Inevitable Seductions fulfills the “favorite” square on CBR17 Bingo.
CCJ is one of my favorite authors and this year I’ve given myself the soft goal of reading her entire backlist, which admittedly is a feat when this woman has written nearly 100 books! I’ve mostly been reading via audio, and a good chunk of her catalogue is available via hoopla. Inevitable Seductions is one of her new-to-me books and I’ve made it up to her 2016 releases, and read more than 30 of her books so far this year.
Inevitable Seductions follows Nubia Perry, a model turned TV and social media personality, and Stephen Foster, a former rugby player, who’ve been pushing at each other for almost a year, but Nubia refuses to give in. When they both find themselves in Argentina, the tension between them finally reaches a boiling point and they sleep together. From there we see them navigating what they’re looking for out of their relationship, Nubia’s career, an accidental pregnancy, and a reoccurrence of breast cancer.
I really loved the dynamic between Nubia and Steph and was very excited to see them get their story after seeing the tension between them in Inevitable Conclusions, which follows Nubia’s best friend, Kora. There’s a lot of sexual chemistry between them, and Nubia really didn’t want to be with another sports player because of the way her former fiancee left her six years ago when she was first diagnosed with cancer; she just cannot trust that he’ll stick around should the worst come to pass.
One of the things I love seeing throughout CCJ’s catalogue is the different ways she handles fertility. I’m not always in the right mood for the tropes, but I love that she is very frequently delving into topics of fertility and maternal mortality, especially through the lens of Black motherhood. She very frequently has Black doctors and talks about how that helps with Black pregnancy outcomes, as well as different experiences with infertility. With Inevitable Seductions in particular, I liked that this was a book where Nubia’s history with breast cancer came up as part of her concerns with getting pregnant, as well as how past treatment may impact her fertility – very real, important conversations to be had. Nubia is also someone who has always wanted to be a mother, but because she was living a carefree single life she wasn’t ready, or willing, to settle down with a man who may not be there to support her if her cancer came back or something else happened.
There is a late book breakup, but it’s also early enough that we see Steph put significant work into being better and showing Nubia that he is willing to put in the effort to make things work, together. I really felt their happy ending was earned and that they’re a couple that’s going to make it work long-term – which I know is the case because Nubia and Steph do show up in later books! Especially Behind the Scenes which follows Nubia’s nephew, Pierre.
Christina C Jones is definitely one of my favorite authors and she does so much with family, community, and friendship. I highly encourage checking out her books (and her catalogue is vast and varied enough that surely you’ll find something appealing!) and I’m so glad I’ve been giving myself this chance to delve into her backlist.