Ella Dominguez is an enthusiastic writer and self-starter. She publishes her own romantic erotica -- from the writing to the cover art to the technical stuff to the marketing -- and her energy and enthusiasm shine through. Her latest book, "Return to Grace Street," is obviously a labor of love as well as lust, and I enjoyed reading it if only for the sheer pleasure of knowing I was reading the result of an acquaintance's dedication to practicing and improving her craft.
I never read romance -- I've always preferred science fiction and literary fiction -- but I respect the genre and the writers who work within its constraints. The fretting and overthinking often found in romance tend to turn me off, and "Return to Grace Street" has an abundance of both, so I wouldn't have read the book but that I wanted to learn more about where the romance genre was headed and about Ms Dominguez' style and focus.
Even though I'm not drawn to romance's flourishes and stylistic tics, I do applaud the direction most romance is headed: in accepting and encouraging women to admit to their own desires as sexual beings, with their own agency and autonomy. "Return to Grace Street" is the BDSM version of that, wherein we see that the main character, Elsa, not only has to admit to herself that she loves someone, but also that she wants a particular kind of expression of love that might initially feel wrong to her.
The plot has the usual setbacks and obstacles and cross-communication that keeps lovers apart in romance novels. Rather than leave those things as superficial or external to the couple, however, Ms Dominguez uses them as opportunities to tease out the depth of the other main character, Victor. While I was disappointed that Elsa's character never gained the same depth, Victor's development held my interest and I could see why it was central to the book: I needed to know why Elsa cared so much for him, and she, Elsa, needed to know why, as well, to make it worth her time to stay. That's my favorite thing about this story: that it's ultimately Elsa's decision, that she has to know why Victor behaves as he does, why she's drawn to him, and to make her choice with her eyes wide open.
The erotic passages of the book were a little short for my tastes, but I have the feeling most readers will find them satisfactory. They did excite me, and I liked the bondage aspect to them, but I felt perhaps they might have relied too heavily on the preceding story to provide context and, since I haven't read the first story -- "Grace Street" -- the lack of background information sometimes made the bondage scenes feel a little perfunctory.
As for the technical aspects, there were a few spelling errors and possible grammatical issues, but nothing distressing enough to pull me out of the story. I do think the self-publishing movement might result in a return to an earlier era in writing, when spelling was less of an issue and readers cared more about content, and I've already decided I'm on the side of content.
Anyway, Ms Dominguez deserves kudos for her latest romance. It's hard work, in any genre, to put together a story that feels unique and prompts the reader to care about the characters. "Return to Grace Street" signals a strong desire and ability to do both.
You can find "Return to Grace Street" and the rest of Ms Dominguez' catalog at Smashwords and Amazon.
Note: I won a digital copy of the book in a contest. Ms Dominguez did not solicit my review and I receive no compensation for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment