Power Play

Jayne Castle: Ecstasy Romance

by Jayne Castle, Jayne Ann Krentz

Blackmail! Talia Haywood could hardly believe she was so desperate. But something about Kane Sebastian drove her to it: anything to get the information that only he could provide.

She thought she knew his type: an arrogant industrial tycoon, the kind of man who had ruined her career and reputation once before--and wouldn't get the better of her again! But she hadn't reckoned on Kane, who took the situation--and her--in hand, giving Talia a taste of real danger and raging desire. Suddenly she was vulnerable to a man she couldn't trust, a man who had driven her off the track into a trap of passion and revenge!

Genres: Romance, Enemies To Lovers, Harlequin, Category Romance, Fiction

186 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 1982

About the author

The author of over 40 consecutive New York Times bestsellers, JAYNE ANN KRENTZ writes romantic-suspense, often with a psychic and paranormal twist, in three different worlds: Contemporary (as Jayne Ann Krentz), historical (as Amanda Quick) and futuristic (as Jayne Castle). There are over 30 million copies of her books in print.

She earned a B.A. in History from the University of California at Santa Cruz and went on to obtain a Masters degree in Library Science from San Jose State University in California. Before she began writing full time she worked as a librarian in both academic and corporate libraries.

Ms. Krentz is married and lives with her husband, Frank, in Seattle, Washington.

Pseudonyms:
Jayne Ann Krentz
Amanda Quick
Stephanie James
Jayne Bentley
Jayne Taylor
Amanda Glass

Reviews

[StMargarets · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars for this passage alone – the unmasking of the romance novel alpha male.

It’s a two-edged sword,“ he replied, the hard planes of his face tautening with the leaping urgency of passion. On the one hand it makes me feel as if I were at the head of a conquering army.“ He stooped, lifting her into his arms and carrying her toward the bed. „But on the other hand it makes me realize how vulnerable I am. I can’t stand the thought of your tiring of me, of no longer responding to me. Or, even worse, of your finding someone else. I told you, I’m a greedy man. I want sole claim on your passion! God, I love you, sweetheart!"


They were all wrapped up together, an integral part of the magic. The vulnerability went hand-in-hand with the raging desire.
A two-edged sword.

This author edited Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women: Romance Writers on the Appeal of the Romance, a collection of essays about the appeal of the romance novel in 1992 – ten years after writing this novel. But it’s obvious she knew what she was doing and *why* she was exploring “power” in relationships way back in 1982. And it’s not just power within a relationship that she explores, but the power in the business world.

The author does this within the trope of “blackmail,” but it’s the filmiest blackmail attempt I’ve ever seen – and the hero thinks so, too. He goes along with the heroine for three days and then attempts to push the reset button on their relationship. He wants them to be on more equal footing. But heroine thinks that he’s throwing his power around and is hurt by it. Hero can’t believe she walked out on him.

The reason for the heroine trying to blackmail the hero is even flimsier – she wants some info about an old family friend – and his last place of employment was the hero’s company. The heroine is sensitive to power plays by men since she was drummed of corporate world by a man who sexually harassed her and then blackballed her when she said no.

So lots going on including some Nancy Drew/Hardy Boy sleuthing by the H/h.

The plot is ridiculous, but the romance is lovely in this one. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think I had many of the same items in my wardrobe back in 1982 – including a peach dress and metallic sandals.

[AvidReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

5++ stars ⭐️

Went completely blind to this and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved each and every single page of this. The hero- heroine is totally lovable and made for each other. I dont want to give out any information that’s why no detail review.
Recommended.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty decent book, considering its age and length. The hero was strong and masculine without crossing over into abusive and the heroine had a bit more backbone than some you see from the early 80's. The story was pretty superficial but that's to be expected with a book this short. All in all it was a fun little read.


Okay so the story is that Talia Haywood is searching for a man named Justin. He was a friend of her father's and some kind of freelance government spy who traveled the world bringing back interesting trinkets for her. He allegedly died in Africa three years ago but Talia doesn't believe that story and has made it a hobby to track him down. She's recently uncovered information that suggests Kane Sebastian's company provided Justin with a job as a cover for sending him into some country to spy just before he was "killed". Talia wants Kane's company to give her Justin's last known address so she can continue her search and after months of repeated refusals, she finally decides to resort to blackmailing Kane to get her answers and goes to see him.

