Review: Some Kind of Hero
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
How did I forget about the talented Ms. Brockmann? She's one of the mainstream romance writers back in the day who wrote M/M romance. I remember thinking, wow, it's nice to see this written and there are so few of them. Plus, I was starting to get more into the romantic suspense genre. I recently came across her again because of the disaster going on in RWA. Whilst the issues of exclusivity in RWA have exploded and people are screaming at each other, some of the writers who have left RWA or felt marginalized have shared their story. Ms. Brockmann did not share hers. Someone else mentioned how she was discouraged from writing M/M. That she should tone it down. I'm glad she didn't. For me, some good has come out of the RWA meltdown because I've found some new authors to read and I am reunited with ones I enjoyed.
In this suspense tale, it is built on multiple layers as it first comes across as an angry teen grieving for her dead mother. Forced to now live with her father she's never known and moved to a place to start over high school, it is challenging. On the surface this seemingly straightforward plot quickly evolves into a complicated journey for both father and daughter. This is in between trying to stay ahead of the bad guys and trying to figure out what happened to cause the daughter to run. Yes, there's a romance but I mostly ignored it because the chemistry between the two characters was meh. When it comes to sexy chemistry, I don't read Ms. Brockman for it. Her strengths for me are the character building and suspense elements. If she could drop the romance part, I would enjoy her stories even better. I digress.
For teenage Maddie who loves her mother so dearly, this is one of the hardest times in her life. Not because her mother died in a terrible accident, but because the world as she knows it is now how she's been told. To find out that her father never abandoned her is shocking, but to see her mother from two other sets of eyes is the most heartbreaking for her. Maddie's epiphany is not something she wants because she struggles to reconcile the mother she wants to remember to reality. Learning about how her father met her mother gave a totally different perspective of how she can to be. Finding out the relationship between her father and mother tears her apart because he never was the bad guy. He isn't a villain which means, perhaps her mother was not so innocent. But how does one speak ill of the dead? The dead can not defend themselves. Ms. Brockmann does an excellent job of working this tough situation through.
A clever plot device is Peter, Maddie's father writing his story in a serial installment, chapter by chapter. This gives him the opportunity to share his life in a manner Maddie can learn about, when she wants to learn. She doesn't have to sit down and listen. When she's ready to listen, she can read it. Over and over again. I love this concept and wonder if perhaps more people should do this. Peter does have help from a neighbor who happens to be a writer. So he's stacking the cards in his favour.
This story is a smooth read from beginning to end. There are moments of frustration where I wanted to slap Maddie upside the head because she's so stupid. She is only fifteen, home schooled by a flighty mother and grieving. What can we expect from a child? This is realistic and made the story better. This romantic suspense is sweet and loving, recommended to readers who enjoy a journey of growth.
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