Anne Stuart - Black Ice

Living paycheck to paycheck in Paris, American book translator Chloe Underwood would give anything for some excitement and passion--even a little danger. So when she's offered a lucrative weekend gig translating at a business conference in a remote chateau, she jumps at the chance to shake things up.
Then by chance Chloe discovers her employers are anything but the entrepreneurs they appear, and suddenly she knows far too much. Her clients are illegal arms dealers, and one of them is ordered to kill her. But instead, Bastien Toussaint drags Chloe away, and the next thing she knows she's on the run with the most terrifying and seductive man she's ever met. What were his motives--and would she live long enough to find out?

Comment: I got this book at a book exchange site (Bookmooch) years ago... I no longer remember why, but probably it was because the main character is a translator, like me! This month I had a topic in a challenge I'm doing with one of my GR groups and we had to read a book with a cover that indicated winter. Thus, ta-da.

In this story we meet Chloe Underwwod, a young American woman who is living in Paris and does translation of children's books. Her bank account isn't the best but she likes her life enough, especially if it means not going into medicine just like all the other members of her family. One day her c-worker Sylvia offers her the chance to be a translator at a conference retreat, because Sylvia wants to spend time with her new boyfriend and Chloe accepts, since it's so out of her routine.

However, the conference is really only for a small group of people and they seem a little intimidating to Chloe. The discussion, which doesn't really need her services as much as it seemed at first, is about exporting mostly food and it's rather boring... at least until Chloe realizes they aren't really talking about food and all are, in fact, rather dangerous people. Bastian Toussaint might not look the most dangerous, but he certainly is so to Chloe's senses, but... what will happen is everyone discovers she now knows the truth?

Last month I've read a book by one of this author's pseudonyms, Kristina Douglas. I've found that book to be average to me, considering my current preferences. While I was reading that one I've realized I also had this Black Ice in the pile, by the same author, but in a different genre and name. I was quite eager to read this one, then, if only to compare my overall experience, and now that I did, I can say I find both names equally average in how I respond.

The story has a good enough premise, although slightly annoying to me: the translator this conference should hire would have been an interpreter because in such situations, there are specific translator professionals for specific types of translation work. But anyway, this is fiction and the amount of languages Chloe knows not very important after all. I also read a review by a friend ans she commented why would this unknown translator even be there, if the people had such need of privacy and spoke English in common? The idea is, therefore, relatively interesting and I was eager to see scenes with her working, but in reality there weren't that many situations where this is visible, and I assume the female protagonist's "skill" was only the means to justify her presence there.

The fact the male protagonist is a so-called anti-hero, meaning he does bad things for a higher purpose without sharing that with the heroine, is not a type of plot that seduces me anymore. I remember having found this idea fun in the past, mostly in movies, because the danger and romance combination was quite out of the ordinary, but reading about Bastian kind of annoyed me. Well, many things annoyed me and I'll group all those things into the simple fact that the writer's "voice" didn't compel me and I just could not avoid thinking about the details I wanted to rant about.

Well, Bastian annoyed me for the same reason "heroes" who are anti-heroes often do: why would such a clever, skilled and resourceful person want to do the job he does? Why not being clever enough to make other choices? I know reality bears no importance in these novels or romances, but my brain cannot turn off these thoughts. This means that, to me, Bastian playing the role of this bad guy who has no other way of living is annoying as everything. Plus, how on Earth should I believe him helping Chloe and all the things that happen afterwards makes sense?

Yes, I was not convinced by the "romance" and the way this is written just didn't make it possible for me to focus on this world, I kept letting reality intrude and make me think about what they should do instead. I had the same feeling when I've read a different book, an historical, by this author, but I had also liked another one much better. Perhaps my impression of the author's ability to convince me of what the characters are doing/feeling does not match what I prefer in contemporary settings. I think there are too many dramatic and fast paced scenes here to make this an enjoyable romance development. I cannot believe in a HEA just by the way these two interact and if I start dreaming about what life they could have together after the last page is turned, there isn't one in which I can believe they have enough in common, personality wise, to make it work.

I think I've felt so dissociated from what was being told that I could read this book and not be as invested in what was happening anyway. But, of course, the more I think about details, the more irritated I get, for instance even the whole shady business the conference is about, some of the things some characters said annoyed me so much as well... the real world is full of highly improbable issues humankind can solve easily, and to have these characters talk about their illegal business when the same effort could be used to solve problems instead.... well, I felt both annoyed at the plot and uncaring for the main couple that the quicker I'd finish, the better.

I can understand the thrill of reading this books for some readers, but these days I prefer other types of plots and stories. Other types of characters to root for...  Perhaps if more attention had been dedicated to develop the main characters or if the story had focused more on them and not on their running from the other guys... oh well, one less in the pile.

Grade: 5/10