Sweet Mercy
Grade : B-

I was quite happily reading Sweet Mercy when something happened that made me throw my head back and groan. Three words: The condom breaks. In retrospect, the back cover copy and coy tagline ("A secret lies between them") on the front should have warned me, but I was still blindsided. The good news is, the book was enjoyable enough that I kept reading rather than setting the book down and going off to moan about being hit by yet another series romance gimmick.

The last time I saw the hero, Gamble Smith, he was acting like a jackass in Brashear's 2005 single-title Mercy, treating one of the book's three heroines like dirt before springing the unwelcome surprise on her that he was married. In the author's note, she admits that she didn't really think of him as a romance novel hero, and I would have to agree with her. I would have been just as happy never to encounter him again, and probably wouldn't have bought this book had I known he was the main character. But as she did in her previous Superromance, Forgiveness, the author demonstrates her skill at portraying a deeply flawed human being with empathy and making the reader feel for him.

Right away Brashear reveals that Gamble is actually a widower. His wife, who desperately wanted children, became pregnant despite the risk to her health. Both she and the child she carried died as a result. In the aftermath, he left the house he built for them in their Texas hometown to start a new life in New York, where he found some success as an artist. Still lost in his pain, he has no close relationships and hasn't been back to see his family in years. Then he receives word that his brother found a buyer for the house. To deal with that and to celebrate his mother's upcoming birthday, Gamble finally makes plans to return to Texas.

As soon as he steps off the plane, he learns that his mother was in a car accident the night before and is in the hospital in a coma. After spending the day at the hospital, he stumbles to a local bar to drown his sorrows. There he meets Jezebel Hart, the former exotic dancer running the place while the elderly owner is away. What he doesn't know is that Jezebel is the one who wants to buy his house. Never having had a family or home of her own, Jezebel is eager to put down roots and this small Texas town feels right. She fell in love with Honey Creek Cottage, the home Gamble built by hand for his wife, the moment she saw it. She doesn't know the obviously tormented man who came into the bar is the long-lost owner. They get to talking, find mutual comfort in each other, and spend the night together, both intending the encounter to be nothing more than a single night.

Of course, it ends up being more than that. First, after Gamble leaves, Jezebel discovers the condom broke and immediately begins to think about what it would be like to have a baby. She can't take a pregnancy test for several days to get an accurate result, and she figures there's no point in telling him until she knows for sure. What's more, when Gamble learns that the sexy Jezebel is the one who wants to buy the cottage, he immediately says no. He doesn't want someone like her in his perfect wife's home.

His distaste for Jezebel after he was perfectly willing to have sex with her is just one example of Gamble's less-than-heroic behavior during the book. There are several moments like this where he's either mean or rude to her or others. Readers who only want to read about characters who are always nice and do the right thing will probably not like this book. But those interested in reading about flawed, real, human people will find them here. Gamble's behavior is not always admirable, but the author makes it possible to understand what he's feeling and why he does what he does. He's a very tortured character, and his pain and grief come through loud and clear on the page. Gamble's sister also has a scene where she's appallingly rude to Jezebel, taking out her fear about her mother by lashing out at the innocent woman. It's easy to understand why she says what she does at that moment. It doesn't make it any more commendable, but it does make it real.

The reason this book works comes down to one thing: emotion. It's rare these days for me to find a series romance, or any romance really, that's truly emotionally engaging, that sucks me into the characters' hopes and fears and makes me experience their feelings so strongly. This book did. There are so many poignant scenes and powerful moments. Brashear makes Gamble's love for his dead wife a palpable thing, and his sense of loss is just as vivid. As described, the cottage seems both beautiful yet ineffably sad, shrouded in a sense of loss. In Forgiveness it was the heroine who was a mess and the hero who was almost too perfect in dealing with her. Here, the situations are reversed, and it is Jezebel who is kind, good-hearted, and caring. Her deep sadness and loneliness beneath her strong, confident, sexy exterior comes shining through, making the reader feel for her. She really is a wonderful heroine.

The book is not perfect. All the peripheral business - a secondary romance for Gamble's sister, a subplot with Jezebel having to testify in an upcoming trial - feels severely underdeveloped. The storyline is largely predictable. Do we think Jezebel will turn out to be pregnant or not? Could it be that a possible pregnancy will be a huge issue for a man who lost his pregnant wife? And can you guess whether Jezebel tells Gamble about her possible pregnancy or he finds out on his own? It all unfolds in an expected way. The writing could also be sharper at times, particularly in the jarring opening chapter.

And yet, this is an effective read that has memorable characters and vivid feelings at its core. Increasingly it seems as though romance writers are forgetting to provide the one thing the genre depends on the most: the emotion. Sweet Mercy is a welcome exception, a touching story that draws readers into the hearts and minds of its characters to experience their pains and joys as though they were our own. In the end, the characters have taken a true emotional journey, and the reader has been right there with them every step of the way.

Reviewed by Leigh Thomas
Grade : B-
Book Type: Series Romance

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : March 22, 2006

Publication Date: 2006/04

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