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A review by bbckprpl
Chasing Cassandra by Lisa Kleypas
4.0
Written about here, for CBR 14.
Spoilers Below.
Chasing Cassandra is book six, and she's the last of the known -to date- Ravenel sisters, so you may be wondering how there is a book seven, because I definitely was. We'll get there. But here's the thing: the hero in Cassandra's story is Tom Severin, whom readers have met in multiple books of the series, and who comes across as... more than a bit of an ass. He tries to swindle Devon out of mining rights that wind up saving the whole family in book one, and although he and Rhys and West consider him their 'friend', they do so both begrudgingly and with multiple caveats. Again, Tom is a character that - through my neurodivergent, current day lens - I think can be read as Autistic, due to his lack of understanding/caring about people skills, which I often read as just his singular focus on very specific things, that often comes across as uncaring. Perhaps best exemplified in this exchange: “My goodness, do you take everything so literally?” “I’m an engineer.” As if that explains everything. Because he DOES care, and it becomes very clear that Cassandra is one of the things he cares about very much.
I'm all for redemption stories, and I followed this one pretty well. I did think there was a little less groveling than I'd like, but that's a personal choice we all must make for ourselves. I loved all the men in Cassandra's life trying to talk her out of marrying Severin, as he frantically tried to impress her: There can be no better bodyguards than former rakes, after all. And I like Cassandra's insistence that she needed specific things in marriage, and - at first - how she didn't see how Tom could provide them. There's a scene that requires a bit of a TW, where Cassandra is 'exposed to unwanted advances' as the parlance of the books might put it, but Things. Happen. to that person. And when things happen to Cassandra as a result of that person, well. Have you ever had anybody buy a newspaper just to defend your honor? Wouldn't you like to have?
Quote: Your body isn't an ornament designed for other people’s pleasure: it belongs to you alone. You're magnificent just as you are. Whether you lose weight or gain more, you'll still be magnificent. Have a cake if you want one.” Cassandra looked patently disbelieving. “You're saying I gained another stone or even two stones on top of this, you’d still find me desirable?” “God, yes,” he said without hesitation. “Whatever size you are, you have a place for every curve.” She gave him arrested stare, as if he’d spoken in a foreign language and she was trying to translate. “Now,” Tom continued briskly, “about the contract.”
Spoilers Below.
Chasing Cassandra is book six, and she's the last of the known -to date- Ravenel sisters, so you may be wondering how there is a book seven, because I definitely was. We'll get there. But here's the thing: the hero in Cassandra's story is Tom Severin, whom readers have met in multiple books of the series, and who comes across as... more than a bit of an ass. He tries to swindle Devon out of mining rights that wind up saving the whole family in book one, and although he and Rhys and West consider him their 'friend', they do so both begrudgingly and with multiple caveats. Again, Tom is a character that - through my neurodivergent, current day lens - I think can be read as Autistic, due to his lack of understanding/caring about people skills, which I often read as just his singular focus on very specific things, that often comes across as uncaring. Perhaps best exemplified in this exchange: “My goodness, do you take everything so literally?” “I’m an engineer.” As if that explains everything. Because he DOES care, and it becomes very clear that Cassandra is one of the things he cares about very much.
I'm all for redemption stories, and I followed this one pretty well. I did think there was a little less groveling than I'd like, but that's a personal choice we all must make for ourselves. I loved all the men in Cassandra's life trying to talk her out of marrying Severin, as he frantically tried to impress her: There can be no better bodyguards than former rakes, after all. And I like Cassandra's insistence that she needed specific things in marriage, and - at first - how she didn't see how Tom could provide them. There's a scene that requires a bit of a TW, where Cassandra is 'exposed to unwanted advances' as the parlance of the books might put it, but Things. Happen. to that person. And when things happen to Cassandra as a result of that person, well. Have you ever had anybody buy a newspaper just to defend your honor? Wouldn't you like to have?
Quote: Your body isn't an ornament designed for other people’s pleasure: it belongs to you alone. You're magnificent just as you are. Whether you lose weight or gain more, you'll still be magnificent. Have a cake if you want one.” Cassandra looked patently disbelieving. “You're saying I gained another stone or even two stones on top of this, you’d still find me desirable?” “God, yes,” he said without hesitation. “Whatever size you are, you have a place for every curve.” She gave him arrested stare, as if he’d spoken in a foreign language and she was trying to translate. “Now,” Tom continued briskly, “about the contract.”