Romance Novel Round-up Reviews..
Dec. 4th, 2011 05:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatIt occurs to me before I start another one of these romantic comedy novels, that I should do a quick journalistic rundown of the one's I've read. They are all available on Amazon or B&N, whichever. Doubt you will find them in a bookstore though or a library, but you are free to look. Cost between 0$-$5 if that. Cheap pulp novels, folks, akin to the old dime store novels...when a dime (ten cents) actually went further than well can you buy anything with ten cents now?
* The Initiation Series by Aphrodite Hunt. (In case the name of the author didn't alert you already? This is pure erotica (or porn for the more pedestrian amongst you). People who write erotica seldom use their real names...to protect the innocent I suspect. Ann Rice certainly didn't, she went by A.N. Roquelaire. Although I think Anais Nin did, but that was Anais Nin. ) If you've read any erotic fanfic in your life time - none of the stuff in this series should shock you. If you haven't? Shoo. There's four-five stories in the series, each 99 cents. Fairly well written with almost no typos, rare for e-books at that price.
The plot? It's thin, hello, erotica. But there is one. Here it is: Gina, a freshman at some big midwestern university, desires entry into an exclusive society, which her big sister didn't get into until she was a senior. Becoming a member of this exclusive club - means automatic job offers upon graduation, scholarship opportunities, basically you can write your own ticket and go anywhere you desire career wise. But, as her sister mysteriously states...there's a hefty price...you have to go through this "intense" initiation and no freshman has managed it.
Determined Gina approaches her contact Max Devlin...and she begins the initiation.
Sexual hijinks ensue. (Basically BSDM by way of Marquis De Sade with Anais Nin. The titles of the books more or less tell you: Open Your Legs For Me, Thighs Wide Apart, Blindfolded and Spread-Eagled, Teacher Please Spread My...) At the end of the series, the heroine has a sort of epithany...which is sort of interesting, and takes the tale a step above "smut" - that becoming the equivalent of a sex toy, where people are used for sexual pleasure, that it is just sex, no soul, no love, no emotion, is meaningless, and perhaps too high a price to pay for power. The sex she realizes is really all about power and power games. Sure you can get in doors you wouldn't be able to previously, but it is sort of pointless, isn't it? Desperate to get something out of the experience - she hunts down her original contact, Max, and asks if he would like to date? And they ride off on his motorcycle together at the end.
The fantasy ..as it reaches it's conclusion, is found wanting. The sex? Pointless.
Without love, without human connection, there's no point to it. It's machinery.
* His Indecent Proposal - by Lynda Chase, is also categorized as erotica, and within the same mold as Aphrodite's. I've written about it before. But unlike The Initiation series...the power play is slightly different. And the story is in some respects more about the female fear of the heterosexual mating game, than anything else. It reads, at times, like a horror novel - bringing up images of far better works like Revolutionary Road, or Diary of a Mad Housewife, or Don't be Afraid of the Dark, of The Stepford Wives. Although, on Amazon, it is sold as straight erotica and the reviews are incredibly misleading. The writing is good. There are few if any typos. Technically? No grammatical errors. But, I'm not quite sure if the writer intends her tale to come across as a horror story. Which, is actually a bit...disturbing and even more horrifying if I think about that for too long. If you have troubles with "male gaze", "rapmance", or "boddice ripper" - this is not for you. It bothered me, making me realize that I can't read this sort of thing any longer. At 16, in the 1980s...it felt forbidden and risque. At 45...it's horrifying and offensive. But there's something about this novel that I have to comment on - because it seriously reads like an intentional horror tale in the mold of the Stepford Wives, except without the science fiction gadetry and far more realistic. It also goes a long way towards explaining certain abusive relationships and how women and men fall into these sorts of relationships. (Strong physical attraction is not always a good thing. Nor is basing any relationship purely on sexual attraction.)
The plot here is fairly simple as well. Jenna, a 20-something recent graduate, is struggling against a mountain of financial debt. She has a Master's in Fine Arts and can't find a job to save her life. So she lies on her resume, and gets a job as an accountant. Stating she has no education at all. Working for a packaging company in Cinncianti, Ohio, while living in a basement apartment off of ramen noodles and tuna fish, she attracts the notice of her boss and the VP of the company, David. David lusts after Jenna. He can't take his eyes off of her. Jenna feels the heat of his gaze and is terrified by it. It scares her and makes her uncomfortable. But to date he has not acted on it, because she is his employee. David's lawyer and friend tells him one day that in order to get the Presidency of his family's company, he needs a wife, needs to prove "traditional values". David pooh-pahs this idea. That is until he runs into the object of his desire - the elusive Jenna, who overhears his argument with his lawyer, and jokingly remarks..."Advertising for a Wife? Is that a job I can apply for in HR?" Clearly she's kidding. But he decides to take her up on it. And invites her into his office. Terrified, she hears him out and tries to let him down gently, but he persuades her to go out to dinner with him - to talk about it in more depth. Jenna who has been living off of ramen and tuna fish, plus just received a threatening phone call from the debt collector, decides what the hell. Free food.
Instead of taking her to a restaurant, he takes her to his mansion, she's upset.
But he calms her down. Plies her with some wine. Some good food pre-prepared by his housekeeper and heated up in a microwave. He tells her that this would be a marriage of convience, two years, he'd pay her $300,000. $100,000 after they get married. This would be in addition to paying off all her debts. All she'd have to do is be his wife for two years. And yes, "sex" is definitely part of the picture. The sex, he assures her, would be good. (He's described as a hunk, or attractive, an aggressive alpha male). Jenna is scared. She's not sure if the sex would be good. And wants to try him out, not fully, just a quick kiss - see if they are compatible. He can't control himself of course - because he's been fantasizing about it and her for six months.
