Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Never Seduce a Scoundrel by Sabrina Jeffries

2 reviews

jackiepreston's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Rape, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

tostita's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

This is not Sabrina Jeffries’ best work. This book is also nearly 20 years old and it shows. The heroine was enjoyable, but I really disliked the hero. He was a bully and a jerk with a bad attitude toward women because of his supposedly shallow, manipulative mother who clearly must be representative of every well born woman on earth. 🙄 He eventually comes to value the heroine because he concludes she is “not like other girls,” but as far as I can tell his attitude is still just as misogynistic toward everyone else. He pushes the heroine into sexual activities very early in their acquaintance which she initially, though briefly, resists, and I just didn’t feel like she was safe with this guy at all. 

Perhaps because the hero is from Virginia, as am I, I found it especially hard to ignore the racial implications of the time. The hero grew up in Virginia and Maryland in the late 1700s and early 1800s. He would certainly have encountered enslaved people many times. Did he have any opinions about that? Did his own parents purchase humans? When he eventually returns to America someday, will he be just fine with the enslavement of people happening all around him? He never volunteers any thoughts on the practice, nor does his heroine ever ask, so I guess these issues simply aren’t important to either of them. In typical Jeffries fashion, no people of color appear in this book in any capacity, nor is any mention made of slavery or any other inequities perpetuated by colonization and imperialism. One slight positive: The hero points out to the heroine that the “harem tales” she likes to read are largely fabricated to titillate English readers, not an accurate depiction of North African life. 

I will grant that the sex scenes are well written. The pirate-and-captive role play was particularly hot. There are also “sex in a priest hole” and “total obedience” scenes worth mentioning. I might have enjoyed this book more if I had only read the sex scenes and skipped the context they are set in. 

I also quite enjoyed the epistolary segments at the beginning of each chapter between Mrs. Harris, the school headmistress, and her mysterious benefactor, “Cousin Michael.” I already knew “Cousin Michael’s” true identity going in, but rather than spoiling the surprise I found it just made their exchanges that much more amusing. 

I will read more titles in this series but I don’t expect to reread this particular book in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Confinement

Moderate: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Death of parent, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

The heroine is stalked by a former suitor who eventually forcibly kidnaps her, ties her up, and drugs her with the intention of forcing a marriage between them. After she is rescued there is discussion of whether or not he sexually assaulted her. He did not. The assailant never faces real consequences for his crimes. At one point the hero tells the heroine in a heated argument that she is not a good judge of character because she underestimated the assailant’s danger.