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A review by gillianw
Contraband Hearts by Alex Beecroft
2.0
2.5 stars
While the premise of this book had me intrigued when I first read the blurb, the story itself left me a little cold. I had initially thought this would be a great enemies to lovers book, but it lacks in any sort of chemistry between the two MCs. This was a huge letdown.
Uptight, by-the-book, Peregrine Dean could have been the perfect foil for the light-fingered, socially minded Tomas Quick. In fact, that should have been the catalyst for a great game of cat and mouse, with the UST ratcheting up with each encounter. Unfortunately, the author didn’t capitalize on that opportunity and the resulting relationship between the two men felt merely perfunctory. In fact, I would have been happier if they ended up as friends instead of lovers. It wouldn’t have been a romance, but there’s barely a romance here to begin with.
I had also been looking forward to reading a little bit about the challenges a young, career-minded black man would face in Cornwall in the 1700’s, especially one tasked with cleaning up corruption in a local Customs House. All we got, however, were clumsy investigations, repeated threats of slavery and several abductions. The fact that entire plot involves a white man (Tomas) constantly stepping in to save a black man (Perry) from the clutches of the bad guys, feels like a big misstep on the author’s part. This could have been written far better.
Sadly, this was a miss for me.
copy provided via Netgalley
While the premise of this book had me intrigued when I first read the blurb, the story itself left me a little cold. I had initially thought this would be a great enemies to lovers book, but it lacks in any sort of chemistry between the two MCs. This was a huge letdown.
Uptight, by-the-book, Peregrine Dean could have been the perfect foil for the light-fingered, socially minded Tomas Quick. In fact, that should have been the catalyst for a great game of cat and mouse, with the UST ratcheting up with each encounter. Unfortunately, the author didn’t capitalize on that opportunity and the resulting relationship between the two men felt merely perfunctory. In fact, I would have been happier if they ended up as friends instead of lovers. It wouldn’t have been a romance, but there’s barely a romance here to begin with.
I had also been looking forward to reading a little bit about the challenges a young, career-minded black man would face in Cornwall in the 1700’s, especially one tasked with cleaning up corruption in a local Customs House. All we got, however, were clumsy investigations, repeated threats of slavery and several abductions. The fact that entire plot involves a white man (Tomas) constantly stepping in to save a black man (Perry) from the clutches of the bad guys, feels like a big misstep on the author’s part. This could have been written far better.
Sadly, this was a miss for me.
copy provided via Netgalley