Anne Stuart

This book is a hot mess. Mentioned in reviews of previous books in the series, this series has a quirky Shakespearean quality to it. In this novel, Stuart actually calls it out by having our heroine make fun of the hero for being a second-rate Shakespearean villain. Lucien wants to get revenge on the Rohan family and thinks he can do that by marrying Miranda Rohan and making the girl's life miserable. Lucien is very hot. He is dark and mysterious, powerful and wounded, and so fucking broody. show more He has a charming sense of humor and almost zero fucks to give. He reminded me a lot of Jean-Claude in the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton. Miranda is a boss bitch. She was "ruined" at a very young age and she's making the most of her spinster-lite life. She thinks she's found a friend in Lucien but fairly quickly realizes he wants to make her life miserable. So she does her best to play his game and she's much better at it.

These two are a couple of idiots, both trying their hardest to make each other miserable, all while its pretty obvious that they're in love. In a way, this is both an enemies to lovers story and a friends to lovers story. If you've read Shadows at Sunset by Anne Stuart, then the setup has a similar sort of vibe.

What didn't work for me was the B-plot romance. This entire series has them and this series has made me realize how much I hate romance novels with two romances getting play time. Miranda's friend Jane is falling in love and I did not care. I skimmed/skipped most of these chapters.

Also, like in other books in this series, Stuart is playing around with dubious consent in a way that doesn't feel very intentional. Miranda was kidnapped and raped as a teen. That's what "ruined" her. Her next relationship is with Lucien and though he talks a lot about the difference between rape and sex, Miranda never enthusiastically consents to sex. She wants him, she's wet for him. But given their situation, it didn't feel like enough for me. Lucien is very much giving off "I know you want this" vibes and when all of a woman's prior sexual experiences were completely nonconsensual, I think enthusiastic consent is even more important. "Enthusiastic consent" is a newer concept in the sexual assault space though. Not sure if Stuart would have known about it and am sure that Lucien wouldn't have during this time period. So it was easy for me to let go of, but I could see where it'd be a much bigger deal for other readers. show less

I very rarely give single star ratings, but I quickly went from unimpressed to a continual, active dislike. lol. I've enjoyed some previous books from this author decently, but this was honestly kind of miserable to get through. I was just already far enough in by the time I gave up hope of things turning around that I stubbornly stuck it out anyway.
The heroine lies to everyone, including herself, absolutely constantly! And the hero is a manipulative ass and hardly shows a desirable trait show more throughout the entire book. And they're both kind of dim-witted. It was a lot. Additionally, the heroine was incredibly naive, which I don't always hold against a character, but she was also overly self assured and reckless, and, combined with the hero's "worldly" rakishness, it created a sketchy predator/prey dynamic. She's attracted to his looks, and he's intrigued by her denied interest, and even by the end they hardly know any more of each other than that! 90% of the book is just the two of them in a battle of wills, broken up with some seduction, (some of which is 'forced seduction' by the way. There are definite consent issues, fair warning). The plot is a sizeable stretch, there's a lack of almost anything romantic (with the two of them never just in accord with each other or admiring something beyond appearance or sexual skill, until the very end of the book), and there's an obvious and cheap villain thrown in. The seduction overall felt a bit icky to me with her constantly spouting how much she loathed him and sometimes making threats or actually struggling, while he felt entitled to her body and ruining her just because it would amuse him to have her and because he could. (I also dislike in general when heroines put up a fight when inside they secretly want things to continue as well. The very notion seems like it's trying to validate rapists or something. 'She said "no. stop." but I knew better than her what she really wanted!' Ew).

And side note, this didn't contribute to my rating, but was still noteable. I'm not usually a stickler for anachronisms, they're usually just referencing a play a decade before it was written or something and pretty harmless, but in this book an invalid teases that he's not considering suicide yet by saying he's not ready to 'stick his fork in the wall'. Which is a reference to purposeful electrocution by sticking metal into an electrical wall outlet, something which wouldn't be possible because electrical homes wouldn't exist for another 100 years. So unless they're time travelers it would be a preposterous thing to say with no understood meaning of any kind. This is not a new author self publishing all on their own, she's been writing historicals for 50 years and must have a team of people reading these before they go to print. I'm surprised none of them thought to question this. show less

A fantasy romance about three sisters with magical powers, co-written by three separate authors. You see all the ways in which this could go wrong, right? Right. Well, Mare's story—written by Jenny Crusie—is the strongest and the wittiest, but it's nowhere near vintage Crusie. Dee's story was mostly boring (though God, let me count all the ways I never again want to read an erection described as 'rampant'); Lizzy's story irritated me, because it was full of all the smug, patronising, show more clichéd things that make me want to throw a lot of traditional romance novels against the walls. (Their eyes change colour to match one another's because they are in True Love! Gag.) Readable if you're a Crusie completist (though you might want to skip over the parts with Lizzy and Elric (no, really)), but still largely forgettable. show less

While "Reckless" was unable to unseat "Ruthless" as my favorite Anne Stuart, it contained more of the technical brilliance and gothic entertainment I have come to expect from this author. Normally I would object to a series jumping generations and cheating me out of details about my old, familiar favorites, but the characters introduced in "Ruthless" were able to win my attention away from their predecessors. Charlotte and Adrian are compelling protagonists that, once again, take familiar show more romance novel tropes to a whole new level. There was one teapot hurling scene that will forever be one of my favorites, and finishing "Reckless" has made me anxious to move on to "Breathless." show less