Review: Taking Chase, by Lauren Dane

My Take In Brief: A good book which made me wonder why Lisa Kleypas got all the credit for writing about recovery from domestic abuse.

Cover comment: Heroine is good, but hero is supposed to be a huge, imposing cop.

Series?: Yes, this is book 2 of the 4 volume Chase brothers series.

Setting: Contemporary small town Georgia.

Heroine and Hero: Beautiful former vascular surgeon Cassie changes her identity and settles in Petal, Georgia to escape from her abusive ex husband. Petal police officer Shane Chase, of the 4-hot-brothers/pillars-of-the-community Chase family is just the kind of alpha male Cassie wants no part of. But sparks fly, and you know what happens next…

Conflicts: The major internal conflict is Cassie’s recovery from abuse, lack of self-trust, and fear of men, alpha men in particular, of which Shane is one. A more minor conflict involves Shane’s inability to trust women (his ex fiancée cheated on him with his best friend), which makes Cassie’s need for independence and privacy that much harder for him to handle. Of course, Cassie’s deranged ex is on the loose and the specter of their final confrontation hangs over the entire book.

The Racy Romance Review:

This is the third book by Lauren Dane that I have read and enjoyed, after Giving Chase and the novella To Do List. If I had to say what I appreciate the most about Ms. Dane’s books it would be (a) believable, compelling conflicts, and (b) the healthy, positive way that sex is portrayed.

Having read Giving Chase, I knew that Shane was a love ‘em and leave ‘em guy. I was sure the conflict in Shane’s book was going to be the same old same old: can he be a one woman man? Can the heroine trust him not to cheat? But no. Ms. Dane had a much more interesting story to tell about Shane, one that made him grow as a man in more complicated ways than just trading string-free sex for monogamy and a white picket fence.  When Shane meets Cassie, all of the things that make him irresistible to women — his rugged good looks, sheer size, his imposing presence, the air of authority he has as a police officer, his tendency to make unilateral decisions, his possessiveness — terrify Cassie, who sees in all of these things the shadow of her abusive ex-husband.

For this reader, Taking Chase raised many interesting questions about masculinity, the main one being whether Shane and Cassie’s ex were two sides of the same coin, or different currency altogether.  Where’s the line between healthy jealousy and unhealthy possessiveness? The line between caring and controlling? Between protection and paternalism?  Between taking control sexually, and restricting someone else’s sexual freedom?

Like many victims of abuse who are in recovery, Cassie knows there’s a line, but she no longer trusts her own judgment to find it. This lack of self-trust is one of the most devastating effects of domestic violence on women. Rather than make things easy for Cassie, or for the reader, Ms. Dane gives us a hero who actually does tiptoe very close, or even cross that line. Cassie’s reactions to Shane help him to see himself in a new light, to discern the dangers in his domineering ways, and to change.

The portrayal of Cassie’s abusive relationship, what it cost her, and her recovery seemed to me to be exceptionally well done. Taking Chase was published in 2006, almost two years prior to Lisa Kleypas’s Blue-Eyed Devil, which tackles the exact same themes. Having read both books, I felt the portrayal of the effects of the abuse and of the recovery was at least as good in Taking Chase as in Blue-Eyed Devil, and, perhaps because Ms. Dane writes more explicit material as a rule, I felt the sex scenes in particular were actually superior. The initial consummation scene in Taking Chase was heartwarming and heartbreaking (as well as pretty hot)  in a way that reminded me of Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Dream a Little Dream, which I ranked as one of my 9 most favorite romantic sex scenes in the genre.

I really appreciate the healthy way sex is portrayed in Taking Chase, even when, as in this case, the heroine has major trust and intimacy issues.  While I usually like more sexual tension than Ms. Dane tends to write, I have a certain favored ideal of egalitarian, mutually respectful, empowering, fun, imaginative, affectionate sex that she captures really well. (Maybe we can’t really have both?)

Not everything worked for me in Taking Chase: the Chase family, always seeming to travel en masse, bearing peach cobbler, flowers, and helpful advice, was a bit too much, I found the transitions (or maybe pacing?) kind of abrupt, and there is a slight distance for me from the goings on when I read this author, but overall, this was an enjoyable read in which I was engrossed from the first page to the last.