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Campbell, Anna - Tempt the Devil
Julian Southwood, Earl of Erith, will stop at nothing to be the next keeper of notorious courtesan Olivia Raines. Blah di blah notorious rake blah di blah courtesan's heart at risk blah di blah he will show her greater pleasure than she has ever known.
I am not sure why I keep picking up Anna Campbell, given that I threw Claiming the Courtesan and Untouched against walls after getting halfway through and two chapters through, respectively. Rape! Amazingly not sexy or romantic!
But I'm glad I did, because this book went completely against my expectations.
Minor spoilers
Midway through the book, Erith learns about Olivia's troubled past, and instead of thinking he can win her over via arousing her, tells her she can tell him no and he will listen and not push her. Consent! Amazingly sexy and romantic!
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rachelmanija said, "It's kind of sad how low are bars are. Is there no rape? Okay, we're good!")
I would have more quibbles with the "he respects her as a person only after learning [blah]," given the prevalence of heroes who rape heroines in romances and then become amazingly sorry and repentant after learning she's a virgin. But Erith actually seems to take this lesson to heart, as he applies it not only to Olivia, but also to his daughter, who very much does not have the same past as Olivia. He apologizes when he is jealous and possessive! When he asks for her to trust him, he notes that she doesn't really have much reason to, and that he's only asking for her to trust him for one night, not for forever!
... like I said, it's sad how refreshing this is for me.
Also, at one point, she ties him up specifically to change the power dynamics of their relationship. Although I was disappointed there was no sex like that, given that I can count the number of sexually dominant heroines on one hand, the no sex also made sense with respect to characterization. Plus, she just tied him up and left him there for several hours! I cackled gleefully.
I am of two minds about the "Olivia getting no sexual pleasure" storyline. I find it completely plausible, given her backstory, and I very much enjoyed having the hero do a double take when he didn't miraculously arouse her the first time. On the other hand, I'm wary about storylines about female sexual "dysfunction," particularly given the history surrounding that. I personally did like Campbell's approach to this and how Olivia was not forced to feel pleasure, but because I don't know the full nuances of the history of female sexual "dysfunction," I don't feel like I can adequately judge.
I very much enjoyed that the book had a heroine with tons more angst than the hero, that the emphasis was on the hero learning to be not an alpha male, and that the hero's dead wife was not denigrated to make Olivia his One True Love. Again, it's sad that I'm amazed that the book acknowledges you can be in love for reals more than once in your life, but there you have it.
Unfortunately, the book loses steam around the 3/4s mark, and to generate more conflict, Campbell comes up with something that feels entirely out of character for Olivia and throws in bonus class issues and the couple from a previous book to boot. It's not enough to ruin the book for me, but I do wish it had ended more strongly.
Still, very interesting. So. Is it worth it for me to try Untouched again? (I hate the whole "I will totally assume you are an evil whore!" thing) How about Captive of Sin? (I am wary of PTSD from the hero's time in India and the Indian secondary character.) I'm still not trying Claiming the Courtesan again, as I was halfway through that and just hated the hero more and more as the book went on.
I am not sure why I keep picking up Anna Campbell, given that I threw Claiming the Courtesan and Untouched against walls after getting halfway through and two chapters through, respectively. Rape! Amazingly not sexy or romantic!
But I'm glad I did, because this book went completely against my expectations.
Minor spoilers
Midway through the book, Erith learns about Olivia's troubled past, and instead of thinking he can win her over via arousing her, tells her she can tell him no and he will listen and not push her. Consent! Amazingly sexy and romantic!
(As
rachelmanija said, "It's kind of sad how low are bars are. Is there no rape? Okay, we're good!")I would have more quibbles with the "he respects her as a person only after learning [blah]," given the prevalence of heroes who rape heroines in romances and then become amazingly sorry and repentant after learning she's a virgin. But Erith actually seems to take this lesson to heart, as he applies it not only to Olivia, but also to his daughter, who very much does not have the same past as Olivia. He apologizes when he is jealous and possessive! When he asks for her to trust him, he notes that she doesn't really have much reason to, and that he's only asking for her to trust him for one night, not for forever!
... like I said, it's sad how refreshing this is for me.
Also, at one point, she ties him up specifically to change the power dynamics of their relationship. Although I was disappointed there was no sex like that, given that I can count the number of sexually dominant heroines on one hand, the no sex also made sense with respect to characterization. Plus, she just tied him up and left him there for several hours! I cackled gleefully.
I am of two minds about the "Olivia getting no sexual pleasure" storyline. I find it completely plausible, given her backstory, and I very much enjoyed having the hero do a double take when he didn't miraculously arouse her the first time. On the other hand, I'm wary about storylines about female sexual "dysfunction," particularly given the history surrounding that. I personally did like Campbell's approach to this and how Olivia was not forced to feel pleasure, but because I don't know the full nuances of the history of female sexual "dysfunction," I don't feel like I can adequately judge.
I very much enjoyed that the book had a heroine with tons more angst than the hero, that the emphasis was on the hero learning to be not an alpha male, and that the hero's dead wife was not denigrated to make Olivia his One True Love. Again, it's sad that I'm amazed that the book acknowledges you can be in love for reals more than once in your life, but there you have it.
Unfortunately, the book loses steam around the 3/4s mark, and to generate more conflict, Campbell comes up with something that feels entirely out of character for Olivia and throws in bonus class issues and the couple from a previous book to boot. It's not enough to ruin the book for me, but I do wish it had ended more strongly.
Still, very interesting. So. Is it worth it for me to try Untouched again? (I hate the whole "I will totally assume you are an evil whore!" thing) How about Captive of Sin? (I am wary of PTSD from the hero's time in India and the Indian secondary character.) I'm still not trying Claiming the Courtesan again, as I was halfway through that and just hated the hero more and more as the book went on.