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A review by papercranestitches
Pulling Leather by L.C. Chase
3.0
It's been a year and a half since I finished Book 2 in L.C. Chase's Pickup Men series. I really enjoyed the writing and the characters and the smexy love scenes in [b:Let it Ride|22036464|Let it Ride (Pickup Men, #2)|L.C. Chase|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1399173284s/22036464.jpg|41262963] (far more than I enjoyed the plot and characters in Book 1, quite frankly), but once I learned that Scott Gillard was going to be the main character in Pulling Leather, I was turned way, way off this series.
So much so that I honestly didn't plan on ever reading this book; I was just going to let this series sit unfinished on my TBR shelf until I finally got so sick of seeing it there that I deleted it in a fit of pique. For those of you that know me and my Type A soul, you'll understand that this would have caused me physical pain to do so, but...
Scott Gillard?
I just couldn't.
In case you've forgotten, Scott was the self-loathing leader of the homophobic asshole brigade in Pickup Men. He was the guy that hurled insults like this gem:
“Christ,” Scott bit out. “That fucking sissy and his fag stags are here. Ought to be a fucking law to keep them out.”
And this one:
“Oh, I get it.” His tone was low and menacing. “You got a thing for that yellow-bellied faggot.”
And then
This weekend, in a moment of weakness, I decided to give finishing this series one last shot. I would read a few pages and if I still found Scott irredeemable, then I'd toss the book and delete it from my TBR file guilt free.
But as I started to read Pulling Leather - a book told from Scott's perspective - his recollection of two years ago didn't jive with my angry memories of Book 1. I had to go back and read the relevant scenes to see if the author had pulled a fast one on me or if she had just realized how totally morally bankrupt and unlikable her character was and changed the narrative - established facts from the previous book be damned.
Turns out it was the first one and what I thought I knew had happened in Book 1 hadn't actually happened (kudos, Ms. Chase, you got me!). Scott was still a self-hating homophobic prick that had done and said horrendous stuff in the past, but he hadn't crossed the line of no return - at least as far as I am concerned (other readers may feel differently). Knowing this made reading this book and rooting for his redemption much easier.
In the end, Ms. Chase managed to make me feel sympathy towards a character I never expected to elicit that sort of response from me. This made me like the book. But the book had no sex, a cheesy and completely out of character grand gesture at the end, and a fairly realistic but less than satisfying 'HEA.' So, the book was good, but it wasn't great.
So much so that I honestly didn't plan on ever reading this book; I was just going to let this series sit unfinished on my TBR shelf until I finally got so sick of seeing it there that I deleted it in a fit of pique. For those of you that know me and my Type A soul, you'll understand that this would have caused me physical pain to do so, but...
Scott Gillard?
I just couldn't.
In case you've forgotten, Scott was the self-loathing leader of the homophobic asshole brigade in Pickup Men. He was the guy that hurled insults like this gem:
“Christ,” Scott bit out. “That fucking sissy and his fag stags are here. Ought to be a fucking law to keep them out.”
And this one:
“Oh, I get it.” His tone was low and menacing. “You got a thing for that yellow-bellied faggot.”
And then
Spoiler
Tripp - his friend, mind you - came out out of the closet and immediately went missing. He showed up a few days later beaten to shit and clinging to life in a nearby hospital and Scott was on the scene acting aggressive and shifty as fuck. I drew the conclusions that Chase wanted me to - and I hated Scott's guts. This man had crossed a line that there was no coming back from. His character was irredeemable and I wanted no part in reading about his happily ever after.This weekend, in a moment of weakness, I decided to give finishing this series one last shot. I would read a few pages and if I still found Scott irredeemable, then I'd toss the book and delete it from my TBR file guilt free.
But as I started to read Pulling Leather - a book told from Scott's perspective - his recollection of two years ago didn't jive with my angry memories of Book 1. I had to go back and read the relevant scenes to see if the author had pulled a fast one on me or if she had just realized how totally morally bankrupt and unlikable her character was and changed the narrative - established facts from the previous book be damned.
Turns out it was the first one and what I thought I knew had happened in Book 1 hadn't actually happened (kudos, Ms. Chase, you got me!). Scott was still a self-hating homophobic prick that had done and said horrendous stuff in the past, but he hadn't crossed the line of no return - at least as far as I am concerned (other readers may feel differently). Knowing this made reading this book and rooting for his redemption much easier.
In the end, Ms. Chase managed to make me feel sympathy towards a character I never expected to elicit that sort of response from me. This made me like the book. But the book had no sex, a cheesy and completely out of character grand gesture at the end, and a fairly realistic but less than satisfying 'HEA.' So, the book was good, but it wasn't great.