Gets 1 star only because it is well written but the plot is disgusting. Duke kidnaps his ex-mistress after the expiration of their one year liaison (agreed and contracted before affair commenced). Then proceeds to rape her into submission and she is supposed to fall in love with him. Completely unbelievable and in extra ordinary bad taste. You have been warned! ( )

I went into this book with some expectations, having heard a bit about how controversial it was when it came out. Words like "offensive" and "forced seduction" were bandied about a lot, and so I thought Claiming the Courtesan would test the limits of the genre in a way that’s challenging and provocative, or, at the very least, interesting. How very wrong I was. Since pages of vitriol (which is all I feel like writing after reading Claiming the Courtesan) wouldn’t be very helpful as a review, I’ll try and restrain myself. I’m not making any promises though. I really really really didn’t like this book. I couldn't decide if it was simply dated or if the bodice ripper 80s feel was part of a more deliberate attempt to subvert and disturb. I’m guessing the latter was the intent, but the book failed so horribly at it that the former was the case. I thought the whole thing was just plain crazy, and not in a good way.

Synopsis: Verity Ashton, alias Soraya, is the coolest courtesan out there. All the randy dukes and viscounts and even plain misters are fighting and killing themselves over her. After six years of waiting, Justin, the Duke of Kylemore has her for his own. When the story starts, they’ve been together for a year, and Verity, per the agreements of her contract with him, is terminating their relationship. Since she’s worried he’ll put up a fuss, she sneaks off without telling him to start her new life as a fake widow living in the country, doing good works. Soraya is dead and gone to her. The Duke, so that we can have a story, goes crazy, chases after her, catches her, and carts her off to the highlands so that he can wreck his vengeance and have his wicked way with her a million bazillion times. And that’s exactly what he does – maybe my count is a bit off, but it certainly seemed like all they do is boink.

The book hints at the possibility of the duke’s madness, through the age old fear that since his father was crazy, maybe he could be too. This could have been interesting in a cool and edgy way, and I think the book aspires towards a gothic feel in this sense, but its reach far exceeds its grasp. Of course Justin’s not really crazy – he can’t be the dashing hero of the romance if he were. But to me the guy is nuts – as in his character is an incoherent babbling mess of extreme emotions that are never examined or explored. He’s obsessed! He’s angry! He’s sad! He’s ashamed! He’s angry! He’s still obsessed! His only consistency is that he’s horny. All the time. I couldn't care less for Justin’s supposed remorse and shame after each time he rapes Verity. Nor is his obsession with her remotely sexy. If this kind of schizophrenia isn’t bad enough, the book manages to be boring as well. Schizoid and dry as dust? Who knew such a combination was even possible. The prose is florid, over exaggerated, clunky, awkward, and repetitive.

The redundancy is thanks to Verity as well, who goes on and on about how she hates Justin. She tries to resist him, but he sure can give her the best sex of her life, or make her fly around in the stars or whatever this author calls it. The sex scenes were torture to read – not because half of them are rape, but because they’re so boring. So I couldn’t even muster up any outrage or sympathy on Verity’s behalf. The situation had a lot of potential, but rather than a complex exploration of Justin's actions and their repercussions, all I got was melodrama. Verity and Justin are a couple of cardboard cut outs indulging in erratic outbursts, all of which is supposed to pass for powerful emotion. The book is purportedly about obsession and redemption, but all I saw was a farce as the demented characters ran around like chickens with their heads cut off.

The first half is about the hero and heroine having sex then berating themselves and the other for it afterwards, then going at it again, then berating each other again… you get the drill. This is the “controversial” part I assume. As detailed above, that didn’t work for me, not because it was offensive, but because it was boring and didn’t make any sense. The book only goes downhill from there when the author tries to convince me that Verity and Justine are falling in love with each other. Cue every cliché you can imagine. The plot was tired and predictable. Verity and Justin each have their sob stories. By invoking the old formula, even if the author’s intent was to subvert it, she only manages to entrench her story all the more solidly in the tedium of two transparent characters who aren’t nearly as evil/tough as they’re advertised. In this respect, the book is one big lie. Justin isn’t ruthless and cold. He’s a tortured soul. He just needs some TLC. And the big “revelation” of his dark, sad, terrible childhood – it was nothing! I couldn’t believe that was what all the fuss was about, particularly since this “big secret” was practically spelled out for us early on. So Justin just seemed like a big baby to me. I couldn’t take him seriously at all.

