Re Fire in the Blood - Charlotte Lamb tries to revive the obsessive Alpha Bully H of her early days with this HP outing.
While this H is indeed a whacked out mess of jealous obsession and sheer obstinance in his domineering intractability to utterly own the h, the HP higher powers demanded a 1994 muted version of her epic HP Standard Old Skool H and the book suffers for it. There are some glimpses of old skool CL tho and some really humorous black moments as you ponder what HP editor actually called this a romance.
The 26 yr h in this one is a model, she has been divorced for over a year from the H and separated for some time before that. Her famous movie director H is around 30 and acts like he is three and has never grown out of the petty temper tantrum stage.
Their marriage disintegrated between his unreasonable jealousy and possessiveness, mainly directed at the h's long time photographer, and then when the H met a fabulous actress for one of his blockbuster movies, he became obsessed with the woman.
He pretty much abandoned the h because he couldn't control her and the h wanted to focus on her own career growth before she got too old to continue modeling. The H's actress, on the other hand, was more than willing to get her career jump started by doing whatever the H wanted.
( The h always wanted to be an actress, but she can't act and this is a serious bugaboo on her side of the relationship destruction stakes.)
When the book starts the h is up for a TV host position and it looks like she is going to get her new career started, so she is very excited about it.
The interesting thing about this book is the H claims that they broke up because the h was having an affair with her photographer, whom she had worked with for years and who gave her a start in modeling.
What CL implies tho, is that the H really was having an affair with the actress, since she was far more compliant with the H's wishes in her bid for fame and fortune and the h finally tired of the whole farce and left the H. However, the H and h NEVER discuss his affair between them, indeed the h believes the H is going to marry the actress until the third chapter.
(This h obviously feels that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is the best policy for her peace of mind - she did ask the H if he was having an affair and the H did not deny it. Later on in the book, she just seems to take his infidelity as a given she will have to live with.)
Then the h discovers that the H's latest big time TV miniseries with the actress is a flop, he is losing money left and right and bankruptcy for his studio is on the horizon. The actress, now that she knows just what kind of serious control freak the H is and now that he can't help her career anymore, takes herself off to the States and dumps the H.
This leaves the H with a problem. The h invested a lot of her modeling money in the H's company when they married and she had a significant portion of the shares. In the divorce settlement, the H's control freak took over and bought the h's shares out for cash. So now the H needs money and he knows he can manipulate the h.
So his game plan is to berate, bully and roofie kiss the h into bed and back into a relationship and get the money he gave her in the divorce back. He is hoping for the added bonus of trampling the h into being the little woman at home and loading her down with a few kids in the country, while he goes back to his lady obsessing ways during his film making.
The h is a nice person and offers the money back as a gift. The H however doesn't want that. So when the h takes herself off to for a tropical island with painting/beach loafing vacation, the H follows her to harass her back into a relationship with him. He lies and tells everyone they are still married and the h is having to fight both her Treacherous Body Syndrome and the rage that the H induces every time he tries to control her life.
She does worry about the H and his company tho and it is with some incredulity that the H tells her he will take her money, but only if she submits to an affair with him. He has no plans to remarry her, he will just put her in country home and tell everyone she is his wife and pound a few mini H's into her oven during his little lurve club sessions.
The H and h have a sandy lurve club encounter on the beach after the H has stalked, roofie kissed, and had jealous tantrums over the men looking at her for the three or four days she is actually on the island. Finally, the h escapes when her new boss arranges for her to fly to Miami for some pre-publicity about her new show and a TV interview.
She meets her old photographer in Miami, he is being interviewed too, and we get some Key West travelogue and a bit of food porn CL style. When the h flies back to England, the H is waiting at the airport and then stalks off when he sees the h with her photographer buddy.
Then the H's partner in his film studio calls the h and needs some immediate cash to pay of a thug who rented them lighting. The h comes through with the cash and is talking to the H's partner about a loan, when the H returns. He has a big hissy snot fit and then he admits that he can't control his possessiveness cause his beautiful mummy abandoned him and his dad as a child and now he thinks the h will do the same.
The H is scared he will be like his doormat dad and so CL implies that the H either gets obsessed with someone else or does whatever he can to berate and bully the h into doing what he wants, just like his abandoning mother. The h explains that marriage is a partnership and she promises to give her new career a year and then pop out the rug rats, if the H wants it.
The H seems to be okay with that, he is getting the h's money and her body, as well as a new partner to finance his films, (he made a deal with an old friend.) So when we leave them agreeing to try again, probably without an actual remarriage, it is under the assumption that the H will soon have control of the h's finances, her career will be destroyed and she will be trapped into eternal bondage with an H who has less self control than a chocoholic in the Godiva factory.
The h seems to be happy with what she is going to be getting and resigned to the fact that she is going to be acting as the H's mommy/brood mare/caretaker until the H gets bored or frustrated and goes off again, (or he murders her and dumps the body to make it look like an accident for the insurance payout.)
This is not CL's best book in either her vintage early HP style or in her more modern adaptations later on. But it is probably one of the most whacktastic and for that, I give it a read this because of the absurd wreckiness endorsement.
While the HEA is practically non-existent and you will shake your head over the h's utter idiocy in taking this H back, the book is very readable and will definitely appeal to those HP voyagers who have a dark streak of very black humor as you read about the H and h's various antics.
We can leave this one as a be happy the h is happy and give thanks that CL will make her h drink the kool-aid to keep the pillars of HPlandia standing firm. I recommend copious consults with the Captain and a fairly dark sense of humor for this one, but if that is your cuppa, it is a moderately entertaining HP venture.