A review by joonlily
Dancing at Midnight by Julia Quinn

Did not finish book.
I just couldn't deal with the central trauma in this book.

The hero feels that he failed to prevent the rape of a child during the war. He feels this must make him a terrible person and unlovable/unworthy of love.<\spoiler>

1) I'm tired of the trope where a character has a deep-seeded scar that is the reason they "aren't worthy" of love BUT they refuse to tell their partner what the heck the scar is. I get shame and fear can be powerful, but the way it plays out in romance too often is by essentially taking away someone's agency and right to make informed decisions. 
2) The specifics of his trauma felt icky as a plot device. 

while I appreciate authors who can talk about rape and sexual assault, in this case it felt like using someone else's trauma as a plot device. We get several repeated descriptions of the scene, we know that a child committed suicide as a result if it, but the story is all about the hero's pain and guilt. I'm not saying he couldn't feel pain or guilt for not preventing what happened, but it felt gross to have a child rape and suicide used in that way.<\spoiler>

I love Julia Quinn, and I can also fully acknowledge that she has been problematic at times. This is one of those times. 
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