The kiss dissolves into heavy petting, then...sex. Jenna tries to stop things. Pulls back. Says..."IT was just supposed to be a kiss." And it's been a long time since she's had sex and he's..really big. But he manages to convince her to continue. She does, but let's just say...it is not good for her. And she's thinking, mistake, mistake, mistake! Her description of the sex is "all he was doing was taking, there was no giving, just taking" (which is basically rape). Upset that he's screwed things up, David takes Jenna to the shower and performs "oral" sex on her. Gives her a "fantastic" orgasm - amazing actually - the best she's had in her life, like right out of a romance novel (her description not mine). She wants to go home after wards but he puts her into bed with him. The next morning he carts her off to Vegas with him. Right off the plane - he takes her to a chapel, they get married, he
pulls into a motel 6, rents a room, and insists on having sex. Poor Jenna asks if they can't just wait until they get back home. Do they have to do it tonight? She's not in the mood, she's tired. But he pulls her into the room, rips down her panties, and has sex with her - to consummate the marriage. (See what I mean about horror novel? At this point...I'm thinking okay, where is the author going with this? Keep in mind I've read Bret Easten Ellis' American Psycho - that's worse.) They are back on the plane. He holds her hand the whole time - possessively and let's her know that she's not leaving him or breaking the marriage until he says so. They get home, he does not permit her to go back to her house to pick a change of panties, or bra or clothes or any of her things. He takes her back to his place. She says she's going upstairs to get ready for bed and hunts a bath-tub, to relax for a little while in silence...after about an hour or two, he bursts in like a madman, screaming at her for not being in his bed, in his bathroom, and using that one instead. She manages to get him to leave, by bursting into tears. When they are in bed again, fighting each other, he wants sex, she doesn't, he finally flips them over, so that she is on top of him - and raises his hands in submission - she tells him that he is tearing her apart, he scares her, she's afraid that he wants more than her body, he wants to devour her soul - take everything she is away from her. And right there we hit the core theme of the novel. He confesses that he loves her, that he can't get her out of his mind. He needs her. The ending...isn't what I expected. She does not leave him. He doesn't apologize. Instead, he confesses to her that he wants to stay married to her forever, that this was not supposed to be a marriage of convience, that he is desperately in love with her, and to promise she'll never leave him. Which she does, seduced by his vulnerability. Six months of bliss go by, he's kinder, the sex is less rough, less desperate, now that he knows she won't leave...things are okay. But she worries about the lie on her resume. He's expecting her to start classes at a local college to get her BA, she has to tell him the truth. And about her loans. She fears how he will react to the lie. So when he comes home, she confesses she lied to him.
He freaks - leaping to the absurd conclusion that she's having an affair or in love with another guy and starts flinging accusations. She's looking at him like he's crazy and says no, it's about her loans and education. Oh, that - he shrugs, he already paid off those loans months ago and he's proud of her education (nice of him to tell her) and states he'd meant to tell but hadn't gotten around to it. As long as she never looks at another guy, things are fine. The end.
Jenna wants the security, she wants to be taken care of, but she fears it as well.
The male gaze...is to Jenna, a threat. Constant. She can't hide from it. It has a presence all its own. David's gaze scares her. His sexual desire for her both thrills her and terrifies. And his desire to control her, his need to do so...is even worse.
Jenna gives up her independence, her freedom - for financial security, sex, and companionship - yet is David a good companion? She caters to his needs. Yet, she's lost ...and finds it safe to stay with him.
It's a short story - not that long. I finished it in a matter of hours. And the writing while explicit, is pretty good. But it is also a bit disturbing. And it emphasizes the negative aspects of the female fantasy, depicting the modern woman's difficulty with the marriage plot. Her fear of it. Will he devour her soul?
I can't say I liked this story. In fact, I deleted it off the kindle after reading it.
But three books later? I can't get the thing out of my head. It haunts me. Perhaps because it shines a bright light on the painful and dark realities of this fantasy.
The anti-feminist nature of it. The male gaze - is frightening to women, and why.
Because he is in power and can use it manipulate her and against her. Her body becomes his weapon. The manly-man stereotype isn't as pleasant a sexual experience as we may think. The alpha male turns into a jealous control freak. Financial security is a gilded cage. Jenna fights against all of these throughout the story, but finally is overpowered, her family is not there and can't be, she is alone in the world, destitute...and here comes prince charming right out of the fairy tale to sweep her off her feet...how can she refuse? How, indeed. I thought at the end, okay, being single and not dating is not such a bad thing. Quite wonderful actually!
*
Wife By Wed in some respects is the fairy tale that Lynda Chase critiques in His Indecent Proposal. In Wife by Wed, Sam Elliot is a down-on-her-luck ex-blue blood with a matchmaking business for the rich and famous. She puts together wealthy men with wealthy women. The Duke (whose name I can't remember) needs to find a wife immediately or he will lose his estate and a Duke without an estate is a King without a country. His father's will stipulates that he must be married before his 36th birthday. Thinking Sam is a man, he hires Sam to find him a wife. And sets up a meeting with Sam in a coffee shop. Instead he's blown away to find out she's a woman, witty banter ensues. And the Duke does some background research. Discovers Sam is the sole support of her sister, who suffered a stroke some years ago after a failed attempt at suicide. He offers Sam enough money to support her sister for life, if she
will marry him for two years - or long enough for him to get his inheritance. They just need to stay out of each other's pants, and not get pregnant, because a baby will mess up the whole business arrangement. Neither want a long term committment after all. Sexual hijinks ensue. A villain creates a huge misunderstanding that
separates the lovers. Etc.