This was a pretty weak set up. I felt that JAK could have given Talia a stronger reason for wanting to find Justin. Her doing it as a hobby just to satisfy her curiosity was not a strong enough justification for her to resort to blackmail, which, I might add, is illegal. Especially considering that she knew Justin was a spy. I mean there are only a couple of possibilities here. 1) He really is dead and her search is a waste of time, 2) He faked his own death for some reason and therefore her pursuing him is going to blow his cover or 3) He's being held captive by some enemy country in which case there's absolutely nothing she can do about it. So no good can come from her search and idle curiosity just isn't a strong enough motivation for her to be doing it.

And the way she attempts to blackmail Kane was pretty ridiculous as well. She threatens to tell the newspapers that Kane's company provided the cover for a government spy. Somehow I don't think the government would allow her to blow the whistle on that, but even if she managed to do it, wouldn't she have face some kind of legal consequences?

While at this meeting, Kane suddenly realizes where he knows Talia's name from. She has a scandalous past in which a former manager named Hazelton accused her of trying to sleep her way to the top. The truth, of course, is that Hazelton propositioned her, implying that he'd help her career if she had an affair with him. Talia turned him down flat and he launched a smear campaign against her. The male-dominated corporate world and the papers alike all believed Hazleton's story and Talia's fiance dumped her. She resigned in shame and got out of the corporate world. Kane asks her about it but she refuses to discuss it.

Eventually Kane acquiesces to Talia's blackmail and agrees to send a wire to Justin's last known address. She then goes to her hotel and stares at the phone until Kane calls. He insists she take him to dinner since she's blackmailing him and then proceeds to order the most expensive things on the menu, which was funny. They have a fun dinner and when he walks her back to her hotel room things get steamy. Then, just as things are getting going, Kane says the absolute stupidest thing possible by asking her if this was what she'd done with Hazelton. She's outraged that he not only assumes that the stories of her involvement with Hazelton were true, but that he'd bring it up at such a moment. In typical 1980's hero fashion, Kane is incapable of viewing things from her perspective and instead says she's overreacting and that he knew he should have waited a bit longer to bring it up. Talia says that he should NEVER bring it up, period, but still for some reason agrees that she's overreacting as she throws him out of her room.

The next day, nothing has changed but for some reason Talia has completely gotten over her anger and is back to staring at the phone waiting for Kane's call. He strings her along for a while by saying that he could get a response to his inquiry at any time so she should stay close. They go on a few more outings and finally one night he invites her over to his house.There he finally talks her into explaining what happened with Hazelton. Things again get steamy and Talia comes to the realization that she's in love with Kane. They have mind-blowing sex and Talia is still catching her breath, awash in the sexual afterglow when Kane drops a bombshell on her. He says that he invited her over that night specifically to say "gotcha!". He's been lying to her all along. He only pretended to send the inquiry for Justin and has been using all their dates to get to know Talia so he could evaluate her character. And he's come to the realization that she's too soft-hearted to actually go through with the blackmail so he's officially calling her bluff. When she gets upset he says that he had to teach her a lesson that he's a man who won't bow down to blackmail tactics.

Talia is devastated that while she was falling in love with Kane, he was playing her for a fool. She asks him if sleeping with her was part of his master plan to teach her a lesson and rather than answer, he tells her that she "had this coming and she knows it" and asks if she really thought he'd been helping her because of blackmail. She says that no, not after they had dinner that first night where they got friendly. After that she'd thought he'd been helping her because he wanted to. He laughs at her and says that she's far too soft and naive for her own good. He's really enjoying the whole scene, demanding that she actually say the words "I never intended to go through with the blackmail" as part of this lesson he feels she has to learn. Then once she's done that, he slyly says that if she wants his help finding Justin now, they could come to some other terms in the bedroom.

