C+
Genre: Paranormal, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Theme: Age Difference, Mistaken/False Identity
Archetype: Billionaire
I adored this book because of the heroine but I also had some serious problems with it. It pains me to say that although this book was fun, funny, sexy, entertaining, and has a heroine whom I adore, it was also problematic in its Gay Best Friend stereotype and the ending was rushed.
The heroine of this book is a 46-year-old divorcee named Greer, a superheroine who has hot flashes due to early-onset menopause and an arthritic knee that gives her trouble on stairs and bad landings. I cannot tell you how much I identified with this woman. I’ll raise her several arthritic body parts, but basically as a 47-year-old with arthritis and hot flashes I felt her pain every time she landed on the knee wrong or had to fan herself.
Greer, like most other superheroes, works for the government. She has a young (mid-twenties) trainee named Bryn and an implant that allows her tech support person, Rio, to contact her at any time with news of the latest crisis. She gets a small salary and has to wear a uniform, which she hates, because the cape itches the back of her neck and outfit gives her wedgies. Greer is supposed to investigate billionaire Killian Morgan, who has a mysterious lead-lined basement and might be up to no good. But this is difficult for Greer, because Killian is absolutely smoking hot and constantly flirty. Commence romance.
I loved reading a romance, a superhero romance at that, with a middle-aged heroine who is not in perfect shape or perfect health and who is financially struggling. Greer felt very real to me in her physical self, her insecurities, her values, and her desire to be simultaneously valued as intelligent and capable and also to be physically and emotionally nurtured. I also loved her cursing, her grumpiness, and her unabashed sexual interest in Killian.
I especially adored her relationship with her mother, Ivy, who has Alzheimer’s and veers between complete lucidity and complete confusion. Her mom is portrayed as a real, fleshed out character, not a prop to add pathos to Greer’s life, and I appreciated that.
While my love for Greer knows no bounds, Killian is more uneven, and his part of the story doesn’t measure up to Greer’s. Killian is perfect in his desire and ability to provide Greer with the kind of comfort and care that she craves, like when he stays at her house and wakes her up every two hours on doctor’s orders because she has a concussion – a pretty basic level of care that Greer has clearly never experienced (her ex was a real dirtbag).
Then there’s Killian’s first date with Greer. Without spoiling the details, Killian sets up a relaxing, low-key, non-pretentious date designed to make her feel comfortable and happy. When Greer thanks him for going to all the trouble, he says,
“It wasn’t any trouble,” he insisted. “I just listened to what you wanted and gave it to you.”
Be still, my heart.
Throughout, Killian does truly thoughtful things for Greer and is horrified when Greer gives him extra points for meeting minimum standards. His admiration for her and his insistence that she deserves to be treated well makes him a fantastic romance hero.
But you guys, it’s really, really obvious that Killian has a deep and horrible secret, and when this secret is revealed (it can’t possibly be a spoiler to say this, because he has “SECRET” practically tattooed across his face) he is let off the hook SO easily. WAY too easily. Because of this, the resolution felt rushed and unearned.
The other problem I had is that of representation. The only person of color in the book is Rio, who is a Gay Best Friend. Rio is a strong personality but he is literally almost always invisible (we hear him talk to Greer through her implant). I’ll be charmed as hell if Rio gets his own romance, but for now, his function is to be the same Gay Best Friend that we saw in every movie in the 1990s – supportive, matchmaking, funny, loyal, and with no plot of his own.
One might say much the same about Ivy, Greer’s mother, but while Ivy doesn’t have her own plot arc she does have an active interest in the world around her other than what’s happening with her daughter. During her lucid moments, she regales Greer with tales of all the happenings at her nursing home and when not lucid she takes an interest in whatever reality she thinks she’s in. I spent much less time with Ivy than with Rio but I knew more about Ivy’s life and interests than Rio’s. His life appears to revolve entirely around Greer’s. Giving the one gay character and the one character of color such an underdeveloped role is a massive disservice to the individual and to the marginalized groups represented.
It’s a shame the parts that were so extraordinary and wonderful were overshadowed by the parts that were very much not. While reading, I was swept up in the plot and also revelling in recognizing aspects of my own middle-aged self on the page. If the hero’s arc had been more earned, and the representation I so delighted in (menopausal women FTW!) extended to more people, this book would have felt like perfection.