Once again, independent woman with a career, this time her own business, must give it up to become rich man's wife. She gets a title, a baby, financial security, etc...
but she gives up her career, not that it was that great anyway. The fantasy is he swoops in and changes her life for the better, and she saves him in the process.
She has to get past her inability to trust men first, of course. Because an ex-lover deeply hurt and betrayed her. And the Duke has to get past his womanizing and fear of committment. In this book the male gaze is made fun of and the male lead is turned on by Sam's voice not her looks. She's not described as model pretty, quite the opposite.
It's better than the other two books. Although not as well written, there's more typos and grammatical errors. A few sentences make no sense.
*
This is by far the worst written of the books I've read. But it cost me literally nothing. 0 cents. Not quite sure why. Maybe because it is so badly written?
There were several sentences that made no sense. Lots of grammatical errors.
And the sex scenes were hokey or ludicrous. They did one in an airplane, I scanned.
The plot also is bit out there. Successful music talent agent Stephanie Brandt is approached in a restaurant by Quint. Quint screams at her for seducing his 17 year old son, who it turns out has been the one sending Stevie a single red rose each day for the past six months. Stevei is understandably annoyed by this, he's disrupted her meal at a classy restaurant, and embarrassed her in public. She decides to go visit him at his home and give him a piece of her mind, and explain in detail how she has no clue who his son is, and the guy is just some random mail clerk. When she drops by the house - sparks fly between her and Quint. The son takes her on a tour of the house and tries to come on to her. Later Quint reveals his insane fears about his kid and convinces Stevie to go along with his ploy to convince his son that Stevie is too old for him. Too much of her - will drive Rob, the son, away. So Stevei agrees to be the worste date Rob ever had, all the while engaging in a hot and heavy affair with Quint. Hinjinks ensue.
Once again, we run into successful woman worries about getting involved with hunky guy. Although most of this was about the teen son and what if he found out, he doesn't, and they can't stay together..the son would feel betrayed, he doesn't.
And a lot of boring sex. It doesn't really go anywhere. The conflict is somewhat silly, ableit realistically resolved. The son gets bored of Stevei and falls for a cool geeky girl his own age. Not much to this one. Not recommended.
*
Don't Make Me Make You Brownies is apparently an award winner. On the plus side?
It's well written, more or less. No errors. But it is also $2.99. You truly get what you paid for on these things, what can I say?
There's a lot of sex in it. Ignore the Amazon reviews. I don't know what books these women have been reading, but seriously? Also I wouldn't call the sex funny...but I also just read A Calculated Risk prior to it...so there is that. The sex in that book is funny. That book is filled with purple prose.
This book addresses the same problems/fears that His Indecent Proposal did, and in many ways reminds me a bit of it. In a way it combines the themes of the three prior books.
Abbie Greenwood is a environmental liberal and a bit left-wing (although I'm guessing she'll look downright conservative to most people on my flist, she's radical for Texas, okay?) A Vegetarian, raised on an organic farm, who works as a television reporter covering consumer reports...in California. Sick of her job. Sick of her lecherous and somewhat slimy metrosexual boss Stew, and the cameraman who goes to sleep...on the job, Abbie decides to take her six weeks of vacation all at once and go house-sit her sister's dogs in a subdivision in Houston, Texas. Her sister's off to Brazil with her hubby and is looking for a dog and house-sitter. (Why Abbie doesn't decide to go to Brazil or Hawaii or somewhere nice, I've no clue. I mean, a suburban house in Houston, Texas? Okay. According to the book her options are her parents farm or her sister's place, so I'm guessing she doesn't have the money.)
In Texas, she runs into the guy across the street, Rick, who is of course, a hunk.
Six-foot six to Abbie's five-foot six. (Okay, what is it with tiny women and big men? The plus side of A Calculated Risk was Stevie was at least tall. The only tall woman in these books, romance novelists must be small women? Actually the average height for women is 5'6, so this isn't surprising. Unless of course you live in Sweden, Norway, Northern Germany, and Northern Ireland and Scotland...or Belgium. Northern Europeans and Scandinavians tend to be tall. It's the Southern Europeans and Latin Americans that are short, which unfortunately is 90% of the US.) Not that Abbie isn't beautiful too or a real knockout - with amber hair, a great figure, 26 years of age, and able to wear a bikini while mowing the lawn. Yes, she decides on her first day in Houston to mow the lawn wearing a skimpy red bikini. I've mowed lawns, you don't that - the grass burns and mud flying - ugh. But whatever. Anyhow, he's a lawyer, has a big truck, loves barbecue, and bags his lawn droppings, while Abbie is a self-righteous 26 year old who clearly sees the world in harsh black and white's.
She's really not as annoying as she sounds. And there are a few funny bits in it.