This is so reminiscent of what Hazelton said to her that Talia is incensed. She slaps Kane across the face and tells him that she's already shown once that she doesn't use her body to negotiate and she's not going to start now. Then storms off to get in the shower. She's crushed to find that she has once again naively fallen into a cold-hearted corporate man's trap when she ought to have known better. Kane sees Talia scrubbing herself raw in the shower and she tells him she feels dirty. He gets mad and tells her over and over that she's overreacting. That she had this coming by trying to blackmail him in the first place and he couldn't let that stand. She agrees that she's overreacting just to get him to leave her alone and then while he's showering she gets dressed and leaves. He follows her in his car, angry that she didn't stick around so they could talk more. She refuses to get in the car with him and he gets even angrier but finally agrees to take her straight back to her hotel. He says they'll talk again in the morning and she agrees just to shut him up because she fully intends to be gone before he gets there.

Three days later she's back in her office when a man shows up claiming to be from the FBI. He asks her a lot of questions about her search for Justin and she gets a bad vibe off him. When he demands to know why she spent so much time with Kane if it wasn't to get information about Justin, Talia plays up their relationship as if they're still together. Just as she's showing the man out, Kane shows up and Talia is forced to greet him warmly in order to maintain the cover story.

When they're alone, Kane reveals that he now really DOES have information on Justin and wants to use it to essentially blackmail Talia into giving him a second chance. The book never calls it blackmail. It's just an "agreement" or "bargain" that she'll get the info only if she'll give their relationship another chance. Oddly, Kane never once apologizes for handling things the way he did. He never seems to make the connection that his behavior was infinitely worse than her paper-thin blackmail threats could ever have been.

They use Kane's newly discovered information to find Justin and along the way start sleeping together again. When they get close, Talia says that she's paying her end of the bargain and similar things. Kane gets upset that she's sleeping with him as part of a business arrangement rather than because she actually wants to, but ultimately still does it because, in his words, he'll take what he can get. The fake FBI agent shows up in the 11th hour to wave a gun around and swiftly get knocked unconscious with no fuss. Afterward Talia and Kane are back at their hotel and getting close to having sex again when Kane pulls away and says that he doesn't want her to sleep with him unless she loves him. He says that he's been in love with her from the moment she walked into his office and he'll do everything he can to make her love him back, but until then, no sex. He's barely two steps out the door when Talia calls him back and they live happily ever after.



Overall it was a fine story. It was a little hard to believe that Kane could be so completely idiotic as to wait until he and Talia were getting busy to say something terrible, not once but twice. And I found it mildly irritating that Talia kept agreeing with him that she was overreacting when I felt her reactions were perfectly justified, given the circumstances. But Kane wasn't the physically and sexually abusive brute so many other 1980's heroes were and he did humble himself at the end by chasing after Talia with an olive branch, even if he never really apologized.

[reeder (reviews) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give Power Play 4 stars for the romance, plus a bonus star for the perfect execution of JAK's early vision as a romance writer. The difference between this and everything she's published before is how organically the conflict emerges from the characters' personalities and backstories. Well, from the hero's personality and the heroine's backstory.

The heroine shows up at the hero's office asking for contact information on an old friend of her father who used to send her toys when she was a child. It was an open secret in her family that this friend was a spy, and the heroine -- a fan of adventure novels -- is curious about his fate. A few years back, the old friend was briefly given a job in the hero's company as cover for espionage activities in South America, and she wants the personnel department to try contacting his last known address.

She is immediately wary of the hero, who is a corporate shark, because she has been savaged by a ruthless businessman in her past. Her career as a budding executive was derailed by her boss's sexual harassment. In the end, she was forced to quit under an avalanche of rumors that she had been attempting to trade sexual favors for a promotion.

The hero holds all the power in this scenario: he has the information she wants and is disinclined (by company policy) to help her. But he's also attracted to her, so he challenges her to give him a reason to help. The longer they talk, the more curious he is about where he's heard her unusual name before, until he remembers the scandal from three years earlier. Tactlessly, he recounts the gossip and asks her if she really slept with her former boss. Even though the heroine manages to maintain her poise, the anger and humiliation she feels provokes her into threatening the hero with blackmail: if he doesn't attempt to contact the old friend, she'll go to the media with the information that his company was used to cover up espionage, which would seriously damage his ability to do business internationally.

The hero persuades her to stay in Sacramento for three days while he sends a cable to the spy's last known location in South America. (Communication was so much more dramatic before the internet.) The first night, he makes her take him out to dinner and orders the most expensive options on the menu as "punishment" for blackmailing him. The next day, they tour Old Sacramento together and go out to dinner, where they run into the ex-fiancé who had dumped her when her sexual harassment scandal broke. When the ex, a rising politician, attempts to blackmail the heroine into persuading the influential hero to support his campaign, she thwarts him by immediately revealing his threats to the hero who verbally humiliates the ex.

