Review: Chilling and distant at times,yet still a powerful love story...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 15, 2013
"Physical attraction didn't explain why every time she happened upon Amelia unexpectedly, Caton felt her mouth go dry, her heart race and the immediate desire to find something to say that would make Amelia see her as less of a burden." If ever a sentence spoke to how it can feel when you first start to like someone you know you shouldn't, this may be it. What begins as a "senseless attraction" for  Caton, hired to assist wealthy Amelia Halston in her charity functions, slowly escalates to something much more, even if that "much more" is more sexual than anything else and is, sometimes, just a little too disturbing.In the early stages of their awkward working relationship (though I use the term "working" very loosely) Caton (to her credit) tries (oh boy, does she try!) to resist her feelings by using "civil avoidance," a term that perfectly describes how she tactfully and politely avoids her boss whenever possible. Amelia, on her end, is often nothing more than a "gaping void of nothingness that often stared back at her." She strikes when she wants to, but makes it seem as if her interest in Caton is merely accidental.When Caton and Amelia meet, both women are already involved with other people, which makes the whole infidelity aspect a huge detractor for anyone who likes their love stories free of innocent victims. Riley LaShea wisely chooses to have Laura (Caton's girlriend) be a rather generic figure in the story, thereby taking some of the sting away from how Caton disregards her so quickly. Amelia's husband is (to put it mildly) a pompous jerk, who deserves no one's loyalty.There is lots of connection (of the bedroom and "eyes meeting across the room" sort) and disconnection (between Amelia and her emotions) in Behind The Green Curtain and the amount of erotic interplay spent within the novel is a bit disconcerting for anyone who prefers their romance more emotional and less full of power plays and dramatic denials. The writing is so crisp it's almost too much so, to the point that if not for the sudden injection of love and romance in the last fourth of the novel, it would be cynical more than anything else. I guess what kept me reading and reading some more (putting this book aside was rather hard) is how easy it is to relate to Caton and the roller coaster of emotions she experiences.