The second novella in the Halifax Hellions series and another strong entry. Stuns me that Vasti gave these out for free, but what a way to whet our appetites for a full length novel.
Plot: If you recall from the first novella, according to her sister Margo, Matilda had been basically abducted by an old man who had murdered his previous wife to be (forcibly?) married, then tortured at his distant Northern estate until death. Yikes. Now we get Matilda’s version. We find out that he’s a 38 year old hottie that she’s been lusting after so thoroughly she drew porn with him in it and then sold it to a magazine. The scandal of which led to his sister’s art teacher quitting and him being unable to find another one. So Matilda, clearly an accomplished artist, and a perennial Fixer, insisted on going with him as her new art teacher. Which is good, since he’s not at all interested in anything else about her and hasn’t kept her sexy drawings of them or her letters and has definitely thought about other things since they met. Shenanigans ensue.
Vasti writes a rollicking good fun is what she does. I listened to the audiobook at x1.5 speed, not because I was trying to get to the end, but because the frantic pace seemed to fit the narrative beautifully. There’s a momentum to these novellas that is hard to maintain, even over a shorter story, but she manages it wonderfully.
Going into this book, I was wondering if the novella format would be limiting. In the first book, Margo and Henry had known each other for half their lives, and Henry had already been pining for YEARS. Here, Matilda and Christian are complete strangers before the book starts, so it’s a lot more ground to cover for their story to be satisfying. What I think Vasti has figured out is that if you have characters that are naturally very compatible and communicative, so long as you’re not throwing up a full length book’s worth of obstacles in their way, they can find a stable sort of love much more efficiently. They’re both looking for family, stability, laughter, and compatible kinks. And they found that in each other.
People are calling this a May/Dec romance. She’s 25 and THE DUDE ISN’T EVEN 40. Offence taken. Their differing levels of experience are much more easily ascribed to their gender and the time period rather than their time on the planet.
And yes, there is falling in love through correspondence. I know you people love that shit.
It is hinted at in the title that this is going to be something of a BDSM story. Honestly, if you’re going in expecting that, you’re going to be disappointed. It sounds like he’s mostly played at the shallow end of that pool and she’s mostly just aware that she likes the concept so they’re really trying stuff out together to see what they like without judgement – which is the way it should be regardless of the label you put on it. The most intense BDSM act is light bondage, so take that as you will.
Content warnings: sexual harassment (described gently, no violence actual or implied), not being believed about sexual harassment, violent spousal death, abandonment (mostly social, not familial). Vasti is very much not here to poke at people’s wounds – there is just enough going on to give the characters depth and no further.