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A review by elfduchess
An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole
DNF - PG 55
Why?
I love the idea behind the story, but...Oy vey. So this is about a pair of spies, right? So they're supposed to be doing spy stuff - not groping each other in the bushes the day they met. Seriously. The very same twenty-four (more like, twelve) hour period that they met.
So, after they get their grope on and Elle comes to her senses and turns him down very vocally because nothing good could come out of this dalliance for her, we get this:
'"If I really were [a slave], you could have your way with me without this pretense of seduction." Her face was warm and she was perilously close to tears.'
*blinks* What? I mean, she feels heartbroken because he's not madly in love with her after knowing her for all of nine and three-quarter's hours? But, wait!
The very next day, we get Malcolm mourning lost chances with Elle and, basically, lusting after her in his mind. Then:
'She'd never believe he felt anything for her.'
Soo... After what might be a full day, he is upset because she wouldn't believe he is madly in love with her?
(No, I'm sorry, this is just lust - he's in lust with her - because that's all this even is.)
Right now, they probably have known each other one full day. They've met each other three times, (ignoring the prologue because that offers little of anything) the first two times, Elle was pretending to be a mute slave and Malcolm was pretending to be a hardcore Confederate soldier.
So, the first meeting, Elle thinks Malcolm is going to rape her ('it was the smile of a man used to getting his way'). (When we get his memory of that scene, mere minutes later, he's thinking of 'full Cupid's bow lips had been on the verge of forming a smile' and 'Her thick heir had been plaited into two girlish braids, but there was no doubt that she was a grown woman: the plain cotton dress she wore highlighted her slim waist and ample bosom.') Malcolm's first words to Elle is a flirt.
The second meeting Malcolm apologies to her (after feeling jealousy that she might be headed home to a husband).
'"I just wanted to give my apologies again for today," he said. "I'd fall on my sword before hurting a woman in that way. Any woman."
Her lips parted in surprise, sending a rush of want through him even as he was apologizing for it.'
...
...
The third meeting, he flirts with her again, strongly, manhandles her, they kind of mutually grope each other - though he does somewhat more groping than she does - and we get this from her perspective:
'He should have moved his hand from her waist, but he didn't.'
There are more examples like this in just the fifty-five pages that I read, where Malcolm is a lecherous creep but Elle doesn't mind because he's soo charming. No, he's not charming. He's a lecherous creep.
I actually have even more notes on my phone but... *sigh*
I'm done.
Why?
I love the idea behind the story, but...Oy vey. So this is about a pair of spies, right? So they're supposed to be doing spy stuff - not groping each other in the bushes the day they met. Seriously. The very same twenty-four (more like, twelve) hour period that they met.
So, after they get their grope on and Elle comes to her senses and turns him down very vocally because nothing good could come out of this dalliance for her, we get this:
'"If I really were [a slave], you could have your way with me without this pretense of seduction." Her face was warm and she was perilously close to tears.'
*blinks* What? I mean, she feels heartbroken because he's not madly in love with her after knowing her for all of nine and three-quarter's hours? But, wait!
The very next day, we get Malcolm mourning lost chances with Elle and, basically, lusting after her in his mind. Then:
'She'd never believe he felt anything for her.'
Soo... After what might be a full day, he is upset because she wouldn't believe he is madly in love with her?
(No, I'm sorry, this is just lust - he's in lust with her - because that's all this even is.)
Right now, they probably have known each other one full day. They've met each other three times, (ignoring the prologue because that offers little of anything) the first two times, Elle was pretending to be a mute slave and Malcolm was pretending to be a hardcore Confederate soldier.
So, the first meeting, Elle thinks Malcolm is going to rape her ('it was the smile of a man used to getting his way'). (When we get his memory of that scene, mere minutes later, he's thinking of 'full Cupid's bow lips had been on the verge of forming a smile' and 'Her thick heir had been plaited into two girlish braids, but there was no doubt that she was a grown woman: the plain cotton dress she wore highlighted her slim waist and ample bosom.') Malcolm's first words to Elle is a flirt.
The second meeting Malcolm apologies to her (after feeling jealousy that she might be headed home to a husband).
'"I just wanted to give my apologies again for today," he said. "I'd fall on my sword before hurting a woman in that way. Any woman."
Her lips parted in surprise, sending a rush of want through him even as he was apologizing for it.'
...
...
The third meeting, he flirts with her again, strongly, manhandles her, they kind of mutually grope each other - though he does somewhat more groping than she does - and we get this from her perspective:
'He should have moved his hand from her waist, but he didn't.'
There are more examples like this in just the fifty-five pages that I read, where Malcolm is a lecherous creep but Elle doesn't mind because he's soo charming. No, he's not charming. He's a lecherous creep.
I actually have even more notes on my phone but... *sigh*
I'm done.