Anyhow...turns out Rick fell for Abbie ages ago. So he manipulates her into marrying him. It's not that she isn't head over heels in love with him herself. But does she really want this surburban package - which she fittingly calls the Chucabraba. It will suck the life out of her. (Clearly she's watched Angel S5 - The Underneath, or the writer has. Actually the writer is a Buffy and General Hospital fan, with a yen for John Cusak in Say Anything...which sort of charmed me. One of the dog's is called Buffy, and the character states she is attracted to John Cusak and Sonny Corinthos from General Hospital. So it is entirely possible she saw that episode about surbuban hell from Angel.) Rick comes with baggage too - a six year old daughter (who is of course perfect - they always are in these books. I've met six year olds - they aren't this nice), and a somewhat crazy ex-wife (that storyline is written rather well and sympathetically...in part because the writer had a bi-polar schizophrenic Aunt). When Rick figures out she's been avoiding him after their big date - which resulted in hot sex, he manipulates her into going to Vegas with him on a whim. Then he proposes, after getting her drunk on martinis, Abbie's a lightweight. Tipsy, she agrees. They get married. She's wondering what the fuck. He seduces her again. They have hot sex.
(There's no rape in this novel, not even the suggestion of it. If she's not interested, he's out of there. It's the opposite of His Indecent Proposal. But the male and female gaze are there in spades.) They go home. Hijinks ensue. Misunderstandings. She ends up in California miserable. Then finds a way to come back to Houston on a job...he confesses all. She moves back, gives up her reporting career, finds causes to get involved in, and writes a column. They live happily ever after.
This book has the prince charming and the happy ending that His Indecent Proposal doesn't. Rick is a nice guy - outside of the insane marriage manipulation, which if that happened in reality would make you wonder about him. He's perfect. A former public defender, champion of social causes, loves his daughter, and treats Abbie like the stars and moon. Abbie's terrors of life with Rick are explored fully, but it is clear they are in her head...that Rick's life is fine and managable. She needn't worry.
The gaze...is shrugged off. Abbie's hot in a bikini. Rick is hot. Abbie mowing the lawn in a bikini however is what causes them to break up. He's furious that she is flouting herself to the world. She accuses him of wanting to control her. He tells her she's released from their marriage and kicks her out. It sounds crazier than it is. Although when I read it, I thought, insecure idiots.
The book is mildly amusing. It examines the same themes as the others, with the exception of the Initiation Series - which is off in its own little world. The sex is somewhere between R and NC-17...more than Wife by Wed, better written than
Calculated Risk, and less than Indecent Proposal and Initiation. It's not erotica, but I'm not sure I'd call it romantic comedy exactly either.
All of these were fast reads by the way. Require little attention. Can be read in about a few hours, a few days. Longest was Don't Make Brownies. Nothing to rave about. If I were to recommend any of them to you? I'd probably suggest either Wife by Wed or Don't Make Me Make You Brownies (the title is basically better than the book and sort of says it all).
[ETA: If you haven't already...there's a really good piece on female fantasy in Time Mag's onzine...about Twilight, which in an odd way comments on the same things I've discussed above. Too often people are judgmental of the fantasies related in these works, without understanding where they come from and why they are there. Contempt, I think, is indicative of ignorance and a tendency towards generalization. We all don't see the world the same way. And that's a good thing. Well, in most cases ;-0.)
* The Initiation Series by Aphrodite Hunt. (In case the name of the author didn't alert you already? This is pure erotica (or porn for the more pedestrian amongst you). People who write erotica seldom use their real names...to protect the innocent I suspect. Ann Rice certainly didn't, she went by A.N. Roquelaire. Although I think Anais Nin did, but that was Anais Nin. ) If you've read any erotic fanfic in your life time - none of the stuff in this series should shock you. If you haven't? Shoo. There's four-five stories in the series, each 99 cents. Fairly well written with almost no typos, rare for e-books at that price.
The plot? It's thin, hello, erotica. But there is one. Here it is: Gina, a freshman at some big midwestern university, desires entry into an exclusive society, which her big sister didn't get into until she was a senior. Becoming a member of this exclusive club - means automatic job offers upon graduation, scholarship opportunities, basically you can write your own ticket and go anywhere you desire career wise. But, as her sister mysteriously states...there's a hefty price...you have to go through this "intense" initiation and no freshman has managed it.
Determined Gina approaches her contact Max Devlin...and she begins the initiation.
Sexual hijinks ensue. (Basically BSDM by way of Marquis De Sade with Anais Nin. The titles of the books more or less tell you: Open Your Legs For Me, Thighs Wide Apart, Blindfolded and Spread-Eagled, Teacher Please Spread My...) At the end of the series, the heroine has a sort of epithany...which is sort of interesting, and takes the tale a step above "smut" - that becoming the equivalent of a sex toy, where people are used for sexual pleasure, that it is just sex, no soul, no love, no emotion, is meaningless, and perhaps too high a price to pay for power. The sex she realizes is really all about power and power games. Sure you can get in doors you wouldn't be able to previously, but it is sort of pointless, isn't it? Desperate to get something out of the experience - she hunts down her original contact, Max, and asks if he would like to date? And they ride off on his motorcycle together at the end.
The fantasy ..as it reaches it's conclusion, is found wanting. The sex? Pointless.
Without love, without human connection, there's no point to it. It's machinery.
