To Have and To Hold

Good to know where people are coming from when they discuss this book, but not for me in general. Too old school, though an excellent example of its type. ( )

Here's the problem with To Have and To Hold. If you like the first half, you won't like the second half. If you like the second half, you won't like the first half.

The first half has Sebastian as this self-indulgent aristocrat who happens to be amazingly lucid - the sections of the book written from his POV are just gripping. He's blithe and bitter and although he has a dark sense of humor, he's not a brooder.

During this time Rachel is a withdrawn, dead-in-spirit woman who has no pride and not much sense of self. She's been in a prison for ten years and whatever happens at Sebastian's house, it's better than prison.

So for the first half of the book, Sebastian is playing a cat-and-mouse game with Rachel. He pretty much rapes her; he certainly gets off on her fear of him. Gaffney does a really good job showing how his emotions are getting involved without his being aware of it, it's a very convincing transformation. On the other hand, any kind thoughts Rachel has about Sebastian make no sense at all and sound pretty awkward.

So that's the first half. And then, in order to make up for how bad Sebastian was, and give Rachel reason for fall for him, Sebastian has his awakening, he realizes what a jerk he's been, he decides to be better. From that point on he is a puppy dog. He does nothing but think of ever-more-sensitive gifts for Rachel; the sex is gentle, and then gentler; he's always having warm fuzzy thoughts and smiling.

Meanwhile, Rachel is reborn - comes to life again after her years in prison - and although I admit that she has plenty of reason to be wary around Sebastian, she does all the things that I can't stand it when heroines do: Sebastian says one dumb thing and she's going to storm out forever and apologies will never be enough; she refuses a marraige proposal because it's too late.

If you enjoyed the cat-and-mouse game, all the snoozy gushing at the end is a bore. But if you like tender meetings of the mind and heart, the mental and physical violence of the first half is offensive. ( )

This is a tough book for me to rate. It's definitely somewhere between a four and a five for me.

On the one hand, this book is a phenomenal character study. Too often authors use the term "rake" as shorthand for a fun-loving libertine. When Gaffney uses the term here, she means business. Sebastian Verlaine is a rake of the first order. Debauched, selfish, lazy, and privileged, Sebastian uses the people around him for his own enjoyment. As the book begins, there's nothing lovable about him. He's not a bad boy with a big heart underneath, he's just a plain ol' douchebag.

Rachel Wade is the completely damaged woman who catches his eye while he plays at country magistrate. Rendered scared and meek from ten years spent in prison for the murder of her abusive husband, she's brought up on the charge of vagrancy, as she's been unable to find employment to pay for lodging. Seeing a fun little diversion, Sebastian offers her a job as his housekeeper as an alternative to prison, with the intention of seducing her, of course.

Gaffney didn't mess around with Rachel's emotional scars either. Girl is busted up. From the rigid discipline of incarceration she now has trouble making the simplest of decisions. Far from the typical genre fare of feeling an inexplicable attraction to the hero, she's friggin terrified of him. Their first coupling is not quite consensual and there are no miraculous orgasms caused by the hero's magical wang. In many ways it's ugly and sad, and she resents him for it, even though she accepted it.

Despite this ugliness, Sebastian's transformation is believable, as is Rachel's recovery. Upon a visit from his libertine friends from London, Sebastian begins to see in them his own ugly nature and resents it. He throws them out of his home and, after wallowing drunk in self-pity for a few days, begins to show through his actions that he is a changed man and worthy of Rachel. For her part, Rachel stays wary of Sebastian, while taking comfort from him at the same time. You see Sebastian act more and more selflessly while Rachel becomes braver and more independent.

Where I take issue with the book is with Sebastian's journey. I felt that he did not suffer enough or grovel enough for his truly despicable behavior earlier. All he had to do was change his ways, and he got what he wanted. I wanted more penance from him, for him to feel loss, humiliation or pain of some sort. Just being sorry wasn't enough.

Regardless, To Have and To Hold was a superbly written book of truly memorable characters. It is absolutely worth the trouble of tracking down a copy. ( )

http://www.lonelymountain.net/books/jan09.html#gaffneythath ( )

Sebastian is definitey sadistic. ( )