"Throwaway" is not your typical romance novel - wrapped up in a typical romance.
It features many favorite romance novel conventions:
Wrong side of the tracks/Opposites Attract
Secondary Romance
First Love
Nice Guy Cop (hero)
Small Town/Diner/Family
Running from Bad Guys (typical of Romantic Suspense)
But, this is what makes it NOT a typical romance, the heroine is a prostitute.
I've seen many historical romances featuring courtesans and mistresses - and movies frequently reference the 'hooker with a heart of gold' but Jessie doesn't really fit either of these stereotypes. She was forced out of the state foster care system and ended up with a pimp who won't even free her when she 'retires' because then he'll just keep her for himself, she doesn't have any real outs...even after she meets a cop named Gabe who knows what she does and still falls for her.
I liked this novel, it felt self-published (it's published by Booktrope which seems really cool actually) not in the sense that it was full of grammatical errors and typos, but in the sense that a contemporary romance published by the big houses would not feature a heroine like Jessie.
I enjoyed this book, it's really a light read despite the subject matter -
most of the darker issues are avoided or explained away - and she does encourage donating money to the cause of girls like Jessie on her Blog.
