Title: Rescued
Author: Arlene Lam
Genre: Historical Romance, Interracial Romance
Publisher: CreateSpace
Publication Date: July 27th 2012
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Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for honest review.

Rescued is a historical romance novel, and one of the first in the genre I’ve read in quite a while. It was actually a refreshing read, considering it’s one of the first interracial romance novels I’ve read as well. It’s not that I would shy away from the topic or something like that, it’s just that I never really get the chance to read or review books in this genre, so of course I jumped for the opportunity.

The story is about Amelia, a young woman who works as a maid in the household of Mr. Bradford, a bachelor whose recently returned from overseas. Amelia is convinced she’s not worth much, since her half-sister keeps on insisting she’s ugly and the only man ever interested in her is a sixty-something year old who’s been lusting after her since she was a child. Amelia has zero confidence, so naturally she can’t believe it when Jordan, Mr. Bradford, is interested in her. At first, Jordan tries to keep his distance, not because of Amelia’s skin color or that she’s his maid, but because he wants to protect her. He’s never been in love – except with his first wife, and that ended disasterously – and he doesn’t want something like this to happen to Amelia. She misunderstands everything he says, falsely believing he thinks she’s ugly as well. While Jordan grows more and more in love with Amelia, she tries to come to terms with her own feelings, which may result in her having to leave everything behind to be with this man.

What I thought was interesting about this book is the historical setting. It’s actually pretty vague when exactly the book is set – slavery is abolished, but still black and white people aren’t treated equally, and it would be frowned upon, even dangerous, if they had a relationship. The small share of interracial romance novels I’ve read were mostly in the period when slavery was still accepted by society, so it was great to see another perspective, an evolving one, on a more evolved society.

I liked Jordan. He was a nice, male read. Very alpha, and at times contradictory, but in a way that seemed to suit him. He was literally hot and cold, pullling Amelia close one minute and pushing her away the next. I liked his little mind games at the start, but by the end of the book (roughly at around page 200) I wish he’d grow up and start to value Amelia more. A little later, he did, and not a moment to see, or he may have lost her forever. I liked this character’s growth, his change in personality, from being a man who feared love and kept everyone at arm’s length to becoming someone who was not afraid to let others in.

Amelia was a different story though. I didn’t like her that much. Everyone kept saying about how nice she was, and it was, but I was a bit wary why even Margaret, Jordan’s cousin, would consider her a friend, since there would be a class difference the size of Mount Everest betwen them – Maragret being a proper lady, and Amelia a maid. Also, Amelia’s half-sister was really annoying, always trying to make Amelia do what she wanted to, and not once did Amelia stand up to her. There’s a difference between being nice and being a push over. In this case, the line was blurry. I also didn’t see Amelia evolve, instead it just happened. From one page to the other, not gradually at all. I liked the evolution in her personality though, she became wittier, more confident, and that was a good thing.

I did like the relationship between Jordan and Amelia. I had my doubts about them halfway through though, when Jordan showed a nasty streak to his personality, and wondered how I couldn’t have seen that one coming.

The story itself may not be the most original one (maid falls for handsome, charming lord of the house, and he, even though he used to date around and didn’t like commitment, falls for her because she’s special) I liked the execution of the story here. I liked the historical setting, which was sometimes described in so much detail I could imagine myself walking through the mansion.

If you’re in need of some historical romance for those cold winter nights, give Rescued a try.

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