Play Book Tag discussion

Chasing Cassandra - Kleypas
Audio performance by M.J.Wells
4 stars

The final Ravenel romance definitely has its moments. Cassandra is more than a little desperate to be the only unmarried Ravenel. She turned down five proposals in her first season, and despite an intense attraction, has also rejected the wealthy, handsome and somewhat strange Tom Severin. There are no surprises as to how this will end, but there are a few detours. Cassandra must cope with a bit of fat shaming, and even more disturbing, a near sexual assault. ” ‘Make no mistake, Kathleen continued heatedly, ….Men like that never take responsibility—they lash out, and then say someone else provoked them into doing it. ‘See what you made me do.’ But the choice is always theirs. They hurt and frighten others to make themselves feel powerful.”

Tom Severin spends most of the book struggling with his feelings. He doesn’t at all know what to do with them. At first, I thought this might be a 19th century look at a person on the Asperger Spectrum. Not exactly, but close enough. “ My goodness, do you take everything so literally?” “I’m an engineer.”

Desperation has him actually reading novels in an attempt to understand his own feelings. I laughed out loud at his analysis of 19th century literature. “Love is the worst thing that can happen to people in novels,” Tom protested. “What good did Heathcliff and all his passionate foaming at the mouth do for Cathy? …. And then there’s Jane Eyre, an otherwise sensible woman so dazzled by lovemaking, she didn’t happen to notice the scurrying of an arsonous madwoman overhead.

The entertainment value of this character moved this predictable book up a star just for the fun of it.