Broken Shackles by Adele Morley – reviewed by Vicki Grimshaw
First of all, confession time – I’ve never read a Mills and Boon-style novel before and, frankly, I’m probably not the best candidate. My idea of a grand romantic gesture is when my boyfriend remembers to load the dishwasher without me asking him to. Plus, I’m a 37 year-old woman with the mind of Beavis and/or Butthead, so phrases such as “rock hard cock” leave me sniggering for a good half hour. That said, this slender romantic novel is yet another example of the fantastic get-up-and-go spirit (excuse the vague innuendo) that we have in Leeds. Created by a group of romantic literature fans, under the watchful eye of The Culture Vulture, and unveiled at the Morley Literature Festival, this is a brilliant example of what people can do when they combine their creative juices (!).
I was surprised to learn, after reading Broken Shackles, that chapters were divided between each of the seven writers; it certainly didn’t feel disjointed in any way and the story and characters flowed seamlessly. Victoria Quatermain (and how stupid am I – it took me 24 hours to get the Leeds pun!) is a feisty youth theatre worker, forced into the orbit of Capitalist property developer Nate Rothwell (got that one straight away) when he buys the mill which houses Victoria’s theatre group. Pride and prejudice ensue, but neither can deny the steamy sexual tension which exists between them (nor, evidently, the “rock hard cock” which makes an appearance from time to time).
We’re not breaking the mould here (from my limited knowledge of such matters): both have tragedy in their pasts, misunderstandings and fraught emotions tear the lovers apart, before matters are satisfactorily resolved with a nice, happy ending (in both senses). There are, however, some pleasing touches – Victoria is no wet blanket, waiting for a man to complete her life; she is passionate about her youth work, and cares deeply about her community. I suspect that at least one of the writers has had some negative experiences with a Board on a community arts project, since the theatre Board probably comes off worse than anyone else in Broken Shackles, with members not pulling their weight at all – leaving inexperienced Victoria to buy a property at auction (and fend off the advances of Nate Rothwell’s rock hard cock at Pontefract races) all by herself. It’s refreshing to see a romantic novel which engages with the realities of the present day – the romance between Nate and Victoria is set against a backdrop of recession and arts-funding cuts.
I’m not sure that I’m a convert to romance just yet (that dishwasher still needs loading), but I suspect that Broken Shackles is as good, if not better, than the majority of Mills and Boon’s output. I admit that I anticipated clunky, wince-inducing writing, and was pleasantly surprised by just how well Broken Shackles flowed, and how professionally edited the whole thing was. I just need to stop sniggering about that cock!