A Man in a Million by Jessica Bird
Jan. 2nd, 2007 09:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jmc_bksThis was one of my final reads for 2006. It is a January '07 Silhouette Special Edition release. It's the second Jessica Bird book that I've read, the first being From the First. Both books are part of the Moorehouse Legacy series.
As you may or may not know, Jessica Bird also writes as J.R. Ward, author of the Black Dagger Brotherhood vampire novels. I'm not sure which nom de plume came first. In fact, for all I know, Bird may be her real name and Ward is the only pseudonym.
Maddie and Spike met in From the First; Spike worked at the family hotel and Maddie came to visit one of her sailing compatriots. Series bait. Eh. Fast forward to AMM. Maddie's trust is going to expire and she'll be old enough to take control of the shares of stock in the family business, but only if she affirmatively assumes control. Aside: I'm wondering how exactly this trust was drafted, because the terms strike me as strange and unenforceable for a variety of reasons. Except, of course, all kinds of wills and trusts that are enforceable only in Romancelandia are the bases for all kinds of plots, contemporary and historical. She has to confront her half-brother, with whom she has a very strained, unpleasant relationship. And her half-sister, a femme fatale who has twice stolen Maddie's boyfriends, will likely be present as well. Spike joins her as a beard and prop. Over the holiday weekend, they get to know each other a little bit better and decide to try to have a relationship. Of course, each of them believes that the other will dump them sooner or later and is just getting what they can while they can.
In a lot of ways, AMM is like a milder, unparanormal version of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. And that is both a good thing and a bad thing. Spike is the dangerous bad boy, tattoo'd, fierce, with a lot of angst and a history of violence. Maddie is yet another virgin heroine who is living a very isolated life before she becomes involved with Spike.
Their major issue is a class difference (he's a chef originally from South Boston, she's from old money Greenwich, CT) and Spike's assumption that she'll dump him if she ever finds out he's done time. Another aside: I know little about criminal law, having learned enough to pass the bar then promptly forgetting it. But I find it hard to believe he'd've been prosecuted and required to serve a full term for killing (w/o premeditation) the man who was in he middle of beating his sister to death. But what do I know? Maybe the DA was up for re-election and wanted lots of convictions. :shrug:
What did I like:
1. Maddie is a professional sailor. She's an athlete. Not a lot of athlete heroines in Romancelandia.
2. Spike is a chef. I love guys who cook.
3. Readers get the POV of both main characters.
4. The sexual tension between Spike and Maddie is very well done.
5. Bird did a good job with the backstory, setting up each character's personality and history.
What didn't I like:
1. Not one but two Big Misunderstandings because of assumptions they made and failure to communicate.
2. More series bait, in the form of Maddie's sister, Spike's sister, and their mutual friend Sean.
3. Maddie's body issues and food problems were brought up and then ignored. Why lay that trail if you aren't going to go down it?
4. Too much mental angst.
5. How isolated and alone Maddie was. No close friends, no close family, no one to talk to or confide in.
A plot mechanism (maybe not the right word) that I've noticed in both SSE books by Bird that really bothers me: the cavalier treatment of contraceptives and STDs. In FtF, the heroine told the hero that he didn't need to use a condom because she was sterile. Based on the fact that she never got pregnant with her husband; of course she had never spoken to her doctor about fertility. Surprise! Not sterile, unplanned pregnancy followed. Here in AMM, again, no condoms or other birth control, but of course they are both safe, disease-wise, and Maddie can't get pregnant because as an athlete, she is in (or has? I'm not sure of the proper phrasing) amenorrhea. Okay, no pregnancy followed, but that is the excuse given for some follow up checking in after they have gone their separate ways, before the HEA. Except I'm not sure that amenorrhea precludes pregnancy entirely. The larger issue for me is how careless the unsafe sex makes the heroes and heroines seem to me. The heroines more than the heroes actually, since they'd be the ones pregnant and at a higher risk of infection, given STD transmission rates (M:F rather than F:M). I lost a lot of respect for them.
Beyond that I'm wondering why Bird/Ward heroines almost always have some fertility issue. I don't think Beth (Dark Lover) did, but Mary, Wellsie, Bella, the other SSE heroine, all of them had something, whether it was sterility, unplanned pregnancy, high-risk pregnancy, etc. I'm wondering if Marissa will have a similar problem. Is it that Bird/Ward is writing to the constraints of the genre? If it occurred only in the category books, I'd think so, but it's in the Black Dagger books, too. I don't know. The more I think about it, the more this bothers me.
As you may or may not know, Jessica Bird also writes as J.R. Ward, author of the Black Dagger Brotherhood vampire novels. I'm not sure which nom de plume came first. In fact, for all I know, Bird may be her real name and Ward is the only pseudonym.
"Have you met Madeline Maguire?"
Sure have, Spike thought. I saw her last night in my dreams.
