The Legend of Lacy Black reminded me quite strongly of a Bertrice Small book, with a more contemporary setting and not quite so much lust. Unfortunately, I’m not at all fond of Ms. Small’s style of storytelling, so for me this was not a good thing.

Lacy Black is Mark Damian’s creation. Growing up as Lucinda Blackburn in the small town of Snyder, Texas during the Depression, she meets Mark entirely by accident when his car breaks down during his honeymoon. Lacy’s father is the only mechanic around for miles. He agrees to fix Mark’s car and put him up while he’s waiting for the parts. In no time at all, Mark’s spoiled starlet wife hightails it back to Hollywood on the train and he is left alone with the beautiful and innocent Lacy. But when he makes some moves on her, Lacy’s father throws her out of the house and Mark is saddled with the responsibility of her care. On a whim, angry that his wife has dumped him, Mark decides to make a star out of little Lucinda Blackburn, and Lacy Black is born.

Lacy is sucked into the studio system and completely made over. Her brown hair is dyed blonde. Her eyebrows are shaved off and penciled in. Her wardrobe consists entirely of black clothing. Mark puts her in pictures, but he keeps her only acting certain roles – usually strumpets and fallen women. He takes advantage of her innocence, her sensuality, and her presence, making her a celebrity and himself a rich man. But despite her newfound wealth and stardom, Lacy isn’t happy. Will she ever find a man who will love her for herself?

The Legend of Lacy Black isn’t a traditional romance. The hero of the story doesn’t show up until page 114, and for much of the book he is absent. The book is really the story of the travails of one woman, Lacy, and, as such, it bears a great resemblance to Bertrice Small’s books in that one woman is involved with multiple men over a period of a decade or so. Houston doesn’t include as much sex and kink as can usually be found in Small’s books, but the episodic quality is the same and many of Lacy’s adventures have the same unreal quality. Think of this as a Small-type story set in the Depression minus the harem, and you’ve got the idea. Lacy even undergoes several name changes during the course of the book just like Small’s heroines.

Most of the characters here are completely unbelievable. Lacy’s father behaves as though he’s suffered traumatic brain damage, he’s so stupid and unaware. He’s also that unfortunate stereotype – a fanatical Christian hypocrite. A moratorium should be declared on this type of character; it seems to be popping up everywhere these days. Lacy’s sister, Ruth, is the requisite sluttish man-hunter. She provides the entirely unnecessary skanky sex for the story.

The hero I can barely recall. Let’s see, his name was…uh…OK, yeah, here it is: Andrew Mallory. Almost immediately into his acquaintance with Lacy, we get this scene:

He raised her chin and she was lost in his lustrous brown eyes. “It’s as if I’ve known you all my life, and have only been waiting to find you. I knew the night on the train that you would be my one and only love.”

She shook her head as feelings she had been trying to suppress spilled out. “I…can’t love you.”

He laid his rough cheek against her smooth one. “But you do, Lacy. I couldn’t love you this much if it weren’t returned.”

Huh? He couldn’t love her this much if she didn’t love him back? How much sense does that make? Other characters have inexplicably vacillating emotions. They go from complete lust to hatred, from total dejection to complete apathy, within moments. And the excessive head hopping doesn’t help the reader to sort any of this out.

Lacy herself is too good to be true. So “innocent,” she’s stupid. She seems only equipped to survive if she has a male protector. Unfortunately, she’s willing to stoically suffer extreme abuse-physical, mental, and emotional-rather than stand on her own two feet. It’s unclear what all of these men she’s involved with see in her besides a pretty face and lovely body.

There are two things that save this book from total failure: the setting and the relatively unpredictable nature of the story. I’m glad that Houston used the very interesting setting of Hollywood in the 1930’s and 1940’s, and kudos to Leisure for permitting it. It would have been better, however, had this interesting setting been paired with an interesting and believable story.

Readers who enjoy Bertrice Small’s books might want to check out The Legend of Lacy Black, but those who prefer their romances with one heroine and one hero would do well to pass on this one. It simply has too many problems to make it enjoyable.