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A review by thelilbookwitch
An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole
4.0
Full review [here].
Set during the Civl War, Elle Burns is on a mission to collect important information by trading in her freedom to work as a slave in a Confederate Senator’s estate. Her photographic memory and keen detective skills have set her apart and made her work invaluable, but she is unprepared for Malcolm McCall. Another spy infiltrating the manor, his easy manner and disarming charms win him the affections of the senator’s daughter easily, if only a certain Elle Burns wasn’t on his mind all the time… As their attraction for each grows, so does the threat of violence against the Union as plans are put into motion that could tear apart the nation. Malcolm and Elle must make dangerous decisions that risk everything, even losing each other, to preserve the Union at any cost.
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It’s not a coincidence that I've picked another romance novel written by Alyssa Cole.
I’ve tried reading other romance authors, and while I loved Helen Hoang’s The Bride Test and (next on my list) The Kiss Quotient, there’s just not enough material from her yet to satisfy the needy bits of my heart. Christina Lauren fell flat for me in the sex department of Romance in The Unhoneymooners,so I’m hesitant to try them again. I have a few other authors on my Kindle I’m going to try, and I’ll probably review them at some point, but back to Alyssa Cole!
Honestly, I was not prepared for this book. I’ve gotten used to the gentle escapism that’s in her Reluctant Royals series, which if you haven’t read A Princess in Theory yet, go do the thing.
An Extraordinary Union feels like a masterclass in romance.
In such a short time I cared so much about these characters, and Cole’s plot pacing had my heart racing. She did an excellent job balancing the spying portions of the novel with the romantic, and I found myself-while excited- not wanting to skip ahead to rid myself of the tension during suspenseful passages. The stakes were so much higher in this book when compared to her others, and I even found myself getting emotional towards the end. Not that other parts of the book didn’t illicit reactions from me either (see my full review for my Kindle notes and reactions), especially since this is set in the south during the Civil War.
Honestly, Susie Caffrey gets my vote for being The Worst in the entire book (her father a close second), but seldom few -if any- white people get a pass. Even Malcolm grows and isn’t a shining pillar of woke-ness. At times he feels a little White Knight-ish, but honestly?? I’ll take it because his introspection and multiple reckonings and realizations of the inherent power dynamics at play in their relationship show him willingly perform emotional labor, and that's its own kind of sexy.
Elle often functions as a vessel for viewing and critiquing slavery and its manifest psychological impacts that go deeper than what the superficial attempts of the American education system tries to explain. The relationships, dark and twisted as they are, between master and slave, as well as the varying degrees of a master’s “kindness” are laid bare and questioned in this book, even if internally, by Elle.
The smuttiness of the book didn’t leave me wanting, and I think there were more intimate scenes in this novel than in her latest contemporary ones. The drawback of that being with more scenes there was less build up to get to them, and the build up is so important. This didn't come off as too contrived though, but only just barely which is what knocked it down to 4 stars.
Overall, if you like historical romance and are looking for unique characters and a compelling plot, not to mention quality smut, try An Extraordinary Union. I took my time with it, but it could easily be read in a day.
Important notes:
1) I initially held off reading this book was because I was worried, by having it set in the Civil War with a black female protagonist, I’d also have to read sexual abuse. And while it’s mentioned, because Cole doesn’t try to rewrite history only write historical fiction (a key difference), I was pleasantly surprised and relieved I didn’t have to go through with reading about it in detail. So if you can stomach rape-y insinuations, you should be fine to read this book.
2) While the race of the characters is factor, just like in her other books featuring paramours of differing backgrounds, she doesn’t fetishize them for it. So if that’s the kind of smut you’re looking for, this isn’t the book for you.
Set during the Civl War, Elle Burns is on a mission to collect important information by trading in her freedom to work as a slave in a Confederate Senator’s estate. Her photographic memory and keen detective skills have set her apart and made her work invaluable, but she is unprepared for Malcolm McCall. Another spy infiltrating the manor, his easy manner and disarming charms win him the affections of the senator’s daughter easily, if only a certain Elle Burns wasn’t on his mind all the time… As their attraction for each grows, so does the threat of violence against the Union as plans are put into motion that could tear apart the nation. Malcolm and Elle must make dangerous decisions that risk everything, even losing each other, to preserve the Union at any cost.
-----------
It’s not a coincidence that I've picked another romance novel written by Alyssa Cole.
I’ve tried reading other romance authors, and while I loved Helen Hoang’s The Bride Test and (next on my list) The Kiss Quotient, there’s just not enough material from her yet to satisfy the needy bits of my heart. Christina Lauren fell flat for me in the sex department of Romance in The Unhoneymooners,so I’m hesitant to try them again. I have a few other authors on my Kindle I’m going to try, and I’ll probably review them at some point, but back to Alyssa Cole!
Honestly, I was not prepared for this book. I’ve gotten used to the gentle escapism that’s in her Reluctant Royals series, which if you haven’t read A Princess in Theory yet, go do the thing.
An Extraordinary Union feels like a masterclass in romance.
In such a short time I cared so much about these characters, and Cole’s plot pacing had my heart racing. She did an excellent job balancing the spying portions of the novel with the romantic, and I found myself-while excited- not wanting to skip ahead to rid myself of the tension during suspenseful passages. The stakes were so much higher in this book when compared to her others, and I even found myself getting emotional towards the end. Not that other parts of the book didn’t illicit reactions from me either (see my full review for my Kindle notes and reactions), especially since this is set in the south during the Civil War.
Honestly, Susie Caffrey gets my vote for being The Worst in the entire book (her father a close second), but seldom few -if any- white people get a pass. Even Malcolm grows and isn’t a shining pillar of woke-ness. At times he feels a little White Knight-ish, but honestly?? I’ll take it because his introspection and multiple reckonings and realizations of the inherent power dynamics at play in their relationship show him willingly perform emotional labor, and that's its own kind of sexy.
Elle often functions as a vessel for viewing and critiquing slavery and its manifest psychological impacts that go deeper than what the superficial attempts of the American education system tries to explain. The relationships, dark and twisted as they are, between master and slave, as well as the varying degrees of a master’s “kindness” are laid bare and questioned in this book, even if internally, by Elle.
The smuttiness of the book didn’t leave me wanting, and I think there were more intimate scenes in this novel than in her latest contemporary ones. The drawback of that being with more scenes there was less build up to get to them, and the build up is so important. This didn't come off as too contrived though, but only just barely which is what knocked it down to 4 stars.
Overall, if you like historical romance and are looking for unique characters and a compelling plot, not to mention quality smut, try An Extraordinary Union. I took my time with it, but it could easily be read in a day.
Important notes:
1) I initially held off reading this book was because I was worried, by having it set in the Civil War with a black female protagonist, I’d also have to read sexual abuse. And while it’s mentioned, because Cole doesn’t try to rewrite history only write historical fiction (a key difference), I was pleasantly surprised and relieved I didn’t have to go through with reading about it in detail. So if you can stomach rape-y insinuations, you should be fine to read this book.
2) While the race of the characters is factor, just like in her other books featuring paramours of differing backgrounds, she doesn’t fetishize them for it. So if that’s the kind of smut you’re looking for, this isn’t the book for you.