Verity is even worse though. She’s a courtesan, right? But so that the author can pussyfoot around this scandalous detail, she gives Verity a split personality disorder. There’s Soraya the whore and Verity the Madonna. This supposed “conflict” is never more than superficially addressed, and the whole book is drawn according to a garish black and white divide. Verity is your typical harebrained martyr. She only started out on her path of sin in order to save her brother and sister. Campbell goes so far as to actually recover Verity’s long lost virginity. I kid you not. As Verity, she goes from acting the virgin to becoming a pseudo-virgin. Campbell actually did that. She actually went there and has the hero rejoicing in how sweet and wonderful and innocent Verity is when he finds out she’s only had three lovers, including him. As part of her goodness, she has to play the ministering angel to the duke’s tortured rake act – he’s a suffering fellow creature. She just can’t say no to him! He has nightmares, and she heals and comforts him after he rapes her. Because she loves him. Don’t ask me to try and understand the logic of that. The book never explores their relationship. It just goes on and on about a deep, awesome “connection” between the two of them, without ever venturing to demonstrate what this “connection” might be exactly – besides flying through the stars in climaxes from heaven, that is.

Soon after Verity thinks she loves Justin, she decides this means she has to run away. She’s not too bright, remember. She runs off into the wilderness (we’re supposed to believe that this is a sign of her courage.) Her flight causes Justin to have his random epiphany that maybe he shouldn’t have kidnapped and raped her, and he’s so, so sorry, he hates himself, he’s evil, what has he done! He has to save her from herself because she could die out in the wilds of Scotland. Because she is stupid, she almost does, and falls off a cliff. Yep. It’s awesome. Less awesome is the fact that he manages to save her and pull her to safety, not only because her demise would mean the end of the book, but also because the author manages to make this terrifying brush with death drag on at a torturously slow, stumbling pace.

The rest of the book involves endless vacillations on the parts of Verity and Justin. He bends over backwards in his remorse, agonizing over how she could never love him after what he did to her, (you think?) all while still wanting to shag her brains out. He will be good and let her go though (this is supposed to make me like him I guess.) As for Verity, she loves him, but knows that it would never work out because he’s a duke and she’s a whore and his loving her will destroy him (whatever that means.) So she has to give him up. She does this over and over again, saying she has to leave him (and of course she has to tell him this in the most dramatic way possible, hiding her broken heart so that he doesn’t know she loves him, so that he in turn can go off in transports of misery, dramatic moaning, and pain. Yay for misunderstandings that are not only big and stupid, but deliberately so,) then hunting him down again so that she can tell him again that she has to leave him, WHILE NEVER ACTUALLY LEAVING HIM.

Oh, and Verity gets kidnapped again – not by the duke this time, who’s busy trying to give Verity a run for her money as a martyr, but by our random, tardy villain of the story, his evil mother (even more of a cardboard cut out than Verity and Justin, if you can believe it,) who wants him to marry anyone but Verity. As with the cliff fiasco, the pace here drags interminably, with much waving of pistols and awkwardness. Turns out self defense is one of the skills of a courtesan, if you didn’t know. The action portions of the story are certainly not this author’s strong suit.

This book is neither daring nor different. It’s the same old story told badly. And I couldn’t even begin to formulate an opinion on the book’s “controversial” nature or lack thereof re: rape/forced seduction, because the plot is executed so shoddily that I have nothing to work with. If you want to read a true redemption/healing story, I’d recommend Beau Crusoe. The hero has nightmares in that book as well, and madness is an issue too, but Beau Crusoe depicts real emotions and believable characters, with beautiful writing thrown into the bargain – none of which can be found in Claiming the Courtesan. ( )

This book was one of the most controversial books of the year. It seemed that people either loved it or hated it. Justin, Duke of Kylemore, is a spoiled selfish powerful man with a heap of emotional baggage. He is absolutely obsessed with his mistress Soraya and wants to make her his duchess. But Soraya is really Verity Ashton and wants to leave the life of a courtesan for a more respectable life in the country. When she disappears from London, Justin is furious and tracks her down and kidnaps her. He treats her cruelly and the forced seduction scenes were painful to read and normally I would have cringed thrown the book at the wall. But I was absolutely enthralled and couldn't put it down. These were two damaged souls and I love a good redemption story. The forced seduction was really more emotionally violent rather than physically violent. This was Campbell's debut book and she took quite a risk with this storyline but I will definitely be reading her next one, Untouched, due out in December. ( )

This is a well-written book about an ugly subject. I don't think I could have finished it, given the whole abduction of the heroine, to say nothing of the repeated non-consensual sex that is at the heart of this book if the writing were not up to the level that it is.