On the third night, they have dinner at the hero's house followed by sex. Afterwards, when the heroine is hoping to hear the hero's plans for their future together, he reveals instead that he has called her bluff. He never sent the cable to South America and wants her to admit that she never intended going to the press. The heroine is devastated. Not only is she humiliated that she allowed this man to seduce her while lying to her, but the discovery also destroys the bit of self-esteem she had recovered when she believed she had intimidated this powerful man with her blackmail threat. He then doubles down on the stupid by saying that he won't be blackmailed into doing as she asks, but she could try using "other tactics" to persuade him.

She's so upset she slaps him and leaves three different ways: first, she leaves his bed for a hot shower; then she walks out of his house intending to go back to her hotel; then, after he reluctantly drives her back to the hotel and tells her they'll meet the next morning to talk, she returns to her home in San Jose.

...where three days later an FBI agent comes to her office asking why she's looking for information on the old family spy friend. Unnerved by the man's questions, the h denies the hero was able to provide any information and claims she stayed for three days because they were pursuing a personal relationship. When the H shows up just as she's showing the FBI agent out, she has to greet him like a lover to maintain her deception.

The hero hadn't followed her immediately because he had to send the cable to South America to get the information she wanted so he could try to bribe the heroine into continuing their relationship. This offer is his grovel, even as he refuses to acknowledge any wrongdoing on his part. The power has clearly shifted because the heroine has demonstrated she values her self-respect more than the information; it's the unease created by the FBI visit that tips the balance in favor of the hero. She agrees to give him a second chance if he'll take her to the old family friend's possible location: a coastal town up near Oregon.

On the drive up, the H becomes increasingly moody because he recognizes how tenuous his hold on the heroine is. Once they reach the town, he'll have nothing left to chain her to him. The heroine promises to honor their bargain, but doesn't offer any assurances of love. After they find the retired spy (courtesy of the name of his fishing boat, which reveals he held an unrequited love for the heroine's mother), the hero insists that he doesn't want a relationship based on her gratitude or sense of obligation, so the heroine threatens him back into bed with some wildly outrageous blackmail threats and he pretends to be intimidated. They confess their mutual love, but we still have a dangling FBI agent and the heroine's career issues to work out in the final chapter before there can be an HEA.

Short teaser for anyone avoiding those detailed spoilers: the hero's misstep creates a deliciously angsty moment with the heroine, then he has to chase after her when she runs. Definitely one of my favorite romantic scenarios. And all of this -- as the title promises -- illustrates the shifting power dynamic in their relationship.

Beyond the romance, however, I'm fascinated by the resolution of the heroine's traumatic backstory. It's a #metoo moment that makes me wonder why this book hasn't been recently republished. True, the resolution to her being driven off her career path by a sexually harassing boss is to start up her own management training business, a sidestep that is perhaps less satisfying than returning to conquer the corporate world or following up on the old family friend's suggestion that she seek a career in the CIA (no, seriously. That would have been awesome). But it's still a legitimate choice and it makes me want to gather a book club to ask what their preferred resolution for the heroine's career issue would have been.

JAK checklist
Pacific Northwest setting: This story is practically a road show. It starts out in Sacramento, heads to San Jose and San Francisco, then ends up near Oregon. It's PNW-adjacent.
Familiar professions: He owns an engineering business that supplies products needed for coal and oil drilling (so...not a green-friendly hero). She was on the corporate fast track until she was demolished by a sexually harassing boss. Now, she teaches training seminars in management.
What's in a name?: Talia's unique name enabled the hero to remember the scandalous gossip from three years earlier.
Marital status: She has a broken engagement to a rising politician in her past; he has a divorce that is so meaningless he has simply put it behind him as a mistake and moved on.
Age: She's 30; he's 37-38.
Heroine's eye exam: Amber; and she wears contacts (old school hard lenses), which create a bit of a problem when they head off on their impromptu road trip.
Hero's eye exam: Emerald green
Hair color: His is chestnut-red; hers is tawny brown.
Pets: None. 
Vehicles spell success: He drives a red Lotus.
Metaphors are for flogging: all roads lead back to the kind of power dynamics she teaches in her business seminars.
Hero threatens to spank heroine: Nope. There's a bit of manhandling in the big angsty scene, but threats of physical dominance would only distract from the battle of wills.
The Family Man Forecast: The hero's green eyes are described as "warlock's eyes," like the hero of Family Man.