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Generally I’ve DNF’d every book I have tried to read that features a heroine in her forties. In theory, having entered my forties this year I should identity with these heroines but I don’t. I can’t figure out why, but my main theory is that the fact the character is older is brought up every FIVE minutes. At first the jokes about the menopause, creaky joints and greying hairs warrant a chuckle or two. However, get five chapters in and they’re still going! Every other character in it has to point out that the heroine is getting older and it really starts to grate.
I get it, I’m not young! But these books make me feel old. Look, don’t stop writing about older heroines having adventures but try to develop the plot beyond menopause jokes, please.
I agree that the gay best friend stereotype should die.
I guess I want to vent about the age thing. You are as old as you feel so if you feel old at 40, I don’t want to shame you. And, let’s face it, the machinery can start winding down at any age so sympathy on the aches and pains. I certainly have them myself.
However, forty is not all that old. You still have thirty to fifty percent of your life ahead of you as long as you avoid the Covid. Heck, my mom who is now 93 had a boyfriend until 2 years ago when he died at 96. She had her previous boyfriend poached by an elected official in her area when she was 86.
So, when a romance promises an older couple and they turn out to be in their 40s, I feel cheated. I want 60s or 70s. And don’t make age such an issue. Of course it will need to be addressed but not on every other page. And aches and pains, maybe mention once and then leave alone unless necessary for the plot. OTOH, it would be nice to see more preventive stuff: “I need a ride home after my colonoscopy” or “Do you mind stopping by the lab so I get my blood work done?”
I have been reading romance since I was ten, back in the 60s. I don’t mind reading about teens and college age romance; I enjoy a lot of YA and NA. I would also enjoy reading about people my age finding new love or renewed love as their lives begin to settle down.
@vicki, a 35-year-old here, i would also love to read romances of people in their 60s and up! that said, this book sounds interesting…*calculates how the holiday-reading fund is doing*
My Aunt Ollie married for the third time at 89, a true gentleman she met at their senior living facility. I’ll never forget the pale blue of her dress, the flowers she carried and wore in her hair. Theirs was a HEA.
I, too, would like to see characters in their 50s, 60s and 70s. I look at my active and vibrate SIL/BIL in their 70s, my siblings in their 80s and, honestly, they could be part of anyone’s idea of a real romance.
We (readers/authors) are so conditioned to gorgeous, perfect younger characters that we forget (a) no one is magazine model beautiful; (b) we don’t need microscopic detail about each character’s appearance because we can fill in any blanks we want; and (c) if we’re lucky, at this stage in our lives, we have the time, resources and experience to do things. We are more than our age. /rant
Having said that, I am still interested in CAPED AND DANGEROUS because parts of it sound fun. These days, I’ll take even a small amount of fun where I can find it. And except for Edna Mode, who doesn’t like a superhero with a cape?
@Vicki Have you read A Little Love by Amanda Prowse? I believe the MC is in her sixties and falls in love with a man around the same age. I read it a while ago so can’t recall the details but I enjoyed reading it.
For the record I don’t feel old at forty, maybe because I have a three year old daughter to run after. (Though after a whole day with her I sometimes feel my age!)
What everyone says about romance and marriage in this thread. One of my favorite celebrity couples, Michael McKean and Annette O’Toole, got together and married in their early fifties, and now they have a twenty-plus year marriage behind them. Love at any age is beautiful.
Sadly, C&D looks just meh.
There’s a Seasoned Romance Facebook group for readers who might be looking for older couples. I think they define seasoned as over 40, but some books discussed have couples older than that.
Also, aches and pains and mobility issues aren’t just the mark of old age. They’re also signs of both visible and invisible disabilities, so it really sucks to have them continually accompany a narrative of women being told they’re “now” old and that these signs of age are part of why they are either unique in a book or why the character’s clock is running out or all of the other stereotypes women face about worth and age. Because then we’re also tying worth to aches and pains and mobility issues, and trust me, disabled folks absolutely get told their worth in all sorts of microaggression-y ways on the daily.