Mckenna James, $0.99, ISBN 979-8215938126
Contemporary Romance, 2022
According to the statement on the copyright page, Mckenna James’s Elvis was previously published as The Rescue in some Happily Ever After anthology. I’m not sure whether this edition had been expanded or revised, but I’m going with the latest copyright date for this review.
Don’t worry, Elvis isn’t the hero, it’s a Russell Terrier at our heroine Lake Shellbrook’s non-profit animal shelter in Las Vegas. Yes, dogs to act cute and all. Luckily, I’m a dog person so I cringe just a little less than I normally would with such a premise.
Anyway, “non-profit” is just about right, as in the grand tradition of romance heroines demonstrating that they are better off in the kitchen than balancing account books, our darling heroine is strapped for cash. Lake Shall Be Broke has a weekend job to help pay the bills of the animal shelter, but because alas, it is only romantic if a hero walked in to wave around the cash that she needs.
That guy is Asher Morgan Chase. Just from that name alone it’s obvious that he is loaded with money.
In fact, when Lake finds his wallet, it contains around a thousand dollars in there. I’m not sure why he is carrying so much cash—was he on his way to procure some truly happy powder or pills from some dealer on the streets? Still, our heroine is an honest person, and instead of pocketing the cash, she calls him up and lets him know that she has his wallet.
The predictable song and dance follows. She doesn’t want a reward for returning his wallet, and she even acts like the idea of Asher buying her nice things is an affront to her sensitivities. Because of this, he is flustered and charmed because, oh, here is a thoroughly honest and scrupulous woman that clearly doesn’t want him for his money, so he’s in love.
Look, I get it. We all want a fantasy of a billionaire marrying a pathetic broke-ass simpleton because we could use such a guy ourselves in our broke-ass existence. It’s the fantasy that has kept the genre going for ages, and it’s a nice fantasy if I may say so myself.
However, there is that and then there is the author laying it so thick as the heroine ends up being a complete nitwit with a lead-soaked brain for acting like she actively wants to be poor and suffer because of… plot? The author worried that readers will hate Lake should the heroine dares to show even a small interest in wanting more money?
Meanwhile, other women are portrayed as skanks that care too much about their appearance like it’s a bad thing.
Anyway, this one is a competently put together read, with dialogues that flow well and a welcome lack of sequel baits hogging the scenery.
However, the hero and the heroine are both too much of a one-dimensional stereotype designed to drive home this perplexing message that the only woman worthy of love is one that is content to wallow in poverty while actively rejecting opportunities to get free money as well as is hot and sexy without taking pains to doll up.
Don’t get me started as well about how romance only works if the hero had bags and bags of money to elevate the heroine into a life of genteel indolence, but the heroine is not allowed to acknowledge that the hero’s wealth is part of the appeal—the same appeal that is designed to cater to romance readers.
The whole thing feels so needlessly hypocritical and disingenuous, especially for a short story. Can I just have a straightforward romance story without all this unnecessary baggage?
