Comments on: Claiming The Courtesan by Anna Campbell

By: VODCAST: Historical romance recommendations for Aussie Author Month 2012 – Book Thingo

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 00:02:49 +0000

[...] Claiming The Courtesan [...]

By: A quickie with…Anna Campbell – Book Thingo

A quickie with…Anna Campbell – Book Thingo — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:01:43 +0000

[...] row. Stephanie Laurens coined the term ‘Regency noir’ to describe Anna’s debut novel, Claiming The Courtesan, a book which generated quite a bit of controversy among readers. Her latest book, Midnight’s [...]

By: My Reckless Surrender by Anna Campbell – Book Thingo

My Reckless Surrender by Anna Campbell – Book Thingo — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 00:02:45 +0000

[...] Diana, My Reckless Surrender fits the bill. But it doesn’t come close to the darker themes of Claiming the Courtesan and Untouched. Much of the first part of the story revolves around Diana and Ashcroft’s [...]

By: Untouched by Anna Campbell - Book Thingo

Untouched by Anna Campbell - Book Thingo — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 02:29:27 +0000

[...] see, it’s like this: remember how horrible the hero of Claiming the Courtesan was and how much he lacked any sense of gallantry or consideration in the first half of the novel? [...]

By: ARRC09 Round-up (Part 3) - Book Thingo

ARRC09 Round-up (Part 3) - Book Thingo — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:31:15 +0000

[...] and I won the ARRC Reader Challenge for my review of Claiming the Courtesan. I was in the middle of dinner and was rather flustered because I had no time to ask anyone if I [...]

By: ARRC09 Round-up (Part 2) - Book Thingo

ARRC09 Round-up (Part 2) - Book Thingo — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:36:57 +0000

[...] how I got into her books. She laughed when I told her that neither I nor Wandergurl wanted to read Claiming the Courtesan, but that I finally succumbed and I admire what she tried to do and how honest it was about what [...]

By: Book Bizzo #5 - Book Thingo

Book Bizzo #5 - Book Thingo — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:12:27 +0000

[...] forget to vote for your favourite reader review (hopefully you’ll like the review of Claiming the Courtesan in the fifth round *g*). You can read the entries here, and voting ends [...]

By: Book Bizzo #2 Sherrilyn Kenyon to visit Sydney, the Sunshine Coast talks romance, and books popular with the five finger discount crowd - Book Thingo

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:15:57 +0000

[...] read Claiming the Courtesan, I’d say this is an [...]

By: Kat

Kat — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 03:10:22 +0000

As to the HEA, I wasn’t totally satisfied with it. I think it could have been done better, but I think Campbell lays enough groundwork in the first half to make the HEA possible.

The post-coital conversation doesn’t happen because Kylemore is so besotted by Soraya that he assumes they’ll be together indefinitely. He actually proposes to her before she disappears, which distresses her a bit. However, she doesn’t mention that she’s leaving, either. And she admits to herself that she didn’t do it because she knew Kylemore wouldn’t accept it. I *think* the implication was that she’d be tempted to stay with him (although I wish this had been fleshed out a bit more).

By: Allison

Allison — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 02:49:02 +0000

I think what makes it so disturbing is not just that rape is included in the book, but the book itself is meant to be a romance and that the hero is the one who forces himself onto the heroine and we’re expected to buy a HEA at the end of it all, despite or maybe even because of what he’s done to her. And the rape in the book is an absolute, rather than in the post where the lines are blurred. But then, rape in romance isn’t new and once upon a time “bodice-rippers” were huge sellers. Times have changed and the post touched on this as well, there are laws and values in today’s society meant to protect people from non-consensual sex and clearly there are those who feel that the protection can also be seen as a hindrance, disconnecting people from their most basic and primal selves. Romance usually isn’t the fluff people expect it to be and often deals with relevant values, but I’m not sure I could readily accept the way this book (and others like it) deals with these issues even though they are relevant to today. I think it’s because rape isn’t one of the things I look for in a romance, especially when the one who harms is also the one meant to heal.

I should probably mention that I also had a tab open at seek.com.au when I read this review, so maybe that’s why I related so closely to what I perceived Verity’s mindset to be in relation to Kylemore being her final job. You also have a point about contracts being extended indefinitely without tacit agreement — when my contract expired with my mobile phone provider, for example, they didn’t disconnect me and I stayed with them for years after the initial contract time frame. On the other hand, from my temping experience, either the recruiter or the client will let me know they want to extend my time there and ask if I would be amenable, but I can also see why Kylemore might not have a similar discussion with Soraya during post-coital bliss. So it is feasible that a difference of view could arise there. But I’ll stop belabouring this point now, because although I’ve worked in customer service, I’ve never EVER serviced a customer so personally :P

Untouched sounds promising, I’ll keep an eye out for the post :)