I would say for about ninety percent of this book I thought it was excellent. Perfect execution, I liked the characters, I was involved in the revenge trope, and things were good. The other ten percent sent me up in flames with an angry face because of the super secret reason behind the revenge trope. Spoilers ahead...

Apparently the hero's sister was willingly involved with the heroine's father at the age of fifteen. The hero has always thought it was rape but near the end after a conversation with his sister he learns that no it wasn't rape and that the sister basically forced it to happen because she wanted to be with the older man... which makes it totally okay and now the hero's sorry about his revenge plot towards the heroine.

Um... wtf? Pardon my cussing.

I don't know Australian laws, but I'm pretty certain fifteen is underage (of legal consent) and therefore even if she slipped into the father's bed and wiggled herself onto him, the fact that he continued or participated knowingly is grounds for statutory rape. So no, it's not okay. Hero doesn't have to be sorry for wanting to see father of heroine dead. Hero is wrong for almost doing the same thing to the heroine that her father did to his sister.

I know I have a lot of issues with the use of rape in a romance novel. Just look at the category and read all the reviews of books which contained the situation. I think my problem is that I feel the way it's handled afterward is sub-par. I'm not convinced and I'm not sure many readers would be with how everything plays out. How do you feel reading about rape in a romance novel - whether it's side characters or the main characters?

Back to the review... other than that whole fiasco I would have rated this novel much higher, because the rest of it was fun and engaging.

Rating: 4.5 stars before rape arc.
Rating: 3 stars after rape arc.

Originally posted 2009-02-07 16:08:39. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Categories:

3 Stars, 4.5 Stars, Australia/New Zealand, Blackmail, Book Review, Category, Contemporary, Enemies, Entrepreneur, Great Britain, Journalism, M-O, Rape/Abuse, Revenge, United States of America, Virgin Heroine

Tags:

angry face, dead hero, execution, fiasco, flames, heroine, legal consent, older man, revenge plot, romance novel, secret reason, statutory rape, Trish Morey, trope