Tabs’ review of Harlot by Victoria Dahl
Historical Western Romance published by Victoria Dahl 26 Oct 15
I feel like I’ve spent months salivating over this book on Twitter. Unfortunately, I ended up feeling like I was dragged through the emotional wringer and not in a good way. This is what I would call a “hurts so good” romance. The heroine is in a lot of pain. The hero is extremely disappointed and angry. None of this makes for rainbows and unicorns.
Jess is a really strong and well developed heroine. She was backed into a corner, made a painful choice she had to make to survive, and has been paying for it ever since. She’s easy to love and she makes you want to root for her happiness. However, I think a lot of my frustration with this story comes from instantly bonding with Jess and empathizing with her pain and shame and desperation but then having to deal with Caleb barreling in with his selfish man-feels. Caleb is a difficult character to empathize with. I think things between Jess and Caleb are just too lopsided. She’s been abused and degraded and ostracized for doing what she had to do and he’s sad and depressed that his sweetheart didn’t wait for him and gave away what was supposed to be his. Grrr.
There are definitely things to appreciate about this book. Jess’ tell-it-like-it-is companion is an incredibly quotable knock-out character. Also, things definitely pick up once Caleb starts to come out of his anger-fog and genuinely act like a good person. Things get downright magical when Jess embraces her own justifiable rage and just loses her ever-loving shit.
Ultimately, I couldn’t get past Caleb’s initial abusive behavior. His turn around was just too little too late for me. I thought this was an interesting story and I applaud Victoria Dahl for reaching far outside the box and tackling the subject matter that she did, but the romance didn’t work for me.
Grade: C+
Summary:
He came home to marry an angel…
After two years of work in the gold fields of California, Caleb Hightower has come home to marry his childhood sweetheart, Jessica Willoughby. But when he returns, Caleb learns his refined bride-to-be is now a whore. Enraged by her betrayal, he can’t reconcile this shameless woman with the sweet innocent he once deeply loved–but Caleb knows what to do with a harlot. He’s determined to get everything from her that she’s sold to other men. And he’s prepared to pay for the pleasure of his revenge.But all he found was sin.
Left penniless after her father’s death, Jess made a deal with a devil. Now she must face her first love, whose scorn is no match for her regret. To make amends, she’ll let Caleb quench his rage with her body. Their bargain strips them down to searing passion and naked vulnerability, and Jess can still glimpse her loving Caleb buried deep inside this rough cowboy. In the end, an unbearable truth emerges that could push them toward forgiveness…or could destroy their fragile bond forever.
