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This book is very much an exploration of couture as atmosphere. With access to accoutrements from her Aunt Izzy that span from the 20s to the 50s, Paisley Vandermeir immerses herself (and by extension the reader) in various epochs of haute couture. This works very well to establish an ethereal mood that I came to enjoy more than I expected that I would. The thing is that Paisley is pretty ethereal herself, though you come to realize how much of that is a defense mechanism for finding herself astride two worlds from such a young age and for such a long time afterwards (though the worlds shifted somewhat over time).

This emotional self defense drives much of the conflict in the story as she tries to manipulate her way through what she considers the family curse without lasting damage (to herself, but also to others). Her rather desperate search for love coupled with her certainty of disappointment might have gotten old or tedious in another novel, but this is where Burroughs' adept sense of mood and place became such an asset. I could see Paisley's desperation as expressed through style, but also the hope buried beneath it. And I came to care about her enough (and see Chris's resolve in ways she couldn't) that I was more than willing to ride out her self-defeating fits and starts in order to get to the good stuff that promised to be behind them. And that promise is more than fulfilled.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that Chris is such a lovely, steady man. Not that he doesn't have his moments of disequilibrium or his own fits and starts. But you can see that he's made of strong stuff and I never worried that he wouldn't stand buff to all that Paisley's insecurities would throw at him. And that bears out, too.

If I have a complaint, it'd actually be that the story is so short. I'm not sure how I'd extend it (if I could), but I reached the end and found myself wanting more. That's not a bad thing, by any means...

A note about editions: This book from the marvelous Book View Café. If you pick it up there, not only is it a DRM-free ebook, but a huge percentage of the price ends up in the hands of the author—always a bonus, as far as I'm concerned...

A note about Steamy: Two (or was it three?) explicit scenes of moderate length put this in the upper-mid range of my steam tolerance. That's mostly because the story is short enough that it felt like a lot...