Claiming The Courtesan by Anna Campbell

Update: A shorter version of this review won the Reader Challenge award at the 2009 Australian Romance Readers Convention. Thanks to everyone who voted for us!

I wasn’t planning to read Anna Campbell’s highly controversial debut novel. Wandergurl refused to take one for the team, and I get very disturbed by rape scenes, so I wasn’t willing to risk it. But when I read the excerpt to Tempt the Devil and I found a copy of Claiming the Courtesan in Elizabeth’s Bookshop, I finally took the plunge.

So let’s get it out of the way: yes, he rapes her. More than once. And no, Campbell doesn’t sugarcoat it.

Justin Kinmurrie, Duke of  Kylemore, has been obsessed with Soraya for six years. After being her protector for a year, Kylemore is still no closer to understanding his notoriously beautiful mistress. When his mother tries to manipulate him into marriage, Kylemore instead proposes to Soraya … who refuses him.

Because, in fact, Soraya—Verity Ashton—is determined to leave behind her career as a courtesan to live a nondescript life. Destitution had given her no real choice but to accept the protection of a wealthier, older gentleman, but she always planned to leave the demimonde to live quietly with her younger siblings once she had enough money to support her family.

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Caine's Reckoning by Sarah McCarty (Hell's Eight, Book 1)

Caine’s Reckoning has not been an easy book to find. First, Spice (Harlequin’s erotic line) isn’t published in Australia. Second, my husband had to scour bookstores all over San Francisco to find a copy, which he finally did in some obscure Borders Express store somewhere. Yay for husbands! I really wanted to love this book, and I can see why it’s generated so much buzz (aside from the fantabulous cover), but it fell a little short of my expectations.

Desi, the heroine, is forced into sexual servitude, and the only way Caine can save her is to marry her. I expected very dark, very intense sex scenes that would show how Desi deals with and is healed of the horrors she had to endure. Instead, I felt that her recovery was extremely rushed. While the sex scenes were very erotic and very well written, they didn’t have much emotional resonance. I didn’t understand her sexual choices at all, and at times I felt that she made them just to please Caine, rather than for herself.

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Castle of the Wolf by Sandra Schwab

Sandra Schwab has a great voice, and she conveys a wonderful sense of atmosphere in Castle of the Wolf. However, the story underutilises the paranormal element. Or, another way to look at it is to say that the paranormal element is superfluous. Without it, the story would still stand on its own, and I’m baffled as to how this story became a paranormal in the first place. This was distracting because I kept expecting the hero to shapeshift (the heroine calls him her “wolf”) but no, the paranormal element is really quite … wussy.

Von Wolfenbach, the hero, is deliciously dark and broody, but veers into immaturity at times. The pranks he plays on Celia to try and scare her into leaving the castle are juvenile, and the way he keeps stomping off in a huff can get irritating. The villain’s motivations are underplayed, and he’s too much of a caricature for me. Likewise, some of the characterisation seems forced. The bedroom scenes are wonderfully sensual, however, particularly when the erotic playing cards are used. You can read an excerpt here.

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Simply Love by Mary Balogh (Simply Quartet, Book 2)

I’m not sure what else I can say about Simply Love except that I struggled to get through it. I just felt that it lacked … passion, I suppose. I wasn’t invested in the characters, and the story dragged. A lot.

For example, the afternoon tryst mentioned in the blurb doesn’t occur until almost halfway through the book. Sure, Balogh has to ease into the story more slowly than usual because the hero has some very significant injuries, but the lead up to the couple’s first sexual encounter seems tepid and awkward.

A gazillion secondary characters, from previous books, are introduced, which I thought was unnecessary. I mean, it’s fine that they’re there, but I didn’t think it was necessary to name every single one or give each person a speaking role or allude to their backgrounds or family relationships. Most aren’t even relevant to this story.

I have to admit that the dramatic confrontation at the end squeezed a tear or two out of me. But I should have been bawling at that point, and yet I didn’t even need a tissue. This was a disappointing read if only because, in theory, the characters and conflicts should have made more of an impact. This is the second Mary Balogh novel I’ve read, and I’m not feeling the love. Click here for an excerpt.

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Dreams of Stardust by Lynn Kurland

The heroine

Amanda de Piaget is a poor little medieval rich girl. Sick of being paraded around prospective husbands who are only interested in her dowry, she won’t settle for anything less than a man she can love and respect, even if it means running away from home … or becoming a nun.

The hero

Jake Kilchurn, successful gem designer, starts the day as a reluctant errand boy for his father, ends up in northern England in a castle filled with ghosts, experiencing the most disorienting cases of deja vu. Nothing he can’t cope with … until he crashes his 1967 Jag.

The setup

Jake wakes up to find himself in thirteenth century England, where Amanda–in the process of running away from home with moderate success–finds him, and he is taken to Artane under much suspicion. Brought together by extraordinary circumstances, can Jake and Amanda conquer medieval prejudices, self-doubt, jealous suitors, and time itself to be together?

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The Wedding Trap by Tracy Anne Warren (The Trap Trilogy, Book 3)

The heroine

Eliza Hammond wants a husband and she’s not after much–just a nice man who will give her children and not squander away her fortune, newly acquired upon her aunt’s recent passing. But after four Seasons as a wallflower, her list of potential husbands isn’t exactly teeming with candidates. Cross off the fortune hunters, womanisers and those who bat for the other team, and well … prospects do seem rather grim.

The hero

Kit Winter is Eliza’s best friend’s brother-in-law and the type of man who has no trouble getting on with people. He agrees to mentor Eliza in the finer arts of social interaction and act as intermediary against fortune hunters and other unsuitable bachelors.

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