The novel opens with a rape. This will be a continuing theme throughout the novel. Anyway, a boy shows up out of nowhere to save the damsel in distress and lo and behold, the boy is not a boy at all, but the lovely Lady Brenna! Her father raised her as the boy he never had, and Brenna rejects traditional women's work like cooking, weaving and sewing. But she is in for a shock when her father arranges her marriage to a Viking in order to make sure that their fiefdom will not be raided. This is supremely unsuccessful, as the very man her father arranged her to marry shows up and raids their fiefdom. All the men are killed, the castle destroyed, the women raped and shipped off to Norway. Brenna is spared a rape (for now) and is given to hard-hearted Garrick to be his slave. Brenna proves impossible to tame, and mouths off to her new master all the time. They have a hate-hate relationship right off the bat, but does that stop Garrick from taking her? No, it does not. By my count, that's rape number 17. At least. Anyway, after many escape attempts and misunderstandings and more rapes, Brenna is set free, and she gets pregnant and bears Garrick's child, and he realizes that he loves her, and she loves him, and then they get married and live happily ever after.
If I haven't made myself clear yet, I hated this book. This seems like the perfect time for me to talk about rape in historical novels. First, let me say this. Rape is not sexy. Good relationships do not begin with rape. Women do not fall in love with men who rape them. Okay. that said, for some reason, historical romance novel writers think that no one had sex back in the day unless it was rape. They also seem to think that a heroine who is raped by some ruggedly handsome rascal will fall in love with him if forced to stick around for a while. I hate this notion. I hate it I hate it I hate it. So why is it so prevalent? Here's what I think.
1). I think that romance novelists exaggerate the fantasy of a dominant male.
2). I think that readers enjoy[ed] these sorts of scenes because they are either housewives whose sex lives have fizzled out and they crave excitement or virgins who have never had sex and fear that saying "yes" to sex or being an active participant in sex makes them a slut. Maybe not to that degree, but the idea that having the decision taken out of your hands about whether or not to have sex is sexy. And honestly, it's not. There is nothing sexier than a willing participant. And that is why I hated this book, because Garrick straight up rapes Brenna several times. It wasn't even the cop out "Oh she protested but secretly she wanted it" kind of rape, no, it was straight up forced sex she didn't want to have. And that is never okay.
3). I think that romance novelists assume that women didn't consent to sex before 1970. Sure, the Victorian Era was a little bit phobic of more sensitive areas, but in the 8th century AD? People banged. A lot. It was a fact of life. And yes, sometimes women wanted it.
So please, if you're a romance novelist, and you want to write a sex scene please make sure the woman consents. Rape isn't sexy. At all.
Stay tuned for the next book, Hearts Aflame, a book with no rape, and even more Vikings.
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