Photographers | 3.17.23
These couples have VISION
Photographers are a natural fit for a romance, given it’s a very visual art form that can be used in obvious sexy ways as well as revealing (eyy) character ways. As such, there’s a lot of books out there (some of which I’ve recommended before, like Delilah Green Doesn’t Care!) with photographers or photography at the center. This week, I tried to bring you three arguably very different books that have that one thing in common, because each uses the art of capturing a visual still differently in their plots and character journeys, and I thought that was neat!
The Accidental Pinup by Danielle Jackson. Cassie is a photographer who owns a boudoir studio where she specializes in modernizing and twisting up classic pinup photography, but she dreams of even more. So when her best friend Dana, a plus size model, advocates for her as the photographer for her new lingerie line, everything seems to be lining up Cassie. That is, until Dana’s pregnancy complications make it so she’s unable to model her own clothes, so she throws another wrench in the plans by suggesting Cassie, herself a gorgeous plus-sized woman, models instead. Which means they have to accept another photographer for the line (though Cassie insists she remain involved as the artistic director, because modeling is not her passion but photography is!). Enter: Reid Montgomery, her longtime competitor for bigger campaigns. What a jerk! Or… is he?
I do think this book falls into similar traps I’ve seen recently with contemporaries dealing with representation or social justice, having to somewhat over explain fairly commonplace aspects of that world so that folks less familiar with the vocabulary aren’t lost. Things like over explaining microaggressions and racial/gender workplace disparities. I’m glad it’s there for folks who may only be learning about these things from allegedly “fluffy” reading, but personally I would have a better time reading if I wasn’t being spoon fed social justice language and talking points and rather just got to experience them.
That being said, the conclusion of this book, with Reid acknowledging his privilege and validating Cassie’s passions and aspirations without belittling her or white-knighting, was extremely satisfying, and the book as a whole (including the prose) was a delight. More from Danielle Jackson now, please!
Rating: 4/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥
Portrait of a Scotsman by Evie Dunmore. Buckle up, this is a long one. The third in this series (Book 1 was featured in the very first Forced Proximity newsletter!), and my least favorite so far, but don’t hold that against this book just yet! Or do. Whatever. It’s all relative, because this series as a whole is one of my favorite historical series and I love Evie Dunmore’s characters and prose. I just don’t love these specific characters much, and that might be a little bit of the point. Let’s go into the recap now and you’ll see what I mean. Spoiler alerts ahead, because they’re vital to understanding my less-than-glowing review, if you care about that sort of thing in romance:
Hattie Greenfield, for the first two books of this series, has been a game but flighty, spoiled, and sheltered member of the women’s liberation movement she’s a member of. She’s a talented artist from an extremely rich family with aspirations of social justice in spite of her family’s disapproval, and when she finds herself lowkey manipulated into a compromising position with a famously taciturn and dangerous businessman, she believes her life to truly be over. Lucian Blackstone might be the richest man in London now, but the allegedly black-hearted Scotsman grew up in extreme poverty and marrying into the peerage with Hattie (the daughter of one of his business rivals) was meant to secure his long-term political plans. Those get complicated when he finds himself kind of falling for the spoiled, romantically-inclined Hattie, though, making him want to behave better than he had been for so long.
The photography part of this book exists mostly in the back half. Soon after their marriage, Lucian (who won’t touch Hattie until she’s ready, and she pretty emphatically tells him she never will be since he tricked her into compromising herself, though she was no passive miss in the situation if we’re being honest) drags Hattie to Scotland with him to oversee a new mining operation he’s purchased, and she realizes he’s more than he seems. His tragic backstory involves a mismanaged mine, and now as a rich man he purchases mines from worse owners and tries to improve conditions for the communities who depend on them. Hattie wants to help, and uses the brand new technology of photography to do so, taking portraits of the people in these communities (and their hands) to use in an art installation to garner financial support from wealthy city people who don’t know the conditions. Lucian assumes she’s being silly, but it turns out he has as much to learn about how art can move people as Hattie has to learn about poorer communities.
Spoilers below
Ok, so now for the spoiler aspects: when these two eventually get together (there’s some pretty hot stuff in here, so props for that, book I begrudgingly respect because I love the author and the rest of the series so much) and then inevitably fall apart, Hattie leaves Scotland in the middle of her promised portrait series. Yes, she eventually finishes it and it’s a big deal yadda yadda, but as a result of a private lover’s dispute she abandons her activism for months, and some of the people she’s advocating for, in such a dangerous profession, don’t have months to spare for her hurt feelings. That just rubbed me such the wrong way. Did I love the way this book forced a spoiled rich activist to confront intersectionality, and how not all people can be served through the same activist means due to circumstance? Yes! Intersectionality, hell yes! This book, incidentally, does a much better job of weaving social justice concepts and language into the narrative without acting like the reader lives under a rock, for what it’s worth. But Hattie is SO FUCKING ANNOYING for SO MUCH of the book. I can’t with a brat, I just can’t. I’ve also read this book three times already so my convictions are torn to say the least, because it’s a vital step in this series that I love and because book 4 comes out in 2023 and if you like this series, read this book, otherwise I have a hard time recommending a book with a heroine I don’t really respect all that much.
Rating: 3.5/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Beautiful Stranger by Christina Lauren. Book 2 of Christina Lauren’s first series! The first of which had its origins as Twilight fan fiction! That book (Beautiful Bastard) will come up later, because while it’s far from what I’ve come to expect from a great Christina Lauren book being their first, I’m kind of obsessed with it. But that’s not what we’re here to talk about today! We’re here to talk about the sexcapades of Sara Dillon (finance whiz, department store heiress, recent ex of a cheating politician) and Max Stella (renowned rake with a British accent, investment something or other person) as they have naughty public sex all over New York City.
Let’s take a step back for a second: Sara is fresh (like, weeks fresh) off her long-term relationship with a guy who fundamentally broke her trust at every level but who demanded poise and perfection from her constantly for his political aspirations. She meets Max at a club her first week in NYC and because Sara wants to shake off the shackles of her former life, they have a passionate public embrace (to completion wink) and then part. But it turns out, because of course it does, that Max knows Sara’s boss (also her BFF’s BF, our Edward Cullen from book 1) and he recognizes her at the office. Sara isn’t ready for a relationship, Max doesn’t do relationships, but Sara recognizes that Max might be the perfect guy to explore this new exhibitionist kink that feels natural and also completely at odds for wanting a break from the public eye. Psychology is complicated, ok? So Max takes the reigns for her exploration and leads her around the city for a series of experimental sexual meetups with no expectations, no cuddling, and minimal talking, which eventually leads to them really enjoying the process of taking intimate photos during their evenings together in an act of total trust (that will lead to the dark night of the soul kind of, but will also be the way they find their way through) that proves this is more than just sex.
This book (and this series as a whole) is more erotica than romance, I’d argue, though it’s a blurry line to be sure. I found this book as fascinating and heartwarming as I did sexy, and it’s surprisingly nuanced for a book that has like a bonkers sex scene every other chapter. There’s one in the NY Public Library archives!
Rating: 4/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Next week, I’ll be recommending books with kickass heroines.
What should I be reading next? Let me know in the comments!