The Color of Love
by Radclyffe
Pages: 240
Date: July 12 2016
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series:
Review
Rating: 4.425 out of 5.0
Read: July 11 to 12 2016
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books in exchange for an honest review.
This book here is the first book I’ve read by this author.
For various reasons I’ve been somewhat, hmm, reluctant to read Radclyffe. One reason is kind of stupid and the other depends on what you (no idea who ‘you’ is) think of series. The stupid reason involves Radclyffe Hall, and how terribly depressing ‘The Well of Loneliness’ is; and no, Radclyffe Hall and Radclyffe, the author of this book here, are not the same person (more or less obviously, what with Radclyffe Hall having been dead these past few 73 years). I did say it was a stupid reason – I associated the name Radclyffe with depressing lesbians with stunted lives.
The other reason is series. I have no problem with reading books in a series – it’s the part where I looked at Radclyffe’s books, and how many of the books are in series. And how ‘far behind’ I am with them. I mean, the book I read here is the thirteenth in the Romance series. I’m not actually sure any of the books in the Romance series have any connection to each other, though, so . . . I ‘broke’ my ‘rule’ and jumped into a series at book number 13.
Right. All that above was boring. This book here involves Emily May and Derain Winfield. Both roughly 29 years old. Both with a certain bit of a ‘rich’ background. So this isn’t a rich-poor match up; but, to a certain extent, while Emily grew up with an important family and with servants, I do not believe this is a rich-rich match-up either, as Emily’s circumstances have changed.
Right. So. Derain Winfield was a disappointment to her family – she had ‘some issue’ that was not fully discovered until after she started talking. Before she did start, though, there was some concern that she might not be fully mentally ‘there’. The father, at the very least, was deeply disappointed in his daughter for . . . this flaw. Even after it became known that Derain was not mentally . . deficient, but instead had a form of dyslexia, the father still despised her very existence. In the end, Derain had just one family member who mattered to her, the rest she could live without. So she, when she was old enough. ‘fled’ into a world of gambling and car racing. But when that one family member who still mattered to her ended up in the hospital, Derain dropped everything and rushed to her side. Which was complicated by the fact that Derain had been in Monte Carlo at the time, and Henrietta (that so far unnamed family member who mattered) was in New York. When she arrived in New York, Derain bumped into two people – Audrey something or other (name given, just doesn’t matter enough for me to get it – old family friend of Derain’s, though there was something like a bad break-up when they were in their late teens), and Emily May. I’ll get to May in a moment.
Winfield is an old Saxon name, apparently, dating back to 1035. Which I just now looked up after I finished reading the book. I did, though, somewhat assumed – rightly or wrongly, that Derain Winfield came from a long established WASP family based on context that I will not elaborate on (though will note that, in case not known, White Anglo Saxon Protestant). I mention this so I can include something about Derain’s background make-up. The Winfield’s sound like the kind of family who are very ‘into’ marrying the ‘right’ kind of people, so Derain Winfield, who isn’t exactly that type of person, still would likely be . . . whatever someone imagined a WASP to look like.
Emily May, as indicated somewhere up there, comes from a relatively well-situated family in Singapore. Her parents were somehow or another enmeshed in the Foreign Ministry, and I believe the word ‘diplomat’ was used once or twice for the father. Well, Emily of chestnut hair, enters this story with just one living relative – her older sister Pam. For, you see, roughly around the same time period Aud and Derain were having their falling out (~17), Emily was in the process of losing her family. She still has Pam, though. Though Pam is noncommunicative. Emily is very career oriented, for she must succeed at all costs so she can support Pam.
Right, so, in the book, despite how I worded things here, actually opens with Emily's story told first. She’s in a meeting with Henrietta Winfield (if I recall correctly, I think the book literally opens in Henrietta’s POV – I’d forgotten that, since fairly quickly the book limited itself to Emily and Derain’s POV’s). It turns out that immigration is playing games, and there’s an issue with getting Emily’s visa ‘fixed’. But Henrietta is going to do everything she can to fix . . . and now we are in the hospital after Henrietta has had a massive heart attack. Just to throw in there – Henrietta’s about 67.
Right. So. I said something, based entirely on guess work, about Derain Winfield. Emily May is from Singapore and gets listed as being ‘Asian’. Her family is from there, she grew up there. She is in all intents and purposes Singaporean. Just one thing though – no mention was actually given as to Emily May’s ancestral background. I have a strong feeling that Emily May is Asian in the same way Charlize Theron is African. People with a several generation connection to a place that might normally cause someone to think of a different race if the word ‘African’ or ‘Asian’ is used. Conceivably. May, it should be pointed out, is another surname with a Saxon background (or, separately, Gaelic) as opposed to specifically an Asian name. Oh, and the part wherein Singapore was created in 1819 as a trading post for the East India Company – conceivably the May family could have been in Singapore for a hundred years or more (though ‘or more’ is pushing things).
Right, went down that long road for some oddball reason.
So – long and short – Derain and Emily end up pushed together when Henrietta needs some time at the hospital. Derain and Emily need to try to ‘help’ keep Henrietta’s company from being taken over by the rest of the Winfield clan (specifically Martin Winfield, Derain’s father). And so, the two, Derain and Emily, circle each other, Emily helping Derain as the interim CEO; while both develop lustful feelings.
The book description is kind of misleading though. At least in terms of that green card and ‘Derian comes up with a plan’ part. Since, while the visa issue came up immediately in the book, it didn’t really play much of a part in the story until late in the storyline (and, for that matter, Derian’s ‘plan’ didn’t even get mentioned until . . . . . well, late in the book).
Enjoyable book. Wish that brilliant plan of Derian’s had been handled better, for various reasons. There’s a high likelihood that I will be reading another book by Radclyffe. I’d probably rate this book something around 4.425.
July 12 2016
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