Romance book talk, reviews, recipes, and dog pictures
Blogger Site: WhiskeyintheJar Romance
Guest Reviewer at: Reading Between the Wines book club
"You have spoken the truth and perhaps it makes you feel better to do so. It is no secret that I am no lady, but at least I do not pretend to be something I am not. You, on the other hand, wear your piety on your sleeve for all to see, when inside you are just as prone to lust and cruelty as the rest of us."
"That is enough," he stated flatly.
"People like me and Cearl, we're nothing in your eyes. You are not able to see past your preconceived judgments of me. You see a filthy face, tattered clothes and the life I did not choose, and still you judge me for what I must do to survive."
"This conversation is over." He glanced at her, then turned away.
"I do not fit into your idea of a lady," she continued, "because my hair is not long. Because I do not wear the clothes of a proper maiden, or act helpless and in need of a big strapping arse like yourself."
He looked at her then and his gaze narrowed.
"Maybe you are so put off by me because you know I do not need you to survive. I have lived through hell without your help and I can certainly continue to live without you."
This is a dark ages set erotica and it doesn't play around with shying away from the time period. There is brutal torture, rape, murder, and unwashed bodies. I personally couldn't get too much into the hot and sexy swing of things because most sex scenes happened after torture and while our heroine enjoys her sexual side, I couldn't shake the influence of necessity. Basically, a chicken or the egg conundrum was taking place in my mind if she naturally enjoyed sex or her imprisonment and survival convinced her she enjoyed it. She mentions how her sexual relationship with a fellow prisoner is the only way she can escape for a while her awful life, which I was ok with but the fellow prisoner wasn't great in bed, so not getting the sexy there, lol. The relationship with the hero was ok but their sex scenes came after torture, dude had his pinky tip cut off and was whipped (not the consensual kind) and somehow still felt up for sexy times. I get a hangnail and I don't want to be touched for 48hrs; I couldn't change gears so fast.
I saw another reviewer mention how she felt like the villain and heroine had more chemistry and even though it icks me out too, I agree. If you're into dark ages erotica, this would be a great pick, it had a wonderful authentic (well, fictional authentic) feel to it. My mind just couldn't go with the flow or change gears to get into the erotic side. However, the survive and going to get my rocks off heroine was great.