ALL ABOUT SEDUCTION
Katy Madison
Avon Historical
ISBN 978-0-06-201735-2
November 2011
When Caroline Broadhurst is forced by her old husband to get with child by another man, she reluctantly goes along with his plan in order to save her family that depends on their money. Jack Applegate is a mill worker at the Broadhurst mills, and has secretly wanted Caroline for a long time. Then, a horrible accident leaves him with a broken ankle and convalescing at Broadhurst under the care of Caroline. Here, Caro's plan comes together. Will their tryst turn to love, and will they ever be able to be together?
I recently read a similar story line a few months ago that was well done (Lorraine Heath's WAKING UP WITH THE DUKE). Heath's was well drawn out, tasteful and understandably written. However, this one was just plain creepy. First, Caro tries out several men to have sex with. And while she doesn't succeed in having "actual" intercourse, she does go quite a way with one of them. Even her old, drecrepit husband gets his fair share in a fit of jealousy. While the premise is to build up her husband as a sterile old man, and even a meanie, this does not negate the fact that the author chooses to have the heroine being intimate with several men, other than the hero.
The buildup of romance between Caro and Jack was slow and tedious. Jack's family is not much better, sponging off his money while they can, leaving him little choice in the direction of his life. Ultimately, he's dependent on Caroline's money to save him. I get that the author had to make valid reasons for Jack staying on at Broadhurst, but poor Jack was made out to be little short of a beggar. The romance between them, sadly, was not enough to save this book from the agonizing process of getting to the end, which felt too neatly tied in a ribbon for it to seem believable
Reviewed by: Jennifer Jones
Rating: 2
12 comments:
Okay, you no longer had me when you indicated she was trying out other men in addition to the hero. This ceases to be a romance and certainly does not fit in with the type of stories that I've read a Avon. So she's making out (I know it's not a term used back in what is this a regency?) but she's in and out of the bedroom with these guys and her old husband?
Interesting, I saw a couple of reviews on this book, and some were good. And others not so good. Did she have to find these men on her own, or did her old husband find them for her?
The husband gets the heroine's brother to invite some of his friends over for a hunt. The brother doesn't like it, but they have their hands tied because of the money situation. The husband wants her to pick one of these eligible men and get pregnant, but he gets mad when he can't figure out which one it is (because she's hiding the fact that she's sneaking around into Jack's room while he's recuperating). So that was nothing short of a rape scene between her and her husband. I mean, really? What's so bad about this part is that the author actually goes into the scene, instead of leaving it to the reader's imagination what happens behind the closed door. I just don't get why this was necessary?
I read some of the other reviews on a few sites, while some were praising, some were not. I'm sorry, I don't find it a mainstream romance by any means. I don't like the heroine "with" other men, despite the fact one of them was a forced sex scene with her own husband. To me, that's not romantic, it's creepy and I think the author could have done a variety of things different that were tasteful.
Sounds like that the basic idea could have been turned more mainstream. Woman and man can't have baby to continue family line, woman seeks man who is injured, they fall in love, she gets pg, husband is a horrible man, new man rises up and whisks her and baby away to his secret life where he was more wealthy and living alone from a broken heart.......What you are describing is a bit disturbing and not well thought out. :(
This plotline reminds me of a couple of medievals I've read. (Connie Mason's Knight's Honor) It only works for me as a romance if there's only *one* guy involved and the husband is out of the picture sexually...Beyond that it turns to erotica which is not my reading choice.
If I like the heroine and the author has set her and the situation up in such a way that my sympathy is involved, I can accept the adultery as long it was an arranged marriage and the husband's either a slimeball or wanting the affair to produce the offspring so the heroine will be taken care of...but, again, this isn't a favorite plotline.
i don't even consider this erotica. There is a rape as well and Jen says it's not implied it's described. Does someone kill this old man? Books like this bother me. A rape in a book bothers me married or unmarried. Do you remember THE FLAME AND THE FLOWER. The hero raped the heroine when he mistook her for a harlot? It took more than half a book for me to like that hero. Kathleen Woodiwiss did a good job of turning him around and making him grovel and become the proper husband. She was good at that but it still took a while. I don't know that I could read this book at all.
Doesn't sound like something I would read. I agree with the creepy!
It's not erotica at all. Nothing sexy about having to read ugly scenes between her and two other men - and then the scene with her husband. Some might argue it was trying to get the heroine in a sympathetic position - but I argue that you can reach that without having to compromise the integrity of the heroine. If she has to go through several candidates, as a screening process - just have her talk to them, or attempt at a sex scene but have her back out at the last minute. The husband getting his was my other issue with this book. The ending was entirely sudden and too neat. It's like she ran out of her word limit and tied it together in a few quick scenes. No satisfaction there at all.
I have to ask, did it at least have an HEA ending? How did she write out the old husband? This may be considered a spoiler question but I doubt that I'll read the book.
Ok SPOILER ALERT!! Don't read further if you're going to read the book:
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The husband, after finding out the first man she had contact with - not very much contact either - had the man followed and killed. This comes clear towards the end, but when he is finally apprehended, it's rather quick. The next thing you know, the husband is dead. To neat, too quick, without any confrontation by the wife or Jack. I just felt it was a smooth ending to get Jack and Caro together without much fuss.
This story line seems all over the place and not well-thought out. Curious, I went to the author's website and her writing is described as dark, could this account for way in which story was written and evoked such strong reactions?
Could be - I've never read anything else by her. This book I wouldn't put in mainstream historical romance, which I'm used to getting from Avon. It feels more like a dark romance novel, with the plights of underage children working at the mills, the poor hero making ends meet and taking care of his father and step mother, the wife's role, etc. Now if I had picked it up off the shelf under "Novel", I wouldn't look at it as the same as I would say something from other Avon historical writers. I might be better prepared for some of the things going on in this book.
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