A Review of Spine of Steel, by Andrea Janelle

Spine of Steel is a delightful, short, romp of a novella, set in Victorian era Virginia. Perry Trenton is a staunch suffragette, fighting against the constraints on women’s free speech. Her brother’s best friend, a lawyer and “the single most infuriating man on the planet,” may be the only one who can save her from the local Comstock laws.

Setting

Roughly the 1880s, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

Main Characters

Pericles (Perry) Trenton runs the local newspaper and has a side gig of publishing pamphlets to help women learn more about acts relegated strictly to the marriage bed (and sometimes illegal, even then) by laws inspired by the ultimate busy-body, Anthony Comstock. She is determined to keep her Women’s Home Improvement Society writings a secret among the members, until one day, her brother’s best friend aquires a copy of one of her pamphlets.

Diogenes (Dio) Castellano is the local prosecutor and the best friend of Archimedes (Archie) Trenton, and constantly spars with Archie’s reckless sister, Perry. He is certain she is doing something that will bring her to ruin. Or at least bring him to ruin, since he feels unfathomably riled whenever her parents trot out suiters for her hand. Which he had no designs on, himself. None at all.

Romance

Perry finds Dio irksome. Ever since a town baseball game five years earlier, when Dio got knocked down by her brother’s errant pitch, and Perry was the first to Dio’s side, she hasn’t been able to stop thinking about his lips. Lips which should not be such a recurring memory. Nor should fantasies about his gloriously formed backside.

When he catches her delivering her contraband pamphlets, the only way she can think to distract him is to kiss him. It distracts her even more than it distracts him, and she doesn’t notice him slipping a copy of her pamphlet from the stack in her arms.

Dio believes in the same principles of women’s suffrage that Perry does, but he knows the law and is afraid she is going to be arrested and lose her newspaper. The only thing he can think of to save her from herself is to marry her, which he finds unnervingly enticing. Alas, Perry refuses to lose what little legal independence a woman of that era had by marrying anyone. Perhaps a little bit of exploration at the town picnic might change her mind…

This is a novella, so the romance progresses quickly!

Plot

Dio sets out to convince her to marry to him…for her safety and for his own sanity. And while she is unwilling to give up her legal freedoms, she is intrigued by what she will be missing by never marrying.

But when word gets out about her writings, Dio’s legal training and devotion may be the only thing that can save her.

Historical Worldbuilding

The dresses and Comstock laws set this around the 1880s in terms of fashion in both clothing and state legislation. The story includes rich details about everything from Perry’s printing press, to the men’s extravagant facial hair, to the advantages of bustles over hoops when pressed up against the object of one’s passion. Some of the legal elements lack subtlety, but they will likely feel more than timely for many readers. Overall, the history is accurate without overwhelming the fun of the characters’ relationship.

Tropes

A classic sibling’s best friend trope, and one could also call it a “frenemies” to lovers story, which is perfect for a novella. With Perry’s outspoken recklessness, and Dio’s stodgy lawyerly-ness, they are also a delightful opposites attract.

Secondary Characters

This is a rather short story (117 pages), so there is not much room for many secondary characters, but Archie and Maude, Perry’s best friend, are well drawn and set up for their own book. And Perry’s mother is the quintessential female anti-suffragist. They did exist, in large numbers, and came close to derailing women’s rights.

Point of View

The story is written in third person and alternates between Perry’s and Dio’s points of view.

In Summary

• This is a bubbly novella that is great fun, while at the same time, showing that what was old is new again.
• It is set in 1880s small-town Virginia.
• The main characters are both lively and utterly enthralled by each other, no matter how hard they try to deny it. Perry is a bold heroine, and Dio is a dashing hero behind behind his spectacles.
• The history of the moment is accurate, and while not always subtle, it is also does not overpower the fun of the characters, and it is relevant to our modern times.
• The tropes are sibling’s best friend, frenemies to lovers, and opposites attract, and they combine to make these characters positively effervescent with each other.
• The heat level is about a 3 out of 5. There is sex on the page, and one of the characters has made it her mission to bring sex-education to her fellow female townsfolk.

Keep them coming!

Please continue to let me know about historical romances set in the Americas that you enjoy. I am reader, too, and I would love to hear about them and also share them with others. I am grateful to the author who sent me this one! I received a review copy for free.

Do you also love historical romance set in American history? My next novel, Pasion’s Duty, Romance and the American Ranger, Book One, is set in 1755, at the start of the Seven Years War (also known as the French and Indian War). It is now available for pre-order! Sign up for my newsletter for updates on its release this June, for bonus content, and to know when I post reviews of more historical romances set in the Americas! Be sure to check your spam folder if you don’t see the confirmation email, since the system requires that you confirm your email before I can start sending you my newsletter.

Image: “St. Anthony Comstock, the Village nuisance” Glackens, Louis M., 1866-1933, artist, 1906. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

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