Jane Feather

Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over

Ariadne and Ivor conduct a drawn-out dance of tangled emotions: love, distrust, and anger in Trapped at the Altar. The premise of her being in love with another man but forced to marry Ivor made the beginning awkward for me. Gabriel did not suit her, but who is to say with true love?

That made me wonder if I would enjoy this book, but she matures a lot throughout the story, and at the same time stays true to her nature though it works against her. show more Ivor is a little more rigid. He sheds his childhood in an instant, but carries his fears with him like a blessing.

This is an odd book with things hinted at that do not reach their point, which makes sense as the start of an epic historical saga, but the book is styled as a romance, so I was a little thrown. In structure and story, there are also marked weaknesses while there were several times when the details didn’t match my knowledge of the time period, like the use of modernish card game metaphors.

So why am I telling you about it when I only bother to review books that worked for me?

The characters are complex and well written, especially Ari, who comes to understand not just herself but others through the course of the novel. The novel offers a rolling third POV, handing the reins off to minor or short-term characters as well as the main two, but each character is full-blooded with both weaknesses and strengths enough to carry me along.

I will forgive much for characters who make me want to see them work through their tangles, and Jane Feather definitely offered those. Not only that, but as a saga, this novel provides a good setup with the potential for further complexity as Ivor and Ariadne figure out how to navigate the court and the balance between two conflicting religions (Protestant and Catholic). To be honest, I’m not quite sure where it’s going after this, but I am intrigued by the possibilities laid out and would happily spend more time with Ariadne and Ivor as they decide how to navigate the spear pit they’ve been suspended above for the good of their families and their own future.

I will note that the sexual aspect is explicit and has dominance overtones, but it is also key to the story as Ariadne learns, both physically and in her heart, what it is to love a man who is her equal.

P.S. I received this title from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review. show less

3 very readable regency novellas, however I found their classic regency flavor somewhat marred by the excellently written but fairly inappropriate (in a classic regency format sort of way) aforementioned steamy sex scenes - perhaps it was just the juxtaposition of the 3 stories and my just having finished a few Heyer re-reads. Surely I can't be past the point of enjoying a bit of well-written steam?

Hahahahahaha, oh Goddddd. OH God.

Okay. Let me start this off by saying: I have some very specific and odd kinks. (I also have odd and specific squicks, but this doesn’t go there.) This book hit so, so, so many of them.

This is the second in Jane Feather’s Bride trilogy and focuses on The Clumsy, Chubby One, Phoebe. Oh, dear God, did it hit so many spots for me. First of all, Phoebe is Olivia’s best friend and Diana’s younger sister. Olivia’s father, Cato, Marquis of Granville, show more marries Diana in the prologue of the trilogy. Diana dies and Diana’s father, in order to keep the alliance strong, decides with Cato that Cato will just marry Phoebe!

To say that I was sold before I even began the book is to just greatly undersell how excited I was about this. I like age differences, I like twisted up family relationships, I love stodgy older asshole with propriety syndrome marrying messes of girls. So.

But oh, Phoebe is so much more than just a mess. She’s passionate and smart and so loving and intense and I love her so much. She pretty quickly dispenses with the Ugly Duckling part of her appearance as soon as she realizes her clothing is working against her and That Boobs Are Awesome. I love, love, love, love love beyond words how the book shows the strength of Phoebe’s character. People dismiss her as a clumsy, dowdy younger sister without much to sell her.

But throughout the course of the book she becomes bold and challenging and adventurous. She sticks by the people she loves with a ferociousness that just destroyed me so much. Like the previous novel in this trilogy, this novel is full of plot and b-plot and c-plot, but none of it seems like spaghetti thrown at the wall to see what sticks.

Cato is, to be short about it, pretty much an ass. But he’s an ass in a way where he’s just pretty accustomed to his life going in a certain way and women acting in a certain manner and he had a very Decided Idea of the person Phoebe was and she does more than turn that upside down. She honestly just bowls him over and he never does quite find his footing with her. It’s amazing. I don’t even know why it’s amazing. It just is.

She doesn’t for a second put up with him when he becomes authoritarian. She is never cowed by him for more than the blink of an eye. She approaches his dictating nature by throwing it back at him and telling him where he can shove it, but it’s in a way with such conviction that it’s just. FEELINGS. Y’ALL. I GOT THE FEELINGS.

AND AS IF MY LOVE FOR PHOEBE WERE NOT ENOUGH.

The book is filthy for a historical romance novel. There’s this one oral scene that is just. Dear God. When Phoebe finally gets up the courage to show Cato that she wants more than his previous wives wanted, that she wants passion and sex and everything he can give her. It’s just. It’s such a touching scene. SHE BLINDFOLDS HIM. I mean, I’M SORRY. AM I A MONSTER? NO. IF YOU PRICK ME, DO I NOT BLEED? I DO. The sex in it is awesome and dirty and wonderful and just.

This boooooook.

The only reason that it doesn’t get 5 stars is there was one huuuuge plot point that was never resolved that just bothered me so badly. Phoebe takes 17th century contraceptive measures to make sure she doesn’t conceive before Cato accepts her for who she is. Having an heir is a huge thing for Cato. He assumes through the novel, and for a couple of major scenes, that she is barren. Not that I think any modern man gets to have a say in it, nor any man of that era, but there was something about never getting a resolution to that that just bothered me. Not that Phoebe should’ve felt guilty or that he would have any right to be angry at her. It just felt like a huge deception that was never dealt with at all! They just lived happily ever after in the epilogue.

So, for that, I can’t give it five stars. I’m not even positive that this 4.5 is reflective of the quality of this book. BUT HOW MANY OF MY BUTTONS CAN YOU PUSH ALL AT ONCE WITHOUT ME GIVING IT THAT MANY? show less

One of the automatic DQs for me with a romance novel is when the female hero is sexually brutalized or humiliated or raped in any sense of the word. This book STARTS with such a scene, as the prologue, and makes it the major plot complication. Basically ruined the story of two quite likable characters. I also wish the secondary story between the female hero's stepbrother (whom we've known for three books) and his love interest had more emotional effect. A wasted opportunity.