Wildrose by Max Ellendale and R.M. Bruce

Wildrose by Max Ellendale

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I’ve started this review something like twelve times now.

Eve Grant works as a homicide detective in Seattle. There are investigations she is shown investigating, but the main point of the book is not to follow and/or unravel mysteries, but to watch Eve’s love life. She’s both not the kind to have relationships (more of a one-night stand type of person), and hasn’t been on a one night stand type event in months (six?). So, naturally, there’d be some changes in store for Eve in this book.

Her first potential love interest is the somewhat vaguely ice queen like Ainsley Monson, the medical examiner. I’m not actually sure if she has that reputation so much as she kind of acts that way in the book.

I’d like to say ‘various other people weave in and out as potentials’, but that’s hard to have happen, what with Eve mostly just hanging out with straight people, and in straight bars. Another potential love interest does pop up, though, through the means of visiting that gay friendly bar that shares the same name as this book
(Ciara is meet there, and a tiny bit of time is spent here otherwise, but . . . I’m not sure why this specific book is named after that bar).

An interesting dynamic breaks out that I rarely see in books like this one, though it might be obvious from what I’ve written up to this point – Eve starts dating two people at the same time (one knows the name of the other; the other knows that Eve is dating someone else, but not her name). The three woman love triangle actually, and somewhat unexpectedly, seems to flow naturally for the people involved, and the situation(s) encountered. Or, in other word, there are reasons for why things developed the way they developed, for how Eve ended up dating two people at the same time, who are aware of the situation and vaguely accepting of it.

Fire and ice. I’ve mentioned Ainsley, she’d fall on the ice side of things. On the fire side is Ciara. Using the ‘fire and ice’ as opposite extremes is a nice motif for me to use, eh? But doesn’t really apply, and was never used in the book. Ainsley has elements of being closed off emotionally, being something of an ice queen; while Ciara, with her flaming red hair, and ability to openly express her wants and desires would fall inside . . . whatever category that would imply. Fire seems to imply someone who becomes enraged easily or something like that, which is not Ciara. Or someone controlled by their emotions, again not her. I need a new motif.

You know, writing a review for this book should probably be easy. I’m not sure why it took me twelve times to get to this point, or why I’m ham-fistedly going about things as I am.

I probably should have just gone with the thought I’d had while reading the book, and seen if there was something I could have built off of it, review-wise. That thought being: ice-queens are popular in lesbian fiction, off the top of my head I can think of three fanfiction universes that use that dynamic and in turn get used for inspiration for fanfiction, and published work (Cat Grant from Supergirl; whoever the ice queen is from: Devil Wears Prada, and, in addition, the one from Once Upon a Time (that’s the one that’s called Swanqueen, right?); a fourth could be Janeway from Star Trek Voyager, though I rarely see fanfictions from that universe, and when I do, they tend to attempt to show what would have happened if Janeway hadn’t made the decision to not pursue romantic interests while in the Delta quadrant – she has more of the ‘stand-offishness’ vibe more from circumstances than actual traits (at least there were hints she wasn’t that way when she wasn’t cut off from the Alpha Quadrant)).

Melting the ice queen’s heart, especially since she tends to be shown as much older than the other individual involved in the romance, has never really been my thing to enjoy. I prefer the more nurturing, emotionally stable . . etc. etc. There’s probably a term for that type of character, eludes me (not 'mothering' type, that's going too far in a different direction, I'm not looking 'mother and little girl' stories either, more equal partners type stories). I’m referring here to what I like to read, not real life situations (*shrugs*, I can't really say I'm not into that in real life since my longest term relationship, roughly 7 to 8 years, was with someone with a vaguely ice queen vibe, though I only really noticed after the fact when watching her interact with others who were not me).

Nope, that thought experiment to create a review didn’t work. Ah well.

I liked what I saw unfold in this book. For the most part I liked the sole point of view character, Eve, and her best friend Ang. I liked the personality shown with Ciara, though we, the reader, didn’t really get to dig deep into her character. We learn a little bit more about Ainsley, but, due to her character, there are walls around her that weren’t breached.

Hmm. I now fall into an odd problem. Since I wrote, then discarded a dozen reviews, I’m not sure what all I actually have and haven’t written. Since I feel like I’ve written everything now, but probably have discarded most. Pfft, having to reread my own review… mmphs.

Right. There are two things left I wanted to mention. Or, at least, two things I thought of mentioning.

Nah, I just deleted the paragraph(s) I wrote that rambled about this being the sixth book I’ve read by one of the two authors listed on this book’s cover, and I’ll just move to the next topic.

There’s graphic sex in this book. I, somewhat unexpectedly, liked it more than I figured I would.

Some quotes:

"Nice sunglasses," . . .
"Shut up."
"I thought you weren't drunk."
"Wasn't drunk. Totally no drunkness occurred."
"Uh huh. So you normally wear sunglasses in the rain?"
"I do. Don't judge me."
"Idiot."

"Hey, don't discount the awesomeness that is my firearm. It's saved your life a time or two."
"Yeah, but what happens when you're disarmed? You scream 'I beat terrorists!' while waving your arms in the air?" I laughed at him. "That'll work."

"Prude." Now I laughed at her. "I was kidding. I'm thirty-six years old. I have no gaydar. I'm broken."

If I was any less of a person, I'd deny the deflated feeling inside when I heard the dreaded heterosexuality pour from her lips. My inclinations were, no doubt, wrong.

"Thanks for the drink."
"Anytime." I smiled, half-heartedly at the sexy woman who I would now only get to ogle at until I shriveled up and died.

"Worst lesbian ever. Most U-Haul. You Fed Ex."
I laughed hard at the unusual statement. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"U-Haul, love 'em and married by the third date. Fed Ex, love 'em and ship 'em out next day air."

"Are you aware that we're both in our mid-thirties and behaving like bi-curious teenagers?"

"I've also never kissed two women at the same time." I looked at her. "Wait, that sounded odd."

"I don't care if we eat in the middle of the road, as long as we get to spend time together," I told her because that's how I felt.

I lost my fingers in her hair but she pulled back suddenly.
"Did I give you a boner?" She grined down at me, biting her bottom lip in the way that made me want to bit it for her.
"I think you might've." I reached under my shirt and tugged my sidearm free, shoving it into my purse a few inches away.

"Dating," I said. "We're dating. Poorly, at the moment."
She laughed, genuinely. So much so that her eyes lit up with it. "Very."
"Just relax a little, okay?"
"You too then. Sometimes you look about ready to regurgitate a meal."
"Ainsley!" I laughed, swatting her arm without thinking. "That's gross. You say weird shit."

Nothing brought me more joy than spending this time with Angelina. She was my best friend, my sister, my person, and no matter what, that wouldn't ever change. I was lucky to have her, to call her my family.

ETA: by the way - if the relationship had ended up the way I thought it might, I'd probably have rated this book way differently. Like, a lot.

Rating: 5.0

June 21 2018



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