Review: Vulnerable heroine, sensitive hero
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 30, 2012
I really enjoyed this book; nowadays I tend to stick with proven & tested multicultural writers but do willingly delve into new territory if the story sounds intruiging enough. Luckily I did get my money's worth by giving this author a trial.The story is about Misha, a vulnerable, sweet young woman who works in law enforcement and Mark, the ex-con, reformed bad-boy who falls hard for her. The subject matter is NOT one close to my heart because I am all about BW improving their lot in life NOT getting involved with people (eg uneducated ex-cons) who might drag them down but this story was so well written, the hero so sensitively drawn and appealing that I was able to overlook the other questionable aspects. In a nutshell Misha is involved in his arrest however for once he was the innocent party. Mark recalls they were in high school together and is attracted to her. He vows to turn his life around once out of jail so he can be worthy of her. They start off as friends as she assists him with studying for his diploma, before things evolve slowly into something more. There are humps along the way, one example is his one time involvement in a racist group which he of course hides from her. She finds out, they fight but eventually it is clear he had his (perhaps understandable) reasons and love conquers all.People often state how 'refreshing' it is when multicultural books avoid the topic of race but on the contrary I find it refreshing when they face it head on or touch on it- as long as it's done intelligently and realistically. Which in my opinion it was in this book. Race can be the elephant in the room so pretending it's all pink dreams and fairytales from the get-go is just silly.Also I do understand why Misha suffered with confidence and esteem issues but attacking Mark over a bit of make-up on his collar was straying into bunny boiler territory. I am not saying ignore it but yelling at him, demading to speak to his cousin (who could easily have covered for him anyway) was childish in the extreme and just not the kind of behaviour I would condone. Since we did get to meet a few of Marks ex-girlfriends, my guess is he had seen far worse behaviour...Finally, Misha's illness was dealt with quite well though in a somewhat heavy-handed manner. I came away with the feeling the author was trying too hard to throw in darker elements but overall it was a touching part of the book.I will keep my eye out for any other books by Ms LaRuse. Recommended.