* His Indecent Proposal - by Lynda Chase, is also categorized as erotica, and within the same mold as Aphrodite's. I've written about it before. But unlike The Initiation series...the power play is slightly different. And the story is in some respects more about the female fear of the heterosexual mating game, than anything else. It reads, at times, like a horror novel - bringing up images of far better works like Revolutionary Road, or Diary of a Mad Housewife, or Don't be Afraid of the Dark, of The Stepford Wives. Although, on Amazon, it is sold as straight erotica and the reviews are incredibly misleading. The writing is good. There are few if any typos. Technically? No grammatical errors. But, I'm not quite sure if the writer intends her tale to come across as a horror story. Which, is actually a bit...disturbing and even more horrifying if I think about that for too long. If you have troubles with "male gaze", "rapmance", or "boddice ripper" - this is not for you. It bothered me, making me realize that I can't read this sort of thing any longer. At 16, in the 1980s...it felt forbidden and risque. At 45...it's horrifying and offensive. But there's something about this novel that I have to comment on - because it seriously reads like an intentional horror tale in the mold of the Stepford Wives, except without the science fiction gadetry and far more realistic. It also goes a long way towards explaining certain abusive relationships and how women and men fall into these sorts of relationships. (Strong physical attraction is not always a good thing. Nor is basing any relationship purely on sexual attraction.)
The plot here is fairly simple as well. Jenna, a 20-something recent graduate, is struggling against a mountain of financial debt. She has a Master's in Fine Arts and can't find a job to save her life. So she lies on her resume, and gets a job as an accountant. Stating she has no education at all. Working for a packaging company in Cinncianti, Ohio, while living in a basement apartment off of ramen noodles and tuna fish, she attracts the notice of her boss and the VP of the company, David. David lusts after Jenna. He can't take his eyes off of her. Jenna feels the heat of his gaze and is terrified by it. It scares her and makes her uncomfortable. But to date he has not acted on it, because she is his employee. David's lawyer and friend tells him one day that in order to get the Presidency of his family's company, he needs a wife, needs to prove "traditional values". David pooh-pahs this idea. That is until he runs into the object of his desire - the elusive Jenna, who overhears his argument with his lawyer, and jokingly remarks..."Advertising for a Wife? Is that a job I can apply for in HR?" Clearly she's kidding. But he decides to take her up on it. And invites her into his office. Terrified, she hears him out and tries to let him down gently, but he persuades her to go out to dinner with him - to talk about it in more depth. Jenna who has been living off of ramen and tuna fish, plus just received a threatening phone call from the debt collector, decides what the hell. Free food.
Instead of taking her to a restaurant, he takes her to his mansion, she's upset.
But he calms her down. Plies her with some wine. Some good food pre-prepared by his housekeeper and heated up in a microwave. He tells her that this would be a marriage of convience, two years, he'd pay her $300,000. $100,000 after they get married. This would be in addition to paying off all her debts. All she'd have to do is be his wife for two years. And yes, "sex" is definitely part of the picture. The sex, he assures her, would be good. (He's described as a hunk, or attractive, an aggressive alpha male). Jenna is scared. She's not sure if the sex would be good. And wants to try him out, not fully, just a quick kiss - see if they are compatible. He can't control himself of course - because he's been fantasizing about it and her for six months.
The kiss dissolves into heavy petting, then...sex. Jenna tries to stop things. Pulls back. Says..."IT was just supposed to be a kiss." And it's been a long time since she's had sex and he's..really big. But he manages to convince her to continue. She does, but let's just say...it is not good for her. And she's thinking, mistake, mistake, mistake! Her description of the sex is "all he was doing was taking, there was no giving, just taking" (which is basically rape). Upset that he's screwed things up, David takes Jenna to the shower and performs "oral" sex on her. Gives her a "fantastic" orgasm - amazing actually - the best she's had in her life, like right out of a romance novel (her description not mine). She wants to go home after wards but he puts her into bed with him. The next morning he carts her off to Vegas with him. Right off the plane - he takes her to a chapel, they get married, he
pulls into a motel 6, rents a room, and insists on having sex. Poor Jenna asks if they can't just wait until they get back home. Do they have to do it tonight? She's not in the mood, she's tired. But he pulls her into the room, rips down her panties, and has sex with her - to consummate the marriage. (See what I mean about horror novel? At this point...I'm thinking okay, where is the author going with this? Keep in mind I've read Bret Easten Ellis' American Psycho - that's worse.) They are back on the plane. He holds her hand the whole time - possessively and let's her know that she's not leaving him or breaking the marriage until he says so. They get home, he does not permit her to go back to her house to pick a change of panties, or bra or clothes or any of her things. He takes her back to his place. She says she's going upstairs to get ready for bed and hunts a bath-tub, to relax for a little while in silence...after about an hour or two, he bursts in like a madman, screaming at her for not being in his bed, in his bathroom, and using that one instead. She manages to get him to leave, by bursting into tears. When they are in bed again, fighting each other, he wants sex, she doesn't, he finally flips them over, so that she is on top of him - and raises his hands in submission - she tells him that he is tearing her apart, he scares her, she's afraid that he wants more than her body, he wants to devour her soul - take everything she is away from her. And right there we hit the core theme of the novel. He confesses that he loves her, that he can't get her out of his mind. He needs her. The ending...isn't what I expected. She does not leave him. He doesn't apologize. Instead, he confesses to her that he wants to stay married to her forever, that this was not supposed to be a marriage of convience, that he is desperately in love with her, and to promise she'll never leave him. Which she does, seduced by his vulnerability. Six months of bliss go by, he's kinder, the sex is less rough, less desperate, now that he knows she won't leave...things are okay. But she worries about the lie on her resume. He's expecting her to start classes at a local college to get her BA, she has to tell him the truth. And about her loans. She fears how he will react to the lie. So when he comes home, she confesses she lied to him.
He freaks - leaping to the absurd conclusion that she's having an affair or in love with another guy and starts flinging accusations. She's looking at him like he's crazy and says no, it's about her loans and education. Oh, that - he shrugs, he already paid off those loans months ago and he's proud of her education (nice of him to tell her) and states he'd meant to tell but hadn't gotten around to it. As long as she never looks at another guy, things are fine. The end.
