Romance Books Reviews & Treats

Heroine doesn’t want to end up like the multiple women Hero has dated and tries to shake off his well-organized efforts to make her acquiesce to him by telling him bluntly that she’d never date somebody with a history like him. Hero takes this as a huge insult due to his poverty-striken past & is determined to make her eat her words. He blackmails her to be his lover until he’s done with her in exchange for saving her family’s very indebted bank, their beloved family estate which her brother is using as a business collateral, and her depressed brother’s life. She numbs herself with reminders of what her affair with Hero is about. She succeeds when he’s not around but she lets herself indulge in their steamy sexual interactions. When Hero lets her go, heroine crumbles & tries to make amends for her changed life. How could these 2 ever have a healthy love relationship?

This James book is very reminiscent of her Purchased for Revenge. Very angtsy & emotionally-invoking romances about Hero blackmailing heroine into a sexual relationship and heroine agreeing to it to save someone dear to her. I could readily feel the main characters’ strong sexual attraction to each other and their resentment for it due to how bad they perceive the other to be. There was a continual moral & emotional struggle that felt so palpable. After heroine came back from her affair with Hero, I could feel how deadened & broken her spirit was from agreeing to be his prostitute.

I wish James ended this book with a more realistic and believable changes between Hero & heroine. Heroine struggled so much in forgiving herself & recapturing her spirit. Her very quick & easy assessment of Hero’s changed character and forgiving him for his misdeeds just after a few minutes of seeing him again cheapened her inner struggles. What I would’ve liked to see is heroine taking a few days to carefully assess & accept Hero’s changed character. And while she was considering things, I would’ve like to see Hero humble himself by serving others (shoveling manure, washing the orphan’s soiled clothes, and the like). Just seeing him hot & sweaty from a bit of manual labor in half a day is just not enough of a humbling act for me.

Recommended.