Blaze (Braddock Black, #1)

by Susan Johnson

[Angie]

Although I find the cover a bit ridiculous, Blaze was a very pleasant surprise! While there are some phrases throughout that make it obvious this romance is old, the story itself didn't feel too dated to me. It's certainly not a bodice a ripper, and the heroine isn't some simpering maiden. Blaze is actually quite feisty and is often the one initiating sex with our dashing hero, Hazard. In fact, it's her attempted seduction of him that really gets their love story rolling.

Blaze starts out with a bit of a historical info-dump. I can honestly say that I was not expecting that at all. There is a lot of real history in the first several chapters and it really sets the tone for the political and social situation of the time. It's the height of the Gold Rush, and Hazard owns land that contains a few prosperous veins. Of course, there are money hungry people out there who will do anything to get that land and the gold within it. However, Hazard is not selling for anything. He's using that money to support his tribe, and he won't give that up, not even for the very tempting Blaze.

I actually kind of loved Blaze in places. It's long and detailed, so we really get a sense of the time, place, and the characters. It's obviously well researched, and there are end notes! There are end notes in a Historical Romance! Most of them have to do with Hazard's tribe, giving us extra details or context. I loved this, and I loved how Blaze actually makes an effort to be respectful of Hazard's people's customs and learn their language. She's a hostage, so she could have just made a huge fuss and disrespected everyone out of spite, but she doesn't.

What kept me from fully loving Blaze was just a few things. The first was that in the beginning (and during the fight at the end), Hazard calls Blaze a bitch a lot, or refers to her as a bitch in heat. I really did not like this. I get that he was mad about her trying to seduce his land away, but it made me cringe every time. Then their fight at the end was quite repetitive. It was several pages of the same argument over and over. Hazard simply wouldn't listen to anything she had to say, and then suddenly all was well again without him ever apologizing for treating her so poorly. Things also get a bit drawn out at the end. It was exciting, but I did feel like those last 30ish pages were just unnecessary.

In the end, I did enjoy Blaze quite a bit. I loved that it was set in America during the Gold Rush, because it added this sense of excitement that you simply can't get in a London ballroom. Blaze may have started off as a spoiled society miss, but she was never a typical lady, and I appreciated her owning her sexuality and not letting men run her. The end did leave me with a smile on my face, and I may pick up the next in the series to see what's in store for their first born.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.