Jean Marie's Domain

ISBN-13: 978-0778328506
Book Source: Net Galley

Lady Miranda Rohan committed Society’s ultimate crime. After allowing herself to be abducted and deflowered by a fortune hunter, she neither married him nor pined away in decent obscurity. Instead, she adapted to her new life and thrived…except for an occasional spot of boredom. Unfortunately, boredom is a Rohan’s Achilles heel. It’s only a matter of time before her risk-taking nature reasserts itself, playing into the schemes of Lucien de Malheur, the notorious Earl of Rochdale.

Lucien isn’t called the Scorpion simply because he used to keep one as a pet. He’s almost a caricature of Ms. Stuart’s trademark Scorpio heroes: literally scarred and twisted, the light inherent in his name all but extinguished by his experiences. Seeking a cruel poetic justice for his dead half-sister, he will stop at nothing to achieve his vengeance against the Rohans, including relative innocents like Miranda.

As we discover in his first scene, Lucien was the true, if hidden, architect of her ruin. I could accept that. What I found difficult to swallow was the scenario he devised, one which couldn’t help but lead to the 19th century equivalent of date rape. At some level, a man as intelligent as Lucien must’ve known and accepted this outcome. Turning a man capable of that into hero material presents an almost insuperable challenge. Ms. Stuart just about pulls it off.

With the story of Lucien and Miranda, she returns to her favorite theme: the redemption of the not-quite-damned. Lucien excels at mind sex, seducing by the force of his personality and playing on the sunny Miranda’s inevitable curiosity about his shadow life. He claims she wants him to play her Caliban, but he takes his cues from Shakespeare’s Richard III.

Not to mention Hades. Ruthless, the first book in the House of Rohan series, teased the reader with allusions to the abduction of Persephone. Here we see the myth played out, minus the crazy mother-in-law as Deus ex Machina. Miranda-as-Persephone is more than a match for her Dark Lord, especially given her Shakespearean skill set. I loved, loved, loved the strategy she used to wear him down—and the insight Ms. Stuart gives into its cost. The banter and smashing climax (Of the plot! Geez, some people—you know Ms. Stuart always delivers more than one of those) provide everything a fan could ask.

But a part of me still hesitates. It’s one thing to say fiction need only answer to itself and the truth of its characters. It’s quite another to accept it when a hero’s truth contradicts a deep-seated conviction. Heroes don’t hurt heroines, even by proxy. My daddy taught me that, and my mamma reinforced it by teaching me Frying Pan Kung Fu a very early age. It’s to Ms. Stuart’s credit that I enjoyed this book so much in spite of it.

Verdict: Two thumbs up for the writing, but with reservations.

ISBN-13: 978-0778328483
Source: Purchased

Yes, it’s true. I’ve succumbed to the siren lure of Net Galley, which means I’m back in the reviewing business—at least for books I actually want to read.

And I always want to read Anne Stuart. Even when I rage at her for forgetting to describe a major character (not a problem in Ruthless) or the vagaries of her copyeditor (ALWAYS a problem), I would read her grocery lists if somebody let me.

Fortunately for you, they only let me read her books. Ruthless (which I bought in anticipation of reviewing the other books in the series) ranks as a vintage Stuart historical.

Impoverished 18th century gentlewoman Elinor Harriman storms the gates of hell—aka, the country estate of dissolute but dangerously gorgeous Viscount Rohan, leader of a Paris-based version of the Hellfire Club known as the Heavenly Host—to prevent her demented syphilitic mother from gambling away their little family’s last centime. Elinor fails, but something about her interesting (if not conventionally beautiful) looks, her vulnerable pride and tart tongue piques Rohan’s “curiosity”. He thinks his jaded appetites have finally up with him. Any dedicated Stuart reader (heck, any romance reader) knows better.

Along the way to the happy ending (for crying out loud, the book’s labeled romance; it’s absolutely no spoiler to say there’s a happy ending), the reader finds finger-sizzling sexual tension, beaucoup witty dialogue, a murderous villain, and a darling secondary romance.

Rohan slinks. Stuart, like Georgette Heyer, possesses the enviable ability to create truly feline heroes—predatory, lethal, graceful, beautiful, image-obsessed men who somehow remain entirely masculine. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. In fact, it’s damn near impossible. My forebrain, trained in the ways of masculinity by my career Army father and years of working with warriors of every stripe, laughs at the very notion. Yet Stuart and Heyer always manage to slide past my preconceptions, usually by letting the hero’s act slip just a little and following up with the one-two punch of a killer back story.

Ruthless doesn’t explode any preconceived notions of Stuart’s style or her favorite plot devices. I knew who the hidden bad guy was at the second assault. But I didn’t hate the characters for failing to keep up, because they either lacked the necessary background or were, um, otherwise engaged at the moment. Stuart writes too smart for that.

She writes beautifully, too, and when I wasn’t wishing I could’ve given the manuscript one final proofing, her words and emotions propelled me through the pages. Lifting this book to a higher level were Stuart’s playful allusions to Heyer, specifically Heyer’s These Old Shades and Faro’s Daughter (one of this redhead’s very favorite books ever). Meanwhile she rings the changes on the Persephone myth with a variation as juicy as the pomegranate seeds that spelled Persephone’s doom.

Or her salvation. That’s the beauty of Stuart’s tales of dangerous men. She never breaks them. Over the course of the novel, her hero and her heroine grow into a delicious accommodation which ultimately respects both parties—something my forebrain loves as much as good writing, and that’s saying a lot.

Now to dive into the next two books of the House of Rohan series, Reckless and Breathless. Like I said, Net Galley has a lot to answer for.

Verdict: Two thumbs up.