Jenna wants the security, she wants to be taken care of, but she fears it as well.
The male gaze...is to Jenna, a threat. Constant. She can't hide from it. It has a presence all its own. David's gaze scares her. His sexual desire for her both thrills her and terrifies. And his desire to control her, his need to do so...is even worse.
Jenna gives up her independence, her freedom - for financial security, sex, and companionship - yet is David a good companion? She caters to his needs. Yet, she's lost ...and finds it safe to stay with him.
It's a short story - not that long. I finished it in a matter of hours. And the writing while explicit, is pretty good. But it is also a bit disturbing. And it emphasizes the negative aspects of the female fantasy, depicting the modern woman's difficulty with the marriage plot. Her fear of it. Will he devour her soul?
I can't say I liked this story. In fact, I deleted it off the kindle after reading it.
But three books later? I can't get the thing out of my head. It haunts me. Perhaps because it shines a bright light on the painful and dark realities of this fantasy.
The anti-feminist nature of it. The male gaze - is frightening to women, and why.
Because he is in power and can use it manipulate her and against her. Her body becomes his weapon. The manly-man stereotype isn't as pleasant a sexual experience as we may think. The alpha male turns into a jealous control freak. Financial security is a gilded cage. Jenna fights against all of these throughout the story, but finally is overpowered, her family is not there and can't be, she is alone in the world, destitute...and here comes prince charming right out of the fairy tale to sweep her off her feet...how can she refuse? How, indeed. I thought at the end, okay, being single and not dating is not such a bad thing. Quite wonderful actually!
*
Wife By Wed in some respects is the fairy tale that Lynda Chase critiques in His Indecent Proposal. In Wife by Wed, Sam Elliot is a down-on-her-luck ex-blue blood with a matchmaking business for the rich and famous. She puts together wealthy men with wealthy women. The Duke (whose name I can't remember) needs to find a wife immediately or he will lose his estate and a Duke without an estate is a King without a country. His father's will stipulates that he must be married before his 36th birthday. Thinking Sam is a man, he hires Sam to find him a wife. And sets up a meeting with Sam in a coffee shop. Instead he's blown away to find out she's a woman, witty banter ensues. And the Duke does some background research. Discovers Sam is the sole support of her sister, who suffered a stroke some years ago after a failed attempt at suicide. He offers Sam enough money to support her sister for life, if she
will marry him for two years - or long enough for him to get his inheritance. They just need to stay out of each other's pants, and not get pregnant, because a baby will mess up the whole business arrangement. Neither want a long term committment after all. Sexual hijinks ensue. A villain creates a huge misunderstanding that
separates the lovers. Etc.
Once again, independent woman with a career, this time her own business, must give it up to become rich man's wife. She gets a title, a baby, financial security, etc...
but she gives up her career, not that it was that great anyway. The fantasy is he swoops in and changes her life for the better, and she saves him in the process.
She has to get past her inability to trust men first, of course. Because an ex-lover deeply hurt and betrayed her. And the Duke has to get past his womanizing and fear of committment. In this book the male gaze is made fun of and the male lead is turned on by Sam's voice not her looks. She's not described as model pretty, quite the opposite.
It's better than the other two books. Although not as well written, there's more typos and grammatical errors. A few sentences make no sense.
*
This is by far the worst written of the books I've read. But it cost me literally nothing. 0 cents. Not quite sure why. Maybe because it is so badly written?
There were several sentences that made no sense. Lots of grammatical errors.
And the sex scenes were hokey or ludicrous. They did one in an airplane, I scanned.
The plot also is bit out there. Successful music talent agent Stephanie Brandt is approached in a restaurant by Quint. Quint screams at her for seducing his 17 year old son, who it turns out has been the one sending Stevie a single red rose each day for the past six months. Stevei is understandably annoyed by this, he's disrupted her meal at a classy restaurant, and embarrassed her in public. She decides to go visit him at his home and give him a piece of her mind, and explain in detail how she has no clue who his son is, and the guy is just some random mail clerk. When she drops by the house - sparks fly between her and Quint. The son takes her on a tour of the house and tries to come on to her. Later Quint reveals his insane fears about his kid and convinces Stevie to go along with his ploy to convince his son that Stevie is too old for him. Too much of her - will drive Rob, the son, away. So Stevei agrees to be the worste date Rob ever had, all the while engaging in a hot and heavy affair with Quint. Hinjinks ensue.
Once again, we run into successful woman worries about getting involved with hunky guy. Although most of this was about the teen son and what if he found out, he doesn't, and they can't stay together..the son would feel betrayed, he doesn't.
And a lot of boring sex. It doesn't really go anywhere. The conflict is somewhat silly, ableit realistically resolved. The son gets bored of Stevei and falls for a cool geeky girl his own age. Not much to this one. Not recommended.
*
Don't Make Me Make You Brownies is apparently an award winner. On the plus side?
It's well written, more or less. No errors. But it is also $2.99. You truly get what you paid for on these things, what can I say?
There's a lot of sex in it. Ignore the Amazon reviews. I don't know what books these women have been reading, but seriously? Also I wouldn't call the sex funny...but I also just read A Calculated Risk prior to it...so there is that. The sex in that book is funny. That book is filled with purple prose.
This book addresses the same problems/fears that His Indecent Proposal did, and in many ways reminds me a bit of it. In a way it combines the themes of the three prior books.
