You Give Love a Bad Name

I have a little sideline as a book reviewer for an online company. It's voluntary... no money exchanging hands... and I'm "paid" in books (as in I keep all the books I review) which is fine by me. The books are often ARC's (Advance Reading Copies) which means I get to ready the book before it is actually published. And many times I am able to discover a wonderful book or author that I otherwise might never have known about. Some books I have liked more than others, some reviews have been easier to write than others, but overall I really have not read/reviewed a book that I truly disliked. Until now.

I just finished one with a plot so wretchedly bad that I have no clue how I am going to write the review. It was a historical romance with a heroine who was a courtesan but had just left the city to start a new life. She is kidnapped by her former "benefactor" as he is obsessed with her. He spirits her away to his remote hunting lodge and begins to engage in forcible sex with her. Imagine my surprise when it dawned on me that this was the "hero" of the novel. Silly me - I was waiting for someone to come save the woman. Now imagine my utter disbelief when, in the span of three week, the "hero" begins to soften, the heroine begins to fall in love with him, and yes, at the end they wind up together. Spare me! The "hero" was nothing more than a felonious, overbearing, self-centered, kidnapping, rapist. And I, as the reader, am supposed to eventually feel empathy for this character and cheer on a happy ending? I don't think so!

Let me say, that I have nothing against historical romances - or the romance genre in general. Many of them are very well written and great reads. But it is trite, no-really-means-yes, regurgitated plots like this one that give romance novels a bad name. Now I'm off to figure out a way to review this book without completely decimating it.