Leather & Lark

This section focuses primarily on developing the inevitable progression of the enemies-to-lovers trope, strategically inserting key moments that illustrate the protagonists’ gradual attempts to get to know each other on a more personal level. However, this progress is hampered by The Challenge of Embracing Authenticity. The enemies-to-lovers trope in Leather & Lark is further complicated in this section because although Lachlan willingly shifts his understanding of Lark and embraces a more positive view of her, Lark resists reconsidering her own preconceived notions about Lachlan, and her ongoing distrust stymies his attempts to learn who she truly is. Only her involuntary moment of vulnerability in the close, confined space of the stalled elevator allows Lachlan to realize the seriousness of his mistake on their first meeting when he put her in the trunk of a car. He muses:

Have I wounded her? I know I have. But maybe not with a fresh, shallow strike that would soon be forgotten. No, I think I sliced through thin tissue that first night we met. And there is still something bleeding deep beneath the wound (133-34).

At this point in the narrative, Lachlan realizes that he grossly misjudged Lark on their first meeting, and he becomes determined to earn her forgiveness and transform their relationship. Lachlan also realizes that he genuinely wants to understand her and help her. Despite Lark’s unwillingness to shift her view of Lachlan—a stubbornness that persists because he has not specifically apologized for putting her in a trunk—there are numerous signs that the two protagonists are no longer enemies. In the final chapter of this section, Lark’s admission of nervousness and subsequent correction illustrates both her growing vulnerability and her reluctance to open up fully to Lachlan. The nuances of the moment show that Lachlan and Lark’s relationship is changing for the better despite Lark’s resistance, and the scene therefore hints at The Transformative Power of Love and Forgiveness that will change eventually both characters’ lives for the better.

This section also illustrates new angles to The Challenge of Embracing Authenticity. Because this novel is easily classified as a dark romance, Lark’s murderous tendencies are an essential part of her authentic identity, as is her compulsion to hide these actions from the people she loves. Ironically, however, the narrative hints that Lark has not hidden her proclivities quite as well as she imagines, and this dynamic becomes clear when Sloane and Rowan warn Lachlan that Lark is quite vindictive. Their perspective on the situation allows Lachlan to discard his misguided assumptions about Lark and begin to study her with a more objective lens; from this new perspective, he soon realizes that she is actually a serial killer. However, the author preserves a softer view of Lark by revealing that she hides the worst parts of herself because she cares so deeply about preserving the good opinions of the people she loves; she does not want others to see this dark persona that she has created. Her deeply ingrained shame shows that she has not yet accepted the hidden parts of herself, for she is only willing to reveal her murderous habits to someone whom she believes has a terrible opinion of her already. Additionally, the first-person narration reveals that the only person who truly hates Lark is Lark herself.

The dual perspectives used in this section encourage the romantic tension and leaven the more gruesome aspects of the novel with incongruous moments of comic relief. For example, although Lark internally notes her disappointment in how little Lachlan knows about her, the narrative has already revealed that Lachlan is now focused on understanding every aspect of Lark’s personality. The dramatic irony inherent in these alternating first-person perspectives also allows for moments of dark comedy, as when Lark is sanding the resin coffee table and Lachlan remarks on the disgusting smell. Although the smell obviously comes from the hidden body, Lark blames the issue on the dog. With this and similar scenes, Weaver creates a humorous yet ominous tone that imbues morbid subjects with a spirit of absurdity.