Abbie Greenwood is a environmental liberal and a bit left-wing (although I'm guessing she'll look downright conservative to most people on my flist, she's radical for Texas, okay?) A Vegetarian, raised on an organic farm, who works as a television reporter covering consumer reports...in California. Sick of her job. Sick of her lecherous and somewhat slimy metrosexual boss Stew, and the cameraman who goes to sleep...on the job, Abbie decides to take her six weeks of vacation all at once and go house-sit her sister's dogs in a subdivision in Houston, Texas. Her sister's off to Brazil with her hubby and is looking for a dog and house-sitter. (Why Abbie doesn't decide to go to Brazil or Hawaii or somewhere nice, I've no clue. I mean, a suburban house in Houston, Texas? Okay. According to the book her options are her parents farm or her sister's place, so I'm guessing she doesn't have the money.)
In Texas, she runs into the guy across the street, Rick, who is of course, a hunk.
Six-foot six to Abbie's five-foot six. (Okay, what is it with tiny women and big men? The plus side of A Calculated Risk was Stevie was at least tall. The only tall woman in these books, romance novelists must be small women? Actually the average height for women is 5'6, so this isn't surprising. Unless of course you live in Sweden, Norway, Northern Germany, and Northern Ireland and Scotland...or Belgium. Northern Europeans and Scandinavians tend to be tall. It's the Southern Europeans and Latin Americans that are short, which unfortunately is 90% of the US.) Not that Abbie isn't beautiful too or a real knockout - with amber hair, a great figure, 26 years of age, and able to wear a bikini while mowing the lawn. Yes, she decides on her first day in Houston to mow the lawn wearing a skimpy red bikini. I've mowed lawns, you don't that - the grass burns and mud flying - ugh. But whatever. Anyhow, he's a lawyer, has a big truck, loves barbecue, and bags his lawn droppings, while Abbie is a self-righteous 26 year old who clearly sees the world in harsh black and white's.
She's really not as annoying as she sounds. And there are a few funny bits in it.
Anyhow...turns out Rick fell for Abbie ages ago. So he manipulates her into marrying him. It's not that she isn't head over heels in love with him herself. But does she really want this surburban package - which she fittingly calls the Chucabraba. It will suck the life out of her. (Clearly she's watched Angel S5 - The Underneath, or the writer has. Actually the writer is a Buffy and General Hospital fan, with a yen for John Cusak in Say Anything...which sort of charmed me. One of the dog's is called Buffy, and the character states she is attracted to John Cusak and Sonny Corinthos from General Hospital. So it is entirely possible she saw that episode about surbuban hell from Angel.) Rick comes with baggage too - a six year old daughter (who is of course perfect - they always are in these books. I've met six year olds - they aren't this nice), and a somewhat crazy ex-wife (that storyline is written rather well and sympathetically...in part because the writer had a bi-polar schizophrenic Aunt). When Rick figures out she's been avoiding him after their big date - which resulted in hot sex, he manipulates her into going to Vegas with him on a whim. Then he proposes, after getting her drunk on martinis, Abbie's a lightweight. Tipsy, she agrees. They get married. She's wondering what the fuck. He seduces her again. They have hot sex.
(There's no rape in this novel, not even the suggestion of it. If she's not interested, he's out of there. It's the opposite of His Indecent Proposal. But the male and female gaze are there in spades.) They go home. Hijinks ensue. Misunderstandings. She ends up in California miserable. Then finds a way to come back to Houston on a job...he confesses all. She moves back, gives up her reporting career, finds causes to get involved in, and writes a column. They live happily ever after.
This book has the prince charming and the happy ending that His Indecent Proposal doesn't. Rick is a nice guy - outside of the insane marriage manipulation, which if that happened in reality would make you wonder about him. He's perfect. A former public defender, champion of social causes, loves his daughter, and treats Abbie like the stars and moon. Abbie's terrors of life with Rick are explored fully, but it is clear they are in her head...that Rick's life is fine and managable. She needn't worry.
The gaze...is shrugged off. Abbie's hot in a bikini. Rick is hot. Abbie mowing the lawn in a bikini however is what causes them to break up. He's furious that she is flouting herself to the world. She accuses him of wanting to control her. He tells her she's released from their marriage and kicks her out. It sounds crazier than it is. Although when I read it, I thought, insecure idiots.
The book is mildly amusing. It examines the same themes as the others, with the exception of the Initiation Series - which is off in its own little world. The sex is somewhere between R and NC-17...more than Wife by Wed, better written than
Calculated Risk, and less than Indecent Proposal and Initiation. It's not erotica, but I'm not sure I'd call it romantic comedy exactly either.
All of these were fast reads by the way. Require little attention. Can be read in about a few hours, a few days. Longest was Don't Make Brownies. Nothing to rave about. If I were to recommend any of them to you? I'd probably suggest either Wife by Wed or Don't Make Me Make You Brownies (the title is basically better than the book and sort of says it all).
[ETA: If you haven't already...there's a really good piece on female fantasy in Time Mag's onzine...about Twilight, which in an odd way comments on the same things I've discussed above. Too often people are judgmental of the fantasies related in these works, without understanding where they come from and why they are there. Contempt, I think, is indicative of ignorance and a tendency towards generalization. We all don't see the world the same way. And that's a good thing. Well, in most cases ;-0.)
