Shannon C.‘s review of Becoming Miss Becky by Shannon Stacey
Western romance eBook released by Samhain 23 Sep 08

I know I overthink things. I did even before I started reviewing, and it’s just gotten worse. Time was I could read a book like this one, smile in places, and shrug it off when I was done. But as I read, I kept wondering if the author had any idea what the underlying message of her story was, and if she did, why she would think that was a positive thing. Because what I got out of the story was, “Girls, don’t bother with the whole ‘finding yourself’ crap. Stick with your man, because he knows what’s best for you. Also women’s liberation? A laugh riot.” Needless to say, I wasn’t laughing. This is a shame, because I like Shannon Stacey’s online persona, and I wanted to like this book.

Rebecca Hamilton has just arrived in Gardiner, Texas, to find out what her aunt Adelle left her. She finds out that she’s been left with the town’s whorehouse, which goes by the always oh-so-erotic moniker the Chicken Coop. Rebecca’s a virgin, so she has no idea how to run a whorehouse. Sheriff Adam Caldwell, who meets her at the stagecoach station, tells her she has other choices. She can marry him. And while Rebecca thinks Adam’s hot, she’s not sure she wants to commit to that after knowing the guy ten minutes. So she goes to the whorehouse, and then decides that, being in a new place, she can shed the boring, drab image she’s always had, so she dresses in her aunt’s clothes, becomes bold and brassy, and wants to learn about sex from the oh-so-proper sheriff.

I actually liked Rebecca. I’ve read her before in other books, but I understood and approved of her attempts to try and figure out the kind of person she wanted to be. I have no idea what she saw in Adam, but I’ll discuss that more in a minute. I like that she was hesitant about taking on the whorehouse, but she was committed to the girls. (I absolutely refuse to refer to them, as the book does, as “the chickens”, because that? So not sexy. Also, I liked that Rebecca did have significant screentime with other female characters, and this book passed the Bechtel Test–and not just squeaked by, either.

Then, there’s Adam. Adam is a rootin’ tootin’ gun-totin’ twang-talkin’ scowl-wearin’ over-compensatin’ mean son of a bitch. (OK, maybe not the over-compensatin’ part, but he does actually tell us most of the rest. At great length. And often.) His favorite activities include shooting people. He is so prickly that people in town are afraid of him, except for his BFF and deputy, the town doctor. I have no idea how he got elected sheriff in the first place, since he is such an actively unpleasant person. Oh, and he doesn’t like whores. Because a fortune teller told him that a painted lady would be his downfall, so while he would marry Rebecca when she was drab and mousy, once she starts becoming Miss Becky, well, sure, he wants to do her, but he just can’t marry her. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the riveting romantic conflict. Needless to say, I found it ridiculous. I didn’t find Adam’s violent tendencies cute, and I didn’t believe his transformation at the end. I kept wondering if Rebecca wasn’t going to eventually trade a controlling father for an equally controlling husband. That said, I have to admit that there was a point where I expected a big misunderstanding to arise that would have shown up in another book, but Adam doesn’t go there. This doesn’t redeem him at all in my eyes, but it does raise the grade a little.

The secondary characters were about what you’d expect in a western. Rebecca’s BFF is a former women’s libber turned horrible cook and was the heroine in an earlier book, which I have no intention of reading. There are the whores, who all have hearts of shiny, shiny gold and are pretty and sweet despite the ravages of their profession. One of them even gets to get married and be all respectable. Then there’s the requisite strawman uber-Christian, and it’s a testament to… something… that this feminist, agnostic reader found her even more offensive than the former women’s libber turned housewife. Oh, and the women’s libber and the Christian hate each other and at one point get into a literal catfight. Boy, aren’t those uppity women cute?

The plot is fairly standard. Everything happens about like you’d expect from the beginning to the end. The aforementioned aversion of the Big Misunderstanding was the only real surprise here. Even the sex is a little boring, and felt more paint by numbers than actually passionate.

I don’t know. Maybe my sense of humor and Ms. Stacey’s just don’t mesh. I got the feeling this book was supposed to be a laugh riot. But I don’t find broad stereotypes amusing, and I don’t particularly like reading subtle misogyny in my books. I did like the heroine, and I wonder if maybe something more contemporary by Ms. Stacey would suit me better. But this book? Not so much.

Grade: D+

Summary:
A sheriff with a stone-cold reputation. An innocent madam hell-bent on disturbing his peace. Who will be the first to give in?

Rebecca Hamilton passed through life as bland as biscuits—until the day she buried her father and fled out West with a fortune in stolen jewelry. She arrives in Gardiner, Texas to find her aunt has bequeathed to her the only whorehouse in town.

With no other prospects except a proposal from a tall, dark stranger wearing a badge, Rebecca decides to embrace her vibrant aunt’s legacy and never again live under the thumb of an overbearing man.

After years of cultivating a reputation as a ruthless lawman, Adam Caldwell can’t believe he’s offered to marry the quiet, rather plain new madam. Even more perplexing is the fact she turns him down, choosing instead to become a sass-talkin’, sashay-walkin’ vision in feathers and lace.

With an innocent madam wanting him to teach her to be as wicked as she looks and rowdy townsfolk split over the scandal, the sheriff figures his cup of troubles is about full. But a man from Rebecca’s past catches up with her, and Adam has to decide just how much he’s willing to sacrifice for the woman who refuses to give up on becoming Miss Becky.

Warning: This book contains some brawlin’, some cussin’, and the kind of wanton lovin’ that brings a man to his knees.

Read an excerpt.