From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…

Indigo

Beverly Jenkins

Start date: October 10, 2018

Discussion: 2018 Read Harder Challenge

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2018 Read Harder Challenge

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* 2018 Read Harder Challenge
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* Complete 2018 RHC Task List
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What Members Thought

Feb 25, 2012 Nadine in NY Jones rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: authors-i-don-t-ever-want-to-read-a, did-not-finish, historical-romance, era-civil-war

I don't understand it. This book got SO MANY rave reviews, I had to read it! Three or four chapters in, and the writing is consistently wooden, the exposition is clunky and then some. What a disappointment! I don't understand this, an experienced writer, huge fan base, and a truly dramatic setting (slaves escaping to the North on the "Underground Railroad") and ... it falls flat? I continue to read, hoping that it picks up, but yet .... I've got 6 other books waiting to be read, too ... and a fi I don't understand it. This book got SO MANY rave reviews, I had to read it! Three or four chapters in, and the writing is consistently wooden, the exposition is clunky and then some. What a disappointment! I don't understand this, an experienced writer, huge fan base, and a truly dramatic setting (slaves escaping to the North on the "Underground Railroad") and ... it falls flat? I continue to read, hoping that it picks up, but yet .... I've got 6 other books waiting to be read, too ... and a finite amount of time in my life.

*

I almost got to the end, and I found myself skimming ahead looking for the actual story. At that point I decided to give it up, it's a did-not-finish.

I particularly disliked the hero, and the way their relationship is described. Here we have the heroine, Hester, who escaped from slavery at the age of 9 to live with her aunt in Michigan. This young woman bravely and selflessly opens her home to "passengers" on the Underground Railroad, she risks her own life and freedom to help strangers, she sacrifices her own meals so that others may eat. The hero, Galen, a famous slave rescuer known as The Black Daniel, arrives in her home one night with a "conductor" - Galen has been beaten and is near death. Hester nurses him back to health. And then we are to believe that he is the big handsome rich man who has everything, and she is the little poor woman who is grateful for his attentions? No further acknowledgement is given to how bravely she has lead her life. All we hear about is how rich he is, the gifts he gives her, and (of course) how awesome her orgasms are from his skilled fingers. He is completely egotistical and tells her what to do. He insists on calling her "Indigo" despite her regular assertions that her name is Hester.
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One interesting thing I noticed: in most historical romances I read, set among British gentry or Scottish highlanders, the heroine's skin is usually described as very pale, and the hero is naturally bronzed by the sun. In this romance, the heroine is described as being very dark (her hands and feet are stained even darker by indigo dye that she worked with as a slave), and the hero is described as very pale.

One annoying thing (aside from all the other annoying things already mentioned): the auxiliary characters are not described as being black or white. This is a story based on escaped slaves for god's sake, it is GROUNDED in racial tension, and yet I can't figure out (for example) if the sheriff is black or white. I know race shouldn't matter today, but it mattered back then to the people in the story. If the sheriff is a black guy (as I originally assumed), it's moderately interesting that he was best friends with Hester's black father. If he's a white guy (as I came to suspect), it's VERY interesting. ...more

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Jan 30, 2025 Melissa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: romantic-reads, books-i-should-read-again-later, my-favorite-things, books-i-heard, overdue-reads

A long-overdue re-read - I decided to pair this with a read Imani Perry's new book Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People and WHAT a ride (and unintentionally preceded these with Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents which was not planned due to when the library hold came in on Libby). So much I didn't understand back when I read this as a college freshman, roaming the shelves of the public library over winter break with not much to do except go to the library and read ...more

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Jun 11, 2023 Tara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I very much enjoyed the his historical romance. Hester and Galen are a couple who sweeps you up into their story. I cared deeply for them and the history woven into the story.

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