Beverley, Jo - Forbidden

[oyceter]

Serena Riverton was forced to marry Randy Matthew Riverton for money when she was fifteen; he trained his young bride in all sorts of debauched ways. He's finally died, and her brothers want to marry her off to someone else. Serena runs off rather than marry again, and is rescued by Francis, Lord Middlethorpe. As an attempt to repay him and keep him with her, she basically molests him, rapes him, and takes his virginity in the middle of the night, as she believes all men want sex always.

I tried reading this many years ago and didn't finish because I had wanted Serena to be icier and colder than she was. Despite her sexual experience, she and Francis are both very much like ingenues. Serena has no idea how to deal with people who are not cruel to her, and Francis has no idea what to do with this lovely stranger he should probably leave.

I very much like Serena and Francis, particularly how Francis is not your average alpha male, and it's especially interesting to see a guy who is not in control of the sex scenes at all. However, much of the book is taken up with an incredibly stupid series of Big Misunderstandings that had me rolling my eyes the entire time, and then Serena meets the Company of Rogues. There are entirely too many of them, and I did not need to see all the former couples being happily couple-y or how much amassed social power the group has.

I was also unsure at first as to how I felt about Serena and Francis playing at bondage after her experience with Matthew, but I think that I like how it says that it's not the sexual practices that are wrong—I hate the romance shorthand of indicating someone is villainous by showing their non-vanilla sex life—but it's a matter of how it is done and with whom.

I'm still not sure Beverley is for me, particularly given the massive sequelitis, but this one is interesting in spite of its flaws.

Links:
- rilina's review (vaguely spoilery)
- rachelmanija's review

Comments

[rilina]

I like Beverley's Malloren books better overall, though they play less with the formula than this one. They also suffer from sequelitis, but in generally less obnoxious ways; plus I am amused by the Georgian setting. The males are fairly alpha, though, which may deter you.

[rachelmanija]

I didn't realize it was part of a series, and I kept going, "Who are these other people and why should I care about them?" (flip flip)

[oyceter]

Oooo, I like Georgian better than Regency. Actually, I like pretty much anything better than Regency...

I may glom onto those as soon as I finish devouring Elizabeth Hoyt's backlist... she writes Georgian as well, and I may want more in that era after.

[rilina]

In the comments to my last post on Beverley book, it seemed to be generally agreed that they are series of diminishing returns; the earlier books are better, and the dropoff in quality at/after Devilish is significant. Probably better to read them in order, if possible, though I and one other commenter felt we liked Something Wicked better because we read it out of order (before, not after, My Lady Notorious).

[oyceter]

Ooo ok, thanks for the tips!

[hesychasm]

Ooh, I just read this one. I can contribute to the convo! :D

I didn't need Serena to be icier and colder -- it might have made for a more interesting characterization, but she's a woman who has been sexually traumatized and I felt like there was enough pain to go around. I REALLY liked Francis, though. Despite the constant stupid misunderstandings (I wanted to throttle his mother), he struck me as a pretty sensitive hero and yes, not the typical butch alpha male.

Could definitely have done without all the Company of Rogues crap, but then it got me interested in reading some of the other books. I finished the second one successfully (Lucien), skimmed the first (Nicholas, yaaaaawn), and got bogged down in one of the later ones. I'll pick them up again someday -- it's at least nice to have a set catalogue with familiar characters and settings.

[oyceter]

I liked Francis a lot as well! And on the reread, I was much better with Serena's very innocent self (although I do roll my eyes a little as to just how good she is sometimes).

I'm kind of curious as to the couple where one of them is a courtesan or something, although from the website, it seems like their story is resolved through everyone else's books. Booo! That one looked interesting. And I'm a little interested in the one with the guy with a ward. I have no idea why that is a minor button for me, but there you go...