As far as bad boy Spike Moriarty was concerned, Madeline Maguire defined female perfection. When they'd met, she'd walked up as if she wasn't the most gorgeous thing on the planet and asked to see his tattoos. He -- a tough guy who'd make grown men run -- had just about passed out. But their connection was definitely one-way...it had to be. Because he could never be the man in a million she was looking for, not with the things he'd done and seen. So for as long as she'd let him he'd give her whatever she wanted. He'd worry about her walking away when it happened.
Maddie and Spike met in From the First; Spike worked at the family hotel and Maddie came to visit one of her sailing compatriots. Series bait. Eh. Fast forward to AMM. Maddie's trust is going to expire and she'll be old enough to take control of the shares of stock in the family business, but only if she affirmatively assumes control. Aside: I'm wondering how exactly this trust was drafted, because the terms strike me as strange and unenforceable for a variety of reasons. Except, of course, all kinds of wills and trusts that are enforceable only in Romancelandia are the bases for all kinds of plots, contemporary and historical. She has to confront her half-brother, with whom she has a very strained, unpleasant relationship. And her half-sister, a femme fatale who has twice stolen Maddie's boyfriends, will likely be present as well. Spike joins her as a beard and prop. Over the holiday weekend, they get to know each other a little bit better and decide to try to have a relationship. Of course, each of them believes that the other will dump them sooner or later and is just getting what they can while they can.
In a lot of ways, AMM is like a milder, unparanormal version of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. And that is both a good thing and a bad thing. Spike is the dangerous bad boy, tattoo'd, fierce, with a lot of angst and a history of violence. Maddie is yet another virgin heroine who is living a very isolated life before she becomes involved with Spike.
Their major issue is a class difference (he's a chef originally from South Boston, she's from old money Greenwich, CT) and Spike's assumption that she'll dump him if she ever finds out he's done time. Another aside: I know little about criminal law, having learned enough to pass the bar then promptly forgetting it. But I find it hard to believe he'd've been prosecuted and required to serve a full term for killing (w/o premeditation) the man who was in he middle of beating his sister to death. But what do I know? Maybe the DA was up for re-election and wanted lots of convictions. :shrug:
What did I like:
1. Maddie is a professional sailor. She's an athlete. Not a lot of athlete heroines in Romancelandia.
2. Spike is a chef. I love guys who cook.
3. Readers get the POV of both main characters.
4. The sexual tension between Spike and Maddie is very well done.
5. Bird did a good job with the backstory, setting up each character's personality and history.
What didn't I like:
1. Not one but two Big Misunderstandings because of assumptions they made and failure to communicate.
2. More series bait, in the form of Maddie's sister, Spike's sister, and their mutual friend Sean.
3. Maddie's body issues and food problems were brought up and then ignored. Why lay that trail if you aren't going to go down it?
4. Too much mental angst.
5. How isolated and alone Maddie was. No close friends, no close family, no one to talk to or confide in.
A plot mechanism (maybe not the right word) that I've noticed in both SSE books by Bird that really bothers me: the cavalier treatment of contraceptives and STDs. In FtF, the heroine told the hero that he didn't need to use a condom because she was sterile. Based on the fact that she never got pregnant with her husband; of course she had never spoken to her doctor about fertility. Surprise! Not sterile, unplanned pregnancy followed. Here in AMM, again, no condoms or other birth control, but of course they are both safe, disease-wise, and Maddie can't get pregnant because as an athlete, she is in (or has? I'm not sure of the proper phrasing) amenorrhea. Okay, no pregnancy followed, but that is the excuse given for some follow up checking in after they have gone their separate ways, before the HEA. Except I'm not sure that amenorrhea precludes pregnancy entirely. The larger issue for me is how careless the unsafe sex makes the heroes and heroines seem to me. The heroines more than the heroes actually, since they'd be the ones pregnant and at a higher risk of infection, given STD transmission rates (M:F rather than F:M). I lost a lot of respect for them.
Beyond that I'm wondering why Bird/Ward heroines almost always have some fertility issue. I don't think Beth (Dark Lover) did, but Mary, Wellsie, Bella, the other SSE heroine, all of them had something, whether it was sterility, unplanned pregnancy, high-risk pregnancy, etc. I'm wondering if Marissa will have a similar problem. Is it that Bird/Ward is writing to the constraints of the genre? If it occurred only in the category books, I'd think so, but it's in the Black Dagger books, too. I don't know. The more I think about it, the more this bothers me.
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-05 02:10 am (UTC)The condom thing doesn't bother me but I don't really make it an issue in romance novels. Unless it is brought up then forgot... that annoys me.
I enjoyed FtF and look forward to reading the next SSE. And to see if it is different than the bros or if that is just taking over her writing..
no subject
Date: 2007-01-05 12:40 pm (UTC)Having said that, I liked both characters a great deal, and I enjoyed the non-suspense conflict.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-16 11:11 pm (UTC)The things you liked were the things I liked as well. Good review.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-16 11:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 12:35 am (UTC)The Big Mis did seem very contrived, I agree. And the friendliness of Mad and her sister seemed a little unlikely...or maybe I'm just an unforgiving bitch -- I don't think I'd be able to forgive a sibling who cheated or seduced or stole a significant other. I could write off the boyfriend, but I would feel betrayed by the sibling.