Starlight (The Christies #2) By Carrie Lofty
Historical Rommance
Ebook
June 26, 2012
Pocket
Reviewed by May
“But how have you managed to survive here? It’s dirty and poor and violent. Yet, you keep smiling. How?”
She grew quiet, making Alex wonder if he’d stepped past some invisible boundary. But she was still Polly, and that meant taking him by surprise. “You want to know the secret?”
“Is there one?”
“Of course. Otherwise I’d have gone made a long time ago.” She rested their twined hands on her stomach, looking up. “You make shields. A half a dozen or so. You stake them all around, all overlapped to keep out the pain and the disappointment. But you leave a tiny crack, right in the front. That’s for letting the happiness in.”
The head of her union and employee of Christie Textiles in Glasgow, Scotland Miss Polly Gowan is a fiery Scottish beauty. Unafraid to stand up for her family, friends, and the other struggling working folk of her neighborhood, she is determined to make a better life for all of them. Despite trouble with the police and being made a target, fighting for their rights is worth it to her. She has every intention of making the new boss “master” of the Textile factory see that treating the workers with respect and listening to the unions is the better way to go.
Unfortunately for her, she had not expected the exceptional specimen of manhood that is Alex Christie. The eldest child looks so much like his Da (who was born in Glasglow penniless, and rose up to make his own fortunes and build a huge empire), but he is much more interested in the study of astronomy and instructing his students back in the USA rather than getting into the family business. This father, widower, and now factory “master” wants nothing to do with this business, and is only working there for the next two years in an effort to make it profitable to protect his future with his son – and thereby earning his inheritance.
Yes, his father left the stipulation that each child must take on one of the Christie businesses (which he stipulated in his will) and make it profitable within two years, or inherit nothing. This is the premise of this series, and Starlight is the second novel following yet another of the Christie children. With each book, the timeline covers the same two years – though the siblings have little or no interaction with one another as they are each at their own corner of the globe.
I applaud Lofty not only for her rich, beautifully crafted way with words, but also for thinking outside the normal realm of romance reading and bringing in characters, locations, and situations we don’t normally see. As was the case in Flawless (book 1), we see extreme poverty and painful life situations that can’t just be fixed. You really get a good hard look at what it would have been like to be a worker in an urban area like Glasglow.
Lofty gives us struggles between owners (aka ‘masters’) and the workforce. Of profits vs fair living conditions and wages. She also weaves Alex’s despicable former father-in-law, union tensions and threat of labor strike, and the mystery of who is sabotaging the factories into this story. Not to mention a whole lot of smexy time.
Unfortunately what she doesn’t deliver is satisfaction. At no point did we ever see Alex actually do anything to ensure the success of the business. He just kind of blunders around, swinging fists and following around Polly like a lovesick puppy.
Not that I especially blame him – Polly was a completely self-confident, well spoken, amazing, and all around ass kicking (quite literally, when the need arose) woman. I loved that she never backed down, never considered apologizing for being a strong woman. Go Polly!
As great as she was to read about, I was deeply disappointed in how things just work out in this story, and how overall nothing surprising, interesting, or really noteworthy ever happens.
This is a romance novel, the happy ending is expected. But there was so much room to really develop rich characters and true connections here, and I think it was missed. Alex is Mr. Christie’s eldest and having read the novella that was released earlier this year I had some insights and had hoped to see more of Alex’s past, perhaps more insight into why he is the man that he is. The few glimpses we got early on like this one as he realizes just how much his father overcame made me wish for more:
Had his father been anyone other than stubborn, resourceful, dubiously immortal William Christie, work in a factory would’ve been his best opportunity. Otherwise, a life on the streets would’ve been brief and violent, leaving no more lasting impact than a strike of lightning. Instead, he had clawed free. This factory was only one example.
Pride welled in Alex’s chest. He had never quite put those pieces together.
I really wanted to know more about the how and why Alex came to be the man that he is. Yes, he’s very good and he likes to save damsels in distress. But he also has a raging temper and is good with his fists as well as having a very muscular physique. If he is so big and strapping, how? We’re told he is a school teacher, and an astronomer. What activities is he doing that he is bulging with muscle? What was his relationship with his father, and really why (aside from the fact that she kicks ass) does he love Polly?
More than that, why does Polly love him? Ok, he’s great sexually and is super good looking. Why else? The lack of Alex’s character development, the stand-off way that we see what’s happening and the utter lack of action on his end for fulfilling his part in earning his inheritance made him a weaker character for me.
We also had a very unique setting and characters from very different backgrounds, yet I never really felt like anything stood in their path. Alex Christie can be with whatever woman he damn well wants, that is that.
“More,” he rasped. “Give me more.”
“Yes, master.” She kissed him with matching ferocity.
He drove his fingers into her thick, damp curls. “Jesus, Polly. What the hell kind of man have you turned me into?”
“A dangerous one,” Polly whispered. “I like it.”
He chooses an incredibly beautiful irresistible woman, they fall deeply into lust with one another. If you like a story that continuously grinds to a halt to allow the main characters to grope and grind on one another, I strongly recommend this one. If you are like me and favor more plot twists and detail as well as character development to enrich your story, then I’m afraid this book at nearly 400pages long will disappoint.
The one last thing I will say is that Carrie Lofty is an amazing talent, and though she did not live up to the high expectations I have set for her with this novel, I anxiously await the next installment in this series (titled Diva – the peek at the first chapter has me on the edge of my seat!). It is my hope the next two books in the series will deliver the satisfying reading experience I’ve come to expect from her.
Rating: C+
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