[Melanie♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of the Jayne Castle books I purchased when eBay was new (so new!) and I was still in the 20th century mindset that acquiring books like this was haaaaard (um, do you feel the FRENZY now? Yes. Maybe you do. Maybe you don't. I did!). Despite the fact that I gleefully overpaid for this and other Jayne Castle books, the one thing I never did was actually read them. Any of them. LOL, oops! I did, however, lug them around for years before I was able to let many of them go to other interested parties (LOL, I feel like maybe I pleaded with someone to take as many as possible off my hands). I kept Power Play for the very simple reason that it's set in Sacramento. Yes! I'm once again back to reading a book solely based on its geographic setting. Geography FTW!

Anyway, I did read the book and I got some mild enjoyment out of it. Yes, the 1982 Sacramento stuff was fun - the guy's office had a view of the state capitol, they visited Old Sac, and they ate at some Italian restaurant (my imagination plugged in Il Fornaio). Best of all, the main character made multiple mentions of the September heat. Yesssss! It really made me feel like they were here in Sacramento.

As for the actual plot and romance. Meh, it was fine. The male lead (heh, I've already forgotten his name) wasn't too big of a male-dominant, cave-man trope that seemed more popular in the early 80s. I mean, the leading lady did go on and on about how he was super successful in the ruthless, cut throat world of business but he kept most of his jackassery (and, yes, there was jackassery) to a minimum. Of course, she was too soft to have been successful in the terrible world of business and that shit did have me rolling my eyes. Hard. On the other hand, it's been a while since I've read romance so I was pleasantly surprised by the more "female gaze" (or whatever you want to call something that isn't the male gaze) orientation during the spicy bits. (What have I been reading that I'd actually forgotten this was a thing in romance? Oh, right. I think I eventually just gave up reading the sexy sex bits because they got boring).

All said and done, this falls perfectly into my "not bad" shelf. I mean, I didn't hate it but that doesn't mean it was really that good. 3 stars because I don't know what else to give it.

[Mtve41 · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Couldn't stand the repetitive amateur writing style. The "blackmail" joke or "I've always wanted to see how it feels to kiss a blackmailer.."

Think the writer couldn't find another word to misuse and twist more than blackmail. It wasn't even f'in blackmail to begin with. Annoying h. The first chapter itself will have you pulling your hair on how their conversation travels all over the map without the h revealing WHY she wants the H's help. Same freaking sentences and questions and assumptions repeated a hundred times! Such a mumbo jumbo and NO known authenticity of the business language and practises. I think the writer assumed everyone who'd read my book would be a total dumbass and not question whatever BS I feed to my non-plot.

[Farah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fun read !! Talia and Kane were constantly trying to take a bite out of each other .. Talia's blackmail attempt was kinda of funny and Kane eating expensive and throwing the bill at her was even funnier , I giggled a few times at how childish they both were .. I really enjoyed their relationship.

[Mara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mostly boring, definitely stupid.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of her old books this is definitely One of my favorites. It is loving and fun. Krentz's writing style makes for easy reading. This is my second read of this book and I enjoyed it more than the first time. It is a definite keeper.

[Su · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too fast for ever lasting love to be convincing. Entire book is about two weeks of time period.

[Maria · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really couldn't buy the premises on which this book is based as far as the business world goes. What Talia went through is completely unrecognizable to me as were the business concepts that she taught, which weren't included in my MBA classes. Plus, searching for an old friend as a hobby just didn't strike me as worthy of a blackmail attempt, so I had issues all through the book. That having been said, I have read this book four times and, although I don't find the characters as appealing as others created by Ms. Krentz, it never occurs to me to stop reading before the end.

[Jadzia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just boring. And too fast - that's why I often prefer harlequins from Krentz to start sometime when she learns of his deceit or something like that, and then they are starting over - then the timeframe is just better justified.

[Yuli Michaeili · Rating 3 out of 5]

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