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A review by friends2lovers
Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
1.0
Well, it’s clear now that MacLean is an author I do not resonate with. It seems I had mistakenly attributed many of the things that bothered me about Wicked and the Wallflower to the narrator, when my issues lie with the writer.
The writing and dialogue are dull, repetitive, choppy, and hard to follow. There were several times a character said something and then instead of responding right away, the point-of-view character went off on a tangent to recall a relevant memory or think through their emotions. So by the time the POV character spoke, I’d forgotten what they were responding to and had to flip back and reread the last bit of dialogue. Frequently, extraneous inner thoughts are tacked on at the end of or in the middle of dialogue. All that plus an overuse of incomplete sentences made me sympathize with the difficult job of the audiobook narrator. Overall, the writing lacked a pleasing cadence and so the pacing seemed to drag.
In my review of Wicked and the Wallflower, I mentioned MacLean’s intent and failure to “pay homage to the working class.” Again, I don’t see how Brazen accomplishes this objective. Hattie’s main conflict for the entire book is whether or not she will inherit her father’s shipping business, which she thinks she’s earned simply by not being a complete fuckup like her brother. Rival capitalists fighting over who gets to own all the ships is not a working class-centered story arc. I think Romancelandia tends to wrongly define ‘working class’ as anyone who isn’t part of the titled aristocracy (in historicals); or anyone who isn’t a billionaire or doesn’t work in an office (in contemporaries). I'm tempted to expand on the depiction of class politics in romance novels, but I’ll save it for another time and place.
Everything I don’t like about #girlboss heroines is encompassed in the character of Hattie. Her characterization is limited to ‘curvaceous aspiring businesswoman’. Physical traits and goals alone don’t make a well-rounded and interesting character. In comparison to Devil in Spring's Pandora Ravenel, another business-minded historical romance heroine who’s not interested in marriage, Hattie is boring and one-dimensional. As much as I complained about Pandora's determination to become an entrepreneur, at least she had a personality and charisma.
Whit is a similarly flat character who fails to live up to his beastly reputation. Associating with Whit or being on his turf, Covent Garden, hardly ever poses a unique or exciting danger to Hattie except when his brother, Ewan, shows up. (And even then, nothing really happens!) So far, Ewan is the only character in this series with any apparent flaws or a willingness to live in the gray area; which almost makes me want to read Daring and the Duke, despite how disappointing the first two books have been. I’m genuinely curious to see how MacLean will redeem him.
Finally, what was up with all the ‘deals’ between Hattie and Whit? With the dialogue being so awkward and disjointed, I couldn’t keep up with what conditions must be met, who had fulfilled their end of the bargain, and what new deals had been struck. Deals are not inherently sexy or exciting—they have to be written into the plot in a sensible way! I stg if I ever read Daring and the Duke and Grace and Ewan start making deals with each other, I will dnf it so hard.
The writing and dialogue are dull, repetitive, choppy, and hard to follow. There were several times a character said something and then instead of responding right away, the point-of-view character went off on a tangent to recall a relevant memory or think through their emotions. So by the time the POV character spoke, I’d forgotten what they were responding to and had to flip back and reread the last bit of dialogue. Frequently, extraneous inner thoughts are tacked on at the end of or in the middle of dialogue. All that plus an overuse of incomplete sentences made me sympathize with the difficult job of the audiobook narrator. Overall, the writing lacked a pleasing cadence and so the pacing seemed to drag.
In my review of Wicked and the Wallflower, I mentioned MacLean’s intent and failure to “pay homage to the working class.” Again, I don’t see how Brazen accomplishes this objective. Hattie’s main conflict for the entire book is whether or not she will inherit her father’s shipping business, which she thinks she’s earned simply by not being a complete fuckup like her brother. Rival capitalists fighting over who gets to own all the ships is not a working class-centered story arc. I think Romancelandia tends to wrongly define ‘working class’ as anyone who isn’t part of the titled aristocracy (in historicals); or anyone who isn’t a billionaire or doesn’t work in an office (in contemporaries). I'm tempted to expand on the depiction of class politics in romance novels, but I’ll save it for another time and place.
Everything I don’t like about #girlboss heroines is encompassed in the character of Hattie. Her characterization is limited to ‘curvaceous aspiring businesswoman’. Physical traits and goals alone don’t make a well-rounded and interesting character. In comparison to Devil in Spring's Pandora Ravenel, another business-minded historical romance heroine who’s not interested in marriage, Hattie is boring and one-dimensional. As much as I complained about Pandora's determination to become an entrepreneur, at least she had a personality and charisma.
Whit is a similarly flat character who fails to live up to his beastly reputation. Associating with Whit or being on his turf, Covent Garden, hardly ever poses a unique or exciting danger to Hattie except when his brother, Ewan, shows up. (And even then, nothing really happens!) So far, Ewan is the only character in this series with any apparent flaws or a willingness to live in the gray area; which almost makes me want to read Daring and the Duke, despite how disappointing the first two books have been. I’m genuinely curious to see how MacLean will redeem him.
Finally, what was up with all the ‘deals’ between Hattie and Whit? With the dialogue being so awkward and disjointed, I couldn’t keep up with what conditions must be met, who had fulfilled their end of the bargain, and what new deals had been struck. Deals are not inherently sexy or exciting—they have to be written into the plot in a sensible way! I stg if I ever read Daring and the Duke and Grace and Ewan start making deals with each other, I will dnf it so hard.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content