This book has stirred controversy. It is far from the only book in the genre to feature a hero who overpowers the heroine, sexually and otherwise, and yet ends happily. True, most of those others were written many years ago. The difference between this book and the others I've read (and been unable to finish) is the writing.

Some people are going to hate this book, some may love it. If you find non-consensual sex to be abhorrent no matter how politely described, do yourself a favor and steer clear.

I would give the story 1.5 stars and the writing 4 stars, so 3 overall. ( )

**Courtesy of CK2S Kwips & Kritiques**

From impoverished beginnings, Verity has risen in station to become London’s most sought-after courtesan, known as ‘Soraya.’ She has everything most women wish for – money, beautiful clothes, expensive jewelry – and yet all of it is simply a means to an end as far as she is concerned. For Verity has plans to end her reign as esteemed courtesan as soon as her contract with the Duke of Kylemore expires, and retire to a much simpler, more respectable life in the country, where no one has ever heard the name Soraya.

But escaping the Duke of Kylemore is easier said than done. The Duke has been most pleased with their arrangement, and has no desire to see it end, even though the contract has expired. Furious to find Soraya has disappeared after their year has passed, he begins plotting his vengeance through total possession of his runaway mistress. He will do whatever it takes to have her, even when that means kidnapping…

For some time, many of my reading friends have raved about new author Anna Campbell’s historical romance novel, Claiming the Courtesan. After the first few insisted I must read it, I agreed with them wholeheartedly, since we share very similar tastes in reading material. On my next book shopping trip, I made certain to pick up a copy of this intriguing new work of romantic fiction. I have to confess now that it was some time after that before I actually made time to read this book, as my reading pile for review books is always the first priority. Imagine my utter delight when I discovered that we had a request from the publisher to review this very book still awaiting a volunteer to review it! It was the perfect excuse to move Ms. Campbell’s debut novel up to the top of my to be read stack.

I could kick myself for not reading it sooner. This book was one of the most gripping historical romances I have read in some time. Campbell has penned an unapologetic tale of two damaged souls who have resigned themselves to never enjoying love and marriage for themselves. Yet in each other, they discover the missing piece of their hearts and the path to healing and redemption.

The road there is hard for this couple, however. There are some decidedly dark aspects to this romance, and romance traditionalists may not enjoy the story as much as others. This is not the sweet little romance where the hero woos the heroine, saves the day, and they live happily ever after. These are real people, with their warts and foibles exposed for all to see. The hero most certainly shows his worst time and again – but through it all, we also see his pain, his vulnerability. We learn of the tragic background that brought him to a place where he reacts as he does to the fear of losing his Soraya.

Verity struggles to overcome her past as Soraya. She wants desperately to separate the two sides of her personality, to lock Soraya away forever. But she finally discovers she can never truly be free until she embraces both sides of herself with open arms and finds a balance between the two personas.

I loved this story. ABSOLUTELY loved it. Of course, I have absolutely no rules when it comes to my stories, not even romance. I like a happy ending, but I don’t always require my stories to provide one. I most admire stories that don’t cater to what the author thinks their audience wants, but instead tell the ‘true’ story of these characters as seen in the author’s imagination. That is exactly what Anna Campbell has delivered in Claiming the Courtesan.

All that said, I need to point out that this book truly does have a most satisfying happy ending. The hero does redeem himself, and the pair set off for a life together that is sure to be full of love and happiness. After the trials and tribulations this couple experienced along the way, they deserved their well-earned happy ending.

I will be anxiously awaiting Campbell’s next release. Her books will be at the top of my buy list and my TBR pile now. You may count this reviewer among the fans who will be buying her December 2007 release, Untouched, on release day – unless, of course, the publisher happens to send an ARC to Ck2S Kwips & Kritiques before then, in which case I will unashamedly play leapfrog over my teammates to snatch it up! Think of bridesmaids leaping for the bouquet toss at a wedding reception – yep, that’s surely what I’ll look like!
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