Review: Standout Characters and Excellent Plotting
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 5, 2014
Though I enjoy category romances, there is a tendency for authors of these books to fall back on tired formulas and stock characters. Read a couple of them in a row, and you start mixing up the alpha-male heroes and exotic locals. Nadia Lee's VENGEFUL IN LOVE stands out by taking some risks with plotting and offering a non-mainstream protagonist.Natalie Hall is beautiful, bright and accomplished--standard romantic heroine--only she's also the Asian adopted daughter of a United States senator. She's a study in contrasts. Natalie is successful, but she's not overly ambitious. She comes from money, and yet she's unpretentious. Most tellingly, she's the shining star of her family AND the black sheep who was never truly accepted by her adoptive mother and sister.Alex Damon isn't quite as unique a character as Natalie, but his back story has a nice kink. His father built a lucrative company and then lost it all thanks to a conniving mistress and a greedy wife. Alex has since grown up and created his own high-tech empire, but his childhood loss consumes him. He wants revenge. Natalie, the god-daughter of the mistress, is to be his weapon.Of course, it all goes sideways when Alex falls for Natalie. Further complications arise when she's implicated in a case of corporate espionage. Alex doesn't want to believe she'd betray him, but he can't quiet trust her either. Meanwhile, Natalie is in the throws of her own conflict--how to break free from the only family she knows, even though being around them makes her feel worthless.Nadia Lee adds some wonderful twists to her plot. It's difficult to predict from which direction the next blow will fall on our couple. And the identity of the real corporate spy came as a surprise. None of Nadia's characters is straight forward. They are flawed in fabulously genuine ways. Even the minor ones are given weight in the narrative.My problem with this book, and the reason I didn't give it five stars, is that the intricate plotting collapses right before the finish line. After building great conflict and tearing our couple apart, the resolution comes too quickly and the loose ends are tied up too neatly. Alex should have had to work harder to earn Natalie's forgiveness. And the epilogue made the resolution seem even more rushed and artificial.I enjoyed the book, but the ending let me down.