Venus Press, $2.98
Contemporary Romance, 2005
I notice that this erotic contemporary short story isn’t assigned an ISBN number. That isn’t good when it comes to shelving and bibliographic listing, is it?
Anyway, this is a short story by Pamela Downs. Son of a Preacher Man is an apt title for this book because the hero in question, Desiderio McNaughton, is indeed the son of a preacher man. He is also a Harley-riding guy with tattoos on his arms. Surprisingly, Desi here doesn’t have any bad blood with his father stemming from his name, although he is the black sheep of his family. With a name like Desi, I’m not surprised at how he turned out. Kids can be cruel.
Our heroine Bianca is looking for Desi’s father for a reason I won’t reveal here (you can, of course, read the synopsis in the publisher’s website because it kindly enough gives away the twist at the end of the story). She meets Desi instead and since this is a sexy romance, it’s safe to say that Bianca will be having the time of her life looking for the preacher man.
Since this is a short story, saying anything about the characterization is like calling Elmer Fudd on his speaking skills. However, even with its short length, this story confounds me because Bianca’s characterization is inconsistent. She starts off like a complete Bible belt bumpkin barely cognizant with sexuality but as the story unfurls, Ms Downs wants me to realize that Bianca isn’t who she seems to be at first. However, the execution is uneven. For example, Bianca goes from gaping in bewilderment at the thought of sexy clothes to asking Desi why he won’t make love to her, wondering whether he has any condoms. There are two polar extremities in Bianca’s characterization and the author just hops from Point A to Point Z without any smooth transition in the process. A UFO capturing the real Bianca and replacing her with a horny clone will be a more logical that the plot twist towards the end. Not that I’m saying the plot twist is ridiculous. It isn’t, provided that the heroine in question comes off as more realistically drawn.
The sex isn’t as hot as I expected from an erotic contemporary line. Still, for a quick and breezy read, this book will do, I suppose, as long as I’m not too fussy about how much I expect to be entertained by the story. This Son of a Preacher Man doesn’t come close to reaching me, much less be the only one to do so.
