You're all sadists. Or I'm a masochist. Or both. Or we're all both.

So, there’s this Bertrice Small book called Love Wild and Fair. The blurb waxes poetic about the heroine, Catriona’s, looks and talks about how she’s the unwilling mistress of a king and in love with someone else. Pretty mild for Bertrice Small. So I start skimming.

The heroine, Catriona, is 13 or so and engaged to a man named Patrick. Bertrice Small likes to start them young. Sadly, this is not because of any claims to historical accuracy, I don’t think, but so they can start being passed around earlier. So, anyway, early in the book, Patrick and his brother walk into Patrick’s bedroom, and there’s a naked woman-a friend they grew up with-in his bed. To be fair, Patrick didn’t ask her to be there. I’m not sure, however, that that really warranted he and his brother discussing who would have sex with her without actually, you know, consulting her. It ends with Patrick talking about how it’s disgusting to have sex with someone you don’t want to have sex with, and locking them in. In case, you know, she has some objections with their deciding she’d have sex with the brother.

I was too busy “WTF?”-ing to take heed of the warnings.

( But wait! That's before it gets bad! Relatively speaking. )

Behave yourselves.

Am momentarily headed off to work and gone until sometime Saturday evening, unless I have time to pop on at the parents' tonight (unlikely, they go to bed around 9 and the computer room is next to their bedroom) or in the morning.

Try not to be interesting while I'm gone!  Unless, you know, you just can't help it.

For the curious, what the books in the poll were.

( Sometimes I remember to cut for length. )