⭐⭐
This is mostly a book about self-body-image issues and the
importance of a loving partner and gentle handling is to be able to move beyond
negative body image. In addition to the non-conservative body shape of one of the MCs, this is also an age-gap romance between a femme-butch couple. Overlaid on this very important message are complicated
storylines involving child protection and adoption services, privatisation and
profiteering, a troubled child and a model-figured Other Woman.
The three main characters in the romance are: Lieutenant
Jazz Perry, an adopted child who had the good fortune to be adopted by a very
loving, mostly women dominated family. Emory Blake, a social worker who was dumped
very cruelly by her partner and suffers serious body image issue because she is
‘substantial’. Karen Patrick, a woman with a model-like body and unabashedly
aggressive.
While the author takes pains to write about the attraction
and chemistry between Jazz and Emory, it just doesn’t come across. In fact,
despite writing about each thread in detail, everything seems rather
superficial and choppy. You cannot really sink into any of the multiple
characters or storylines to any satisfaction. We also wonder why Karen was
dubbed as a manipulative, untrustworthy skank right from the beginning, simply
based on the fact that she is well-toned, well-groomed and well-to-do.
We wouldn’t recommend this book, but at the same time it is
so without personality that we cannot aggressively hate it either.
⭐⭐
