She rescued him first, but there’s also a pivotal moment when he comes to her aid in a dispute with a white man, and they both know it’s at great personal risk. The way he cares for, loves and stands up for Spring while also knowing when to stand down only makes him more appealing. But Garrett is all of those things and it never diminishes him. In historical romances, Black men are rarely afforded the space to be soft, sweet and supportive heroes who dote on their women and don’t mind when they take the reins (literally, in this case). Garrett is the rarest of Black romantic heroes: the cinnamon roll. In “Wild Rain,” Spring Lee defies family and societal expectations by running her own horse ranch in Wyoming Territory, where women in the United States - white and Black alike - first gained the right to vote. In the first, “Rebel,” Valinda Lacey defied the Klan and some Black elites in New Orleans to start a school for formerly enslaved people and their children in the aftermath of the Civil War. “Wild Rain” is the second in the Women Who Dare series.
The signature elements of Jenkins’s work come together in spectacular form in “Wild Rain,” a boldly feminist narrative about a female rancher. Pilar from “Destiny’s Captive” is a gun-running revolutionary and a pirate. While her protagonists are Black or multiracial, they’re diverse in other ways: A Jenkins heroine might be a doctor (“Vivid”), schoolteacher (“Rebel”), seamstress (“Destiny’s Embrace”) or courtesan (“Destiny’s Surrender”). They feature Black people supporting and loving one another with heat and abandon regardless of circumstance fiercely independent Black women who are adored an ethos of Black solidarity and liberation and a sophisticated appreciation for the nuances of class structure. White Regencies are only part of romance, but for many they represent the ultimate escape (if you can set aside the ugly realities underpinning them).įor those who hesitate to delve into African-American historical romances for want of that visceral fantasy element, Beverly Jenkins’s novels - richly grounded in history and yet bristling with joy - are a revelation. But the disconnect between the multiracial streaming series and its monoracial literary source material also highlighted the limitations of that particular romance novel subgenre. In the time of plague, nothing soothes like a love story, as the blockbuster success of “ Bridgerton” on Netflix reminded many of us.
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