I had been on a roll with my romance reading, when I got distracted by the Olympics – a very enjoyable distraction, but I’d like to get back to reading now that it’s over! I started with this novella since I thought it would be an easy read.
Hot Under the Collar by Jackie Barbarosa
(2012, Regency Historical Novella) 8/17/12
Grade: 3.5
Walter Langston, a third son, tried the army but after an injury ends up in the church, as the vicar of the small village of Grace-over-Sands. Although he’s not terribly religious, he finds himself genuinely enjoying helping his paritioners. But when he meets Artimisia Finch, a courtesan in London who has returned home to care for her father, he is immediately attracted. At first it is just an affair, but soon they’re both dreaming of something more…
This is a charming story that was just a little too short (it’s novella length, about 110 pages). We get the essence of the story but it could have used some filling out. Despite the description of the story as erotic, it’s really not – it’s more focused on the lives of these two characters and how they could make a life together when their social positions were so different. The ending is a little fairytale-ish, especially without more grounding to back it up, but it’s nice to think of these two characters making a life in this small town and finding both love and acceptance. An interesting and unusual story, even if it had a few flaws.
This definitely wasn’t a book I would have picked up without a review (thanks Dear Author) since it’s sold as something it’s really not – there are so many small press “erotic” romances that I don’t even give them a second look, even though this one is quite different it’s lost in a sea of books that just look like they’re all the same.
Karen Wheless
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