Friday

Hero Wanted by Betina Krahn

March 12, 2021
Great Start…but
 
https://betinakrahn.com/
Hero Wanted caught my attention right at the very beginning of the story. Our hero and heroine are already engaged, but it seems they don’t care too much for each other. The story begins with Lauren Alcott and Rafe Townsend in a row boat. All of a sudden, they hear screams. Nearby are two women struggling in the water. Rafe refuses to rescue the women. Lauren stands up, strips off most of her clothes, dives into the water and saves the women. Rafe is outraged at his fiancée stripping off her clothing and diving into the water. But that’s nothing compared to when she is standing in front of him in wet clinging clothes. Her clothes are almost transparent. He can see almost everything. How dare she! Not that he has any interest in her, or her luscious body. Lauren is upset as well, she calls Rafe a coward. She breaks the engagement and storms off. And, that’s just dandy with him.

Little do they know that all of this was viewed by a reporter. The reporter has been looking for a big break, and he believes he has just witnessed his chance. He adds a few embellishments, even goes so far as to name Lauren, the Angel of the River. He reports what he’s seen. Of course, Rafe and Lauren’s reputations are in ruin, and their fathers are enraged. It seems that their fathers are trying to join their businesses together. Now their children have ruined their business deal. They are not happy campers. Back to the drawing board.

In order to fool the public, and make their fathers happy, Rafe and Lauren pretend to still be engaged. This requires that they spend a lot of time together.  I was excited! “Here comes the fun”, I thought. I rubbed my hands together in glee. Then they are kidnapped!!! Oh noooo! Not ye olde kidnapping plot! This was the point in the story in which I got lost. Yes, my little Petunia’s, I was reading another story that had tooooo much going on.

They are kidnapped not once, but twice. The sailors who kidnap them are not nice, so Lauren and Rafe burn the ship down. Lauren and Rafe rescue a starving street kid, get involved in a riot, have the reporter following them around…plus they have their fathers to contend with. It could have made for a fun screw-ball comedy book, but the narrative became filled with family business…in great detail. It was all very tedious. If only the business details hadn’t been added to the book. Lauren and Rafe could have been a great couple. They were getting in and out of trouble. There were some great secondary bad guys, even the reporter was interesting. But the business detail was mind numbing.

Sorry to say, I was disappointed in this story. In fact, I believe I was more disappointed in this story because it had such a great start. Hero Wanted could have been a fun story. If only allll the tiresome business dealings had been left out. Sorry to say, I am unable to recommend Hero Wanted. 
 
Time/Place:; 1880 England
Sensuality: Warm/Hot 


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