The Purple Menace and the Tobacco Prince by Wade Beauchamp
- Publisher : Gold Dust Publishing (March 1, 2024)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 328 pages
- Amazon Link (we may get a small stipend if you buy here)
Carol’s Rating: 3.9 out of 5 stars
I’m not one for romance. It is probably the one genre I read the least. And frankly, I didn’t realize this book was technically a romance when I bought it. I bought it because I liked the title and the cover.
Set in the 1930’s, TPM&TTP tells the story of the doomed romance between Wright Williams, heir to a tobacco fortune (he is your Tobacco Prince) and Elizabeth “Bizzy” Holt, a torch singer and Broadway star (she is your Purple Menace). Wright meets Bizzy after a performance in New York and quickly becomes obsessed with winning her love – or at least her attention. And he has a lot of competition, both men and women. Theirs is not a conventional romance – Wright has some personal issues that need dealing with (not to mention a wife) and Bizzy is far too infatuated with her flamboyant lifestyle (not to mention her girlfriend) to settle down. Thus begins a game of “catch me if you can”, with Wright chasing Bizzy around the globe. It helps that he’s an amateur pilot and can show up whenever she seems to be partying.
As stated, I am generally not drawn to romance, but I liked this one a lot. It helps that it isn’t a standard romance – there is a bit of queerness, a bit of voyeurism, and a quite a bit of self-harm depicted. This isn’t a fairytale couple. I’m not sure if you are even supposed to like them much. But I was involved with Wright and Bizzy’s story. I knew from the start that this probably wouldn’t end well, but I eager to see what the outcome would be. I’m a sucker for tales of the glamour of the 30’s and 40’s and this book has a lot of that! What keeps me from giving this book a full four stars is Wright. He has a habit of threatening a certain action (which I will not name here) and it started to make me irritated with his character. I found these threats to be manipulative and childish. And while I feel that is deliberate – it made me like the character less and begin to think Bizzy could do much better.
So, if you like your romance with some kink, some spice and a healthy dose of longing, this would be a good one to pick up! And you would be supporting a local author!
Be sure to check out the Guardians of the Geekery podcast with Jason Roach of Gold Dust Publishing – which published this book. He was a joy to have on the show!
I will be searching out more books by Wade Beauchamp – I like his style!
