1 ⭐️ I was leery about reading this at all, given that Comanche Moon was nearly perfect and a tough act to follow. From the first glimpses into Chase’s mind, I could already tell I didn’t like him. He was generally disgusting and his thoughts and statements were mysoginistic, gross, and ridiculous. He was nothing like his father, Hunter, who was kind, respectful, and compassionate to women. Chase admits to visiting a brothel at 16 to “diddle a fat whore” and afterward, while the other boys’ fathers chastise them about “disease and discretion” Hunter speaks to him instead about not preying on the helpless and then throwing money at them to ease a conscience. He’s so good. 😭 Then later, Hunter visits the local sad-eyed prostitute and offers her money and a way out of the life should she choose. It doesn’t state explicitly, but I wonder if he sees little Amy in these women, abused by men and forced into something she couldn’t choose. It’s not like women had a lot of options back in the day.
Of course, this lesson means absolutely nothing to Chase, and he admits to visiting plenty of brothels over the years, trash talking the “painted whores” all while BUYING THEIR SERVICES. The first time Chase sees Franny she’s mostly naked in the river, and he hides to watch her like a creepy Peeping Tom, musing and judging her various body parts and generally acting like a pig. Franny feels dehumanized by the work she’s forced into, literally dissociates from her body to get through it, and he acts just like her clients, like she’s worthless as a person beyond her looks. In his mind, she goes from an angel he wants to protect to a “worthless whore” out to steal his sister’s money the second he finds out.
Likewise, his sister, Indigo, and her husband both plead with Chase to treat shy Franny kindly, that she’s an innocent stuck in a bad situation, and what does he do? Corner her the next day, cruelly taunt her with money to sleep with her, threaten to ruin her and have her run out of town, and tells her to
“Stay away from my sister and her kids. The last thing she needs is a tarnished little whore playing on her sympathy and messing up her life.”
What a prick! He enjoys making her nervous and uncomfortable, and looks at her in a sleazy way now instead of teasing. At this point, he’s trash, he’s heard nothing that his amazing father, his sister, his brother in law, and everyone else have said.
Supposedly he becomes sweet later on but it’s way too little too late and I couldn’t stand anymore. If he’s not being a douche to Franny, he’s whining and throwing a pity party for himself to anyone who will listen. Pages and pages of :
“Right. But you don't like me much." Chase punctuated that with another swig of whiskey. "Funny, that. You're all so determined not to judge that little whore. But what about me?”
He talks about how the 1/4 Comanche in him has people judging him and treating him unfairly and DOES NOT EVEN HEAR HIMSELF when he hardcore judges Franny for her occupation two seconds later. The narcissism and disconnect is real. I do have to say that I LOVE Hunter’s response (and verbal slap down) though :
“Franny is a victim."
"And I gather I'm not?"
"Only if you choose to be." His father turned to regard him. "By your own words, the men in the camps were cruel to you only until you fought back. I trained you to fight, if you will remember. I know that when you finally struck back, you did so with great vengeance, as is the way of the People. The Frannies of this world have no weapons," his father went on huskily, "and no strong arm with which to wield a weapon if they had one. Heartless men use them, and in order to survive, they must yield. It is their only choice and their greatest shame. One from which there is no escape. Victims, Chase, one and all.”
Hunter is as amazing as he was 20 years prior in Comanche Moon and his son is a sad, pale shadow of his greatness.
Of course Chase immediately dismisses his fathers words, stating it’s the prostitutes own faults because he says they don’t accept help when it’s offered. 🙄 Enjoy this sampling of Chase’s thoughts/words from just the first 40 pages -
- “He dragged his gaze from the back of the blonde’s clinging skirt and said, "Pleased to meet you, Franny." He thought "Fanny" would suit her better.”
(He continues to call her Fanny to several people, reducing her down to a body part)
- “Chase didn't give a shit what Indigo called it; a whore was a whore.”
(When Indigo tried to explain that Franny was a victim of circumstance)
- “Doesn't it worry you, Jake, having your kids subjected to a whore's influence?"
(His brother in law) "I'm surprised at you, Chase. I thought your father taught you better than to judge others by the world's measuring stick.”
- “I've never met a whore yet who didn't have her eye out for an easy dollar.”
- (His brother in law) “And that gal's name is Franny, not Fanny. Tells me where your mind's at."
(Chase) "Where else? For the right price, that cute little fanny of hers is any man's playground.”
- “Franny with the green eyes had made her bed, and by God, she could sleep in it.”
- “She flinched as his leathery fingers grazed her ear. As he drew his hand back, she saw that he held a gleaming gold coin. With practiced fingers he rolled it in a shimmering path over his palm, gave it a flip, and caught it within the circle of his thumb and forefinger. Flashing the money at her, he said in a silken voice, "Ten dollars. Fancy that, me plucking it out of thin air."
His gaze trailed lazily to her bodice. "And there's more where that came from." His white teeth flashed as he spoke, and his eyes heated with blatant invitation.
"How many ten-dollar gold pieces would I have to find behind that pretty little ear of yours to talk you into spending the morning with me?"
Franny felt so humiliated she wanted to burrow into the dirt and disappear.”
- “Let me put it a little plainer then. Why would a female of your persuasions want to spend so much time with a sweet young woman like my sister? What's in it for you? And please don't tell me you enjoy playing nursemaid to two children."
A female of her persuasions? Franny had heard herself described in far baser terms, but even so it hurt. "Indigo is my friend. I enjoy being with her, that's all."
"Bullshit," he shot back. "I know your kind, don't think I don't, and you always have an ulterior motive. What is it, money? You hope to play on her sympathy and get into her pockets?”
- “Watching her, he couldn't help but draw a comparison between her and all the other prostitutes he had ever known. There was no similarity. Franny whatever-her-last-name-was had the mark of a lady.”
- “A whore has no business being as thick as thieves with a decent young woman.”
- (His sister) “I'm the only friend she has, Chase."
He gave a derisive snort. "Since when do whores expect to have friends? Jesus, Indigo, surely you can't be that naive.”
- “All in the world he had done was proposition a prostitute. If that was a criminal offense, add his name to a long list. Sex was the girl's business, for Christ's sake. It wasn't as if he had insulted a lady or something.”
- “He supposed the whole lot of them expected him to go to the saloon, hat in hand, to apologize. To a whore, of all the crazy things”
(as if being a prostitute makes her less than human, and undeserving of an apology)
- “You came out here to ask me to go apologize to Fanny or Franny or whatever in hell her name is.”
- “I'm not bitter, I just know her kind, and trust me, she's pure poison. Don't believe she's all that she pretends to be, not for a minute."
"What is it she pretends to be?"
Chase wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Hell, I don't know. Innocent! She pretends to be innocent, and I know damned well she can't be."
"Has she said this to you? That she is innocent?"
"No, of course not. It's just a look she has. You know, all wide-eyed and—" He broke off.”
(He accuses her of being a lying, deceiving poison because... *checks notes* she has wide eyes.)
- “I'll go over and apologize to her," he whispered hoarsely. "I won't mean a damned word of it, but I'll do it. I hope that'll satisfy you.”
Charming. 1 ⭐️