Review: Well written M/M historical, but story arc is just okay.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 22, 2013
Grrr …I didn’t like David. Once in a while you come across a character you just don’t vibe with and, for me, David will go down in the books as a particularly dull character. A passionless stick in the mud that bored me, greatly, but he did do me the favor of not simpering. His lackluster character was an obstacle through 218 pages of a story, told solely from David’s narrative.I will admit to skimming sections, but I didn’t miss a beat - you see, I’ve read this story before. Many times before. When I went through a phase of reading historical M/F romances. Dull-nave-semi-destitute-do-gooder heroine has one night, lustful encounter with dashing-upper-class-rake, can’t get him out of her mind, their paths continue to entwine against the backdrop of a rather predictable “mystery” to unravel, they lust for one another, an intimacy grows, their relationship is too taboo for society (albeit, the stigma of homosexuality added a nice new twist to this prototype story), mystery solved, focus back on relationship, turn page for next chapter and … it ends? Not with a cliffhanger to excite you for the sequel, just a completely flat ending. Feeling like an incomplete novel … as if the remaining chapters to David and Balfour’s Harlequin romance where torn out of the $4.15 book I purchased and are being held hostage by the publishing company for … another $4.15. Obviously I haven’t read the soon to be released Beguiled yet, but after closing Provoked, I feel provoked to add that this doesn’t feel like a series, just a single novel retailing in multiple parts.Yay! …Rant over. Here is what sets this historical romance a step above the dime a dozen Harlequins. It is quite well written. Possibly over descriptive in parts, still Chambers aptly transports the reader to pre-Victorian England and portrays the battles (both internal and external) to being homosexual during this era. Her observant prose evoke feelings the reader can grasp on to:"Lust didn’t make you forget all the reasons you shouldn’t do something. It just made you not care. It made you not care, even knowing you would regret your actions later."Paint imagery to move the reader through scenes as if they are watching a play:"As he stood there, counting, the single candle that lit the stairwell landing guttered out. The flame died first; then, after a moment, a thin thread of smoke rose from its waxy grave and began to drift upwards.David turned and followed it up to the third floor."And provides a moment for the reader to smirk, while they get a dose of sweetness:"But then Balfour took it, and in one swift movement, turned David’s hand over, palm down, and lowered his head to press a kiss to the back of it. … It was typically Balfour: challenging and humorous at once. Making a woman of David with his queer courtliness. It was … romantic."Tall, dark and handsome, the star of the show is Balfour. There is a lot of story in these 218 pages and unfortunately Balfour’s presence is too brief and interspersed amongst them. The overly confident, entitled, rake gluttons to drink all the pleasures life has to offer. Bringing passion to the pages, Balfour made up for my lackluster response to David and prevented this book from ending up on my DNF pile. In Beguiled I will be looking for Chambers to let her star shine and for David to get a clue and bring a dose of passion himself.All in all as far as historical romance novels go, this isn’t a bad one. If you have no qualms with how much you spend on a well written homosexual, historical romance novel, I recommend the series to you. I would say as far as these types of stories go, this one is a solid three stars. However, I will take this moment to note that the current trend in the publishing industry lately to increase the profit margin on a book over 300 pages, by breaking it up into sections retailing around $4.00 each instead of one lengthy novel (edited appropriately) offered for $5.99, really detracts from my overall experience with the work. We will see if I am beguiled with the sequel in how I look at this work as a “series,” but right now I will continue on with Beguiled mainly because I want to get a proper ending for Provoked.