meganbmoore: (tarot cafe)
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. )
meganbmoore: (magic)
Does anyone remember a while back when i mentioned what can only be called an illness that compels me to pick up Bertrice Small books when I'm at a booksale so I can skim them and see what horrors they contain?  This booksale had about half a dozen, so by now, my brain is attempting to ooze out my ears in self-defence.

One of them, Deceived, is probably the least problematic, infuriating, scarring and offensive one I've encountered.  Admittedly, that pretty much just means that I don't want to murder the heroine-making her tolerable*, not likable, I can't really imagine liking Small's leads on any level, ever-and that she isn't passed around between every type of "romantic" figure ever for the time period, sold into slavery, forced into bigamy or an accidental bigamist, or openly hateful towards other women.

What is the plot of Bertrice Small's most tolerable book?  The heroine is engaged to an Earl.  Or a Duke.  Or something.  She's a fiesty tomboy and doesn't want to, but her twin sister wants to be a Countess.  Or a Duchess.  Or whatever.  So they lie about who he's engaged to.  He warries the twin then spies on the heroine bathing in what she thinks is privacy and thinks about what a conniving wanton she is to deliberately tempt him so.  Later, he asks his wife why she doesn't like sex with him, and she tells him about how she was regularly molested as a child, and can't bear to be touched by any men, even to give him an heir.  His response a bit of "oh, bummer" before he gags her, rapes her, and tells her he'll do the same every night until she's pregnant.  (Note:  We're supposed to sympthize with him because she won't get pregnant, and hate her for hating sex and not wanting sex with him specifically.)  Immediately after his wife dies in childbirth, he tells the heroine that he knew she was the one he was supposed to marry all along, and that she has to marry him now.  She sensibly goes "Oh bleep no!" and runs, but he chases her down, throws her on a bed, rips off her clothes and locks the door.  And then she remembers that she's loved him all along, so that the actual sex is consentual.  Or something.

Remember where I said that this is the most tolerable of her books that I've come across?  Keep in mind, there's another book that has a Harem Horse Orgy**.

One the subject of actually good romance novels, though, I've realized that the reason I only seem to want to read them (or mostly so, at least) the last few weeks is that I've been travelling so much lately***.  I like going places, but I hate actually travelling, and the schedule disruption makes me cranky, which makes me fall back on my highschool standby.

*The only other tolerable one was thirteen.  And married to a guy in his thirties.  And I think fourteen by the end.  And aside from maids, the only other woman was the evil villainess who wanted to destroy the heroine.  Her plotline revolved around enjoying gang rape, being turned over to a castle full of men by her lover, and then getting revenge on her lovers filng for her rape by having the fling raped by every man in the castle.  Yes.  I know. 


**I accidentally grabbed it and re-experienced the horror.  DO NOT ASK!  THE TRAUMA!!

***And going to Dallas/Fort Worth again next weekend with my family to go to a baseball game on Friday and take the kids to the Fort Worth Zoo on Saturday.  And then a couple weeks after that, my parents are leaving town for two and a half weeks, so i'll be staying at their place with the cats.
meganbmoore: (author said what?)

You lot have no idea how much you owe me for writing this up for you.

Nora Buckley is a 40-something mother of two who has just learned that her husband is cheating on her with a girl barely older than their daughter. Nora, of course, is utterly the victim here. Now, let me explain something real quick. I despise cheating. Any canon that encourages the idea of cheating as being ok or an “improvement” on the status quo loses any respect I may have had for it. Don’t even get me started on fanon cheating. IMO, cheating on your significant other is just another form of psychological abuse, in addition to a betrayal. And yet, I can’t remotely sympathize with Nora. Why?

The woman was an utter doormat. She never tried to have any life or identity outside of being a spouse and mother. She never stood up for herself, nor is it indicated that she ever even indicated to her husband that she might want to do more than sit at home and bake cookies. The only indication that she ever tried to assert herself was that one time she wanted to try something other than the missionary position. This is both the ultimate proof of her oppression, and the sign of her husband’s Supreme Evilness. Please note that he, of course, is portrayed as irredeemably evil from the start. Not helping matters is the fact that Bertrice Small’s leads-especially her self-inserts female leads-are some of the most amazingly unlikable characters I have ever encountered in fiction. I always root for the evil women out to destroy the good guys, or the pitiful ones who are ruled by their Evil Sexuality. (Any woman other than the heroine who likes sex is always evil or weak.)

I claim no responsibility for any mental scarring should you continue reading this post.

proceed at own risk )Off to cleanse my brain.  I demand internet chocolate and such.

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July 2020

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