in. The story never stops to bring them up, but rather winds the reasons into the reactions he expects, and usually receives.Which brings us to Eliza. A headstrong, brave, determined, and curious young woman, she is thrown into intolerable circumstances that she refuses to accept. After the tragic death of her father, she's put in the hands of a gin-soaked, abusive uncle who never recovered from the death of beloved wife, something Eliza's father was unaware of. I cut a sentence out of my review here because I realized it would be a spoiler, but trust that there's more to the story than it seems.Now that's a lot of story to pack into a short piece, but it's masterfully done. I'll leave the rest of the story for you to discover on your own as I think I've showed enough for you to know this novella has teeth, but with one small, or not so small, exception: This is not a sweet romance. The sexual aspects are pervasive and border on the erotic, something I'm still getting used to in historicals. What impresses me about the sex, though, is how even that aspect is true to the characters and seeped in the same complex mix of discovery, fears, and emotions that make this a compelling read.And for the writers out there, this is a learn from work in my option, in handling the complex backstory, including meat in a non-novel-length work, and making the sex integral to the story rather than just there to titillate.