Hummingbird

DNF at page 108.

Extremely disappointing. I've read three LaVyrle Spencer books before, and I loved them all, Morning Glory especially. I expected another well-written romance that would quietly tuck itself into my heart and surprise me with the intensity of emotions it would evoke.

What I got instead was a mess of forced, inconsistent “banter” (an insult to the word, honestly) and characters that made no sense. Jesse was awful from the start, but I tried to keep going, sure it would get better. And then Jesse forced Abigail to kiss him (not a peck - a three-page-long ordeal) by freaking PULLING A GUN ON HER, and I had to put the book aside in disgust and disappointment.

“But this was written in the 80s!” you argue. “The heroines were always kissed into submission against their will.”

And yes, to a point. Usually, I go into books written in this time period with certain expectations. When those scenes occur, I read them, uncomfortable, but knowing it's a stage the romance genre went through to get to where we are today.

But there are limits to things I will not tolerate, regardless of publish date.

This was not a ~she put up a token resistance but almost immediately became an enthusiastic participant~ situation. Not only did he use a weapon to force her into the act (and basically verbally threatened to do more at a later date), at the end of the ordeal, she feels “filthy” and “violated,” not only from the assault but because she eventually started to enjoy it a little toward the end.

I wanted to retch reading that.

And to make it EVEN WORSE (that would have been enough, but this is the piece that just makes it even more incomprehensible to me), Jesse ISN'T EVEN THE VILLAIN train robber he's accused of being. He is a photographer. Just a regular guy. Who?? Thinks this is okay?? And then LAUGHS after she leaves the room, his own private joke because only he knows that the gun has been empty the whole time.

Spencer can do a million times better. That saying, “I'm not mad; I'm just disappointed,” comes to mind, but it wouldn't be true. I am extremely disappointed, as evidenced by how many times I've used that word in this review, but I'm mad, too.

If you like the premise of this book, read The Outsider by Penelope Williamson.

If you want quality Spencer, read Morning Glory.

Whatever you are looking for in a romance, I sincerely doubt you'll find it in this book.