Review: Nice Little Novella
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 19, 2013
This is a well written, thoroughly enjoyable, and very entertaining novella.  I am always pleasantly surprised when I find a novella that not only has a fully developed plot, but also fully developed characters.  Most often novellas are sadly lacking in either, or, or in both.  this is certainly not the case with this novella.  Kudos to Ms. Carroll-Bradd!  In this story the heroine, Jessimay (Jazzy), is an ex-prostitute.....and I mean a very RECENT ex, as in when the story starts she is saying goodbye to her last customer!  I usually avoid books where the heroine is promiscuous in any way as I prefer my heroines to be more "innocent."  However, I read this book and I absolutely loved Jazzy!.....and that was before I even knew why she had become a prostitute (a fact which you don't learn until the end of the book.)  Jazzy has been a "soiled dove" for five years and during that time she has diligently saved all her money to finance a new life for herself.  She leaves the Miss Veronica's Pleasure Emporium where she has lived and worked for the the last six years and takes a stagecoach heading west.  She doesn't know where she will eventually end up, she just knows she wants to live somewhere where there are mountains.  She also has plans to open up some kind of shop....though she's not sure as yet what type of shop it will be.  Jazzy has secured all her money in little "pockets" she has sewn into her petticoat.  The hero, Slade Trent, (love the name Slade!) is a US Marshal.  He too is traveling on the stagecoach tracking a female bank robber who is described as having light brown hair and blue eyes.  There are three females traveling on the stagecoach who fits that description and, alas, Jazzy is one of them.  Of course Jazzy, having lived among ladies of the night since she was 14, has no idea of how to behave like a genteel lady.  As a result, she does outrageous things such as open the top buttons on her shirt when she is hot (lol) and makes statements that can have all sorts of innuendos.  It is quite funny to read actually.  And poor Slade!  He is extremely attracted to Jazzy, but thinks that it must be the fact that he's not been with a woman in a while that makes him misunderstand exactly what it is that Jazzy is saying.  But, of course, there is no misunderstanding because Jazzy finds Slade every bit as attractive as he finds her!  The stagecoach party is forced to stop along the way and spend the night in an inn and here things heat up between Slade and Jazzy.  Slade honestly believes that Jazzy may be his bank robber and decides to search her room while she is out.  When Jazzy catches Slade in her room he is sprawled across her bed.  What proceeds from there makes for one very passionate night.  From this point the story develops with the burgeoning relationship between the two.  Jazzy doesn't know how Slade really feels about her and thinks that even if he does care he will not want her once he finds out about her past.  As for Slade, he is conflicted because on the one hand he thinks Jazzy could be his culprit, but on the other he is starting to care for her.  In any event, the two do eventually get their HEA in a very satisfying conclusion.  But, before they do there is a lot action what with a stagecoach robbery and the unmasking of the real bank robber!  For a novella this story was just chock full of excitement.  I must say I wished the author had included a epilogue as it would have been nice to see how Slade and Jazzy were getting along in their new life together.  Particularly, it would have been really nice to see how Jazzy had adjusted to a "normal" life after living at a pleasure palace for most of her teenage years.