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no subject
Date: 2011-12-05 07:58 pm (UTC)I am curious about Time Magazine's article and will try to read it. I've been having a lengthy discussion w/a friend (in Germany) about the Twilight books which I felt had a very strong anti-feminist bias, and THEN I looked up Stephenie Meyers bio and found out that she was 'educated' at Brigham Young University (and yes, I know I'm being mean) and is a Mormon living in Utah, which I think shows that she is, in fact, anti-feminist. My friend, who liked the books, says that yes the bias is wicked obvious but she doesn't care. And I guess that is true of a lot of women who read romances? I guess I can accept the anti-feminist bias only in books written hundreds of years ago (or at least set in historical times), I expect modern novels to reflect modern thinking. I find it creepy when they don't. Just me I guess.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-05 11:06 pm (UTC)But..the article in Time did look at it from a perspective that my Aunt who'd read the first book - indicated that most people who enjoy the books are reading it from.
Here's the link and the blurb that caught my interest below:
http://ideas.time.com/2011/11/21/the-harsh-bigotry-of-twilight-haters/?xid=newsletter-weekly
Here's a blurb from it:
"Maybe part of the reason critics deplore these movies is not only because they are so unfamiliar with kooky heterosexual female fantasies but also because they don’t really like what these fantasies say about men.
The discomfiting reality of the Twilight phenomenon is the way it strips off the veneer of détente between the sexes. For all the progress we promised our daughters, women’s bodily experiences mark them in ways not only unimaginable, but also uninteresting and even repulsive, to men. When was the last time (or only time) you saw a movie that featured menstruation? (The Runaways, directed by … a woman.)
Most mothers know the sense of their body being taken over by aliens, and more than 500,000 women still die in childbirth every year worldwide. Is it really so surprising that we would be drawn to Bella’s gruesome tribulations? For all its tremendous ick factor and craziness, the vampire-hybrid delivery captured with excruciating realism the desperation (on poor Edward’s bloodied face) that attends a birth when things go badly wrong. You could hear a pin drop at the screening my daughter and I attended. The gothic horror felt more palpable because it merely exaggerated, rather than imagined sui generis, what many women go through every day. We sure know blood.
The other thing women know all too well is the lurking danger of men. The idea of a wildly earnest romantic lead who isn’t demanding oral sex in the high school parking lot (and who happens to look like Robert Pattinson) is all very appealing, no? Yet our perfect vampire man, alas, also has the capacity to inflict serious harm — much like in the non-cinematic world, as even 5-year-old girls can intuit.
Read more: http://ideas.time.com/2011/11/21/the-harsh-bigotry-of-twilight-haters/#ixzz1fhialHHu
no subject
Date: 2011-12-05 11:13 pm (UTC)Why is it that female fantasies are such a source of derision and fear? The male species is allowed all manner of violent, creepy, ludicrous and degrading movie tropes, and while we may not embrace them as high art, no one questions them seriously as entertainment, even when sometimes we probably should. (Violent imagery is, after all, associated with violent behavior.) You want to saw someone in half or put their head in a vise? Showcase naked strippers as a fake plot device? Pair a beautiful and successful career woman with a slovenly, unemployed man? Pretend you are Wolverine? Go right ahead. We know you can’t really be serious.
Read more: http://ideas.time.com/2011/11/21/the-harsh-bigotry-of-twilight-haters/#ixzz1fhkbRTZI
no subject
Date: 2011-12-05 11:27 pm (UTC)"The deluded camp, conversely, takes Twilight far too seriously, faulting it for leading young girls to mistake fantasy for reality in dangerous, disempowering ways."
because I still do think the books (I haven't seen any of the movies, and I never will) show a girl who is way to apt to go for suicide, which I can't help but feel is dangerous. And I hate the anti-feminist/anti-abortion position of her evident willingness to give up her life for the potential life of her fetus.
So I guess that makes me deluded that I think these are issues. *sigh*
no subject
Date: 2011-12-06 12:11 am (UTC)But in defense of the people who love them? They don't see it the way you do and they don't see those messages. They may appear obvious to you, but not to someone else. My family members didn't see those things - they say a fun light fluffy read.
There's something to be said for that, I think.
The trick is ...not to superimpose your views of a story or piece onto someone else, I think. Example: Buffy. A lot of people don't understand how anyone in their right mind can ship Spike/Buffy - I mean he raped her right? Except that is NOT what I saw. He didn't rape her, he made a desperate act...when he realized it, he freaked and got a soul - why shouldn't she forgive him? Makes more sense than why she forgave Angel, who never sought a soul, and killed people in horrible ways. But a lot of people saw the show the opposite way. They saw Angel as remorseful and Spike as not. Spike hit their buttons, turned them off on a deep emotional level.
Are they wrong? No. They have a right to their perspective and I honestly can't say for certain it's not correct. It's just not my perspective - I see it the opposite way. All I ask is they respect my right to see it in the manner I do. Not agree with it, but respect it.
I think the same thing can be applied here. Some people see the Twilight story as a coming of age tale, of a lonely girl struggling with her mortality, with her sexuality, they are reading the metaphors in the opposite way. To them she's not embracing death, immortality is freedom from constraints. It's not suicide, nor do they see suicide. They are interpreting it less literally perhaps.
The interpretation is based on background, buttons, triggers, etc.
I may not agree with how they perceive the Twilight novels, honestly the appeal is completely wasted on me, but...I respect their right to see it that way - or at the very least I'm working hard to do so. Working really hard. One of my beloved Aunts, my Aunt D, loves the Twilight novels. She also loved Buffy, and loves True Blood. She's looking at them in a very different way than